Gray Media will deliver the first over-the-air television broadcast produced entirely in native High Dynamic Range (HDR) on Friday when it airs a pre-season football game involving the New Orleans Saints.
The broadcast will be produced by Gray’s Tupelo Media Group, and introduce the first end-to-end HDR transmission — from the field cameras and production trucks to the transmitter that beams the signal into people’s homes — utilizing advanced technology made possible through ATSC 3.0, also known as NextGen TV.
The game will be filmed, produced, transmitted and broadcast in HDR from end to end, allowing viewers with compatible NextGen TV sets to experience enhanced picture quality with deeper contrast and more vivid color. It will air on WVUE (Channel 8, Fox) on Friday evening.
It is the first time any U.S. broadcaster has aired programming fully in native HDR, from the cameras to the production truck to a local station. Gray executives said the milestone demonstrates one of the key promises of NextGen TV: sharper, more lifelike images delivered free to viewers over the air.
At the same time, Gray confirmed it has completed upgrades across all of its Big Four-affiliated NextGen TV stations to upconvert programming into HDR. The company said the move was timed ahead of the fall sports calendar, ensuring that college and professional football will air with improved image quality for viewers in NextGen TV markets.
“We are thrilled to build on our launch of HDR across our NextGen stations by bringing our hometown New Orleans Saints to viewers in native HDR,” said Gray’s Chief Operating Officer Sandy Breland, who identifies as a Saints fan. “Gray is proud of production and station teams for making this first-of-its-kind native HDR preseason NextGen TV broadcast a reality.”
Rob Folliard, Gray’s Senior Vice President and the Chairman of the Pearl TV consortium that promotes NextGen TV, said the broadcast underscores the platform’s advantages.
“NextGen TV enables countless advanced features to boost viewer experience,” Folliard said. “Bringing football filmed, transmitted, and broadcast in native HDR free to viewers over the air is a great example of the benefits to viewers of NextGen TV.”
