Sinclair, Inc. and Nebraks Public Media are bringing Omaha’s public television station to the digital broadcast standard known as NextGen TV.
Starting this month, residents in Omaha with NextGen TV-capable tuners or TV sets will be able to find KYNE (Channel 26) as an option in their electronic program guide (EPG) thanks to a partnership with Sinclair, its local TV station KPTM Channel 42, Fox) and America’s Public Television Stations (APTS).
The channel is a streaming version of KYNE, and users will need to have their NextGen TV sets or tuners connected to the Internet in order to access programming from the version hosted by KPTM. In a press release on Wednesday, Sinclair said it was the first broadcast-enabled streaming TV (BEST) channel to launch under their initiative with APTS, which offers free resources to public television stations that are looking to bring their programming to NextGen TV.
“We are proud to be the vanguard in offering this unique service to our Omaha viewers,” Peter Clowney, the Chief Operating Officer for Nebraska Public Media, said in a statement. “Our partnership with KPTM will help prime the pump for full NextGen Broadcast Service as the national rollout of this technology continues.”
Related: Sinclair commits resources to help public TV stations launch NextGen TV signals
“This is an excellent example of commercial and public broadcasters cooperating to bring the remarkable NextGen Broadcast Service to more public television viewers and to enhance public television stations’ services to their local communities,” Kate Riley, the President and CEO of APTS, said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to announce the successful launch of this service in conjunction with our public broadcasting friends at Nebraska Public Media,” Rob Weisbord, Sinclair’s Chief Operating Officer and President of Broadcast, said on Wednesday. “For public television stations that have not yet launched NextGen TV service, we hope that this partnership will demonstrate the tremendous upside to using this new transmission technology.”
Sinclair is one of several commercial TV broadcasters that are rallying around NextGen TV as the future of over-the-air television. NextGen TV utilizes the capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 standard to deliver traditional broadcast TV signals with additional enhancements, including copyright protection through encryption, support for ultra high-definition (UHD/4K) video signals and multicast capabilities through hybrid broadcast-streaming content delivery.
Unlike the current ATSC 1.0 standard, the benefits of ATSC 3.0 largely require a user to have their tuner or TV set connected to the Internet. Proponents of the standard say that requirement is worth it, because it will allow broadcasters to reclaim their licensed spectrum for other uses, including datacasting capabilities. It will also open the door for enhanced features like pause and rewind capabilities on linear channels, targeted advertising and hyper-local emergency alert notifications. Some of those capabilities are already being tested.
Sinclair is working to ensure commercial broadcasters are not alone in tapping into the benefits of NextGen TV. The company generously offered to donate resources to public TV stations in the four dozen markets where its local TV outlet serves as the ATSC 3.0 “lighthouse” station for NextGen TV. The partnership involves APTS, which consults with Sinclair on the best ways to involve public TV stations in the NextGen TV initiative.
“For public television stations that face challenges in launching NextGen service, we hope that this offer will help get them in the advanced TV game and set the stage for their eventual launch of this spectacular service over the air,” Weisbord said earlier this year.
