ITU Adopts ATSC 3.0 As Recommended Digital Broadcast Standard

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has adopted ATSC 3.0 as a recommended digital broadcast standard, opening the door for countries around the world to evaluate and use the standard, the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has announced.

“With initial U.S. deployments in place, we’re anticipating the first announcements of consumer receivers for the U.S. market in the coming days,” said ATSC Board Chairman and NAB Senior Vice President of Technology Lynn Claudy. “The decision by the ITU is yet another signal that digital terrestrial broadcasting has a bright future ahead.”

ATSC 3.0 is the world’s first IP-based digital television broadcast standard. More than 60 U.S. television stations are expected to be on-air with 3.0 by the end of 2020, and consumer receivers for U.S. TV households are expected to be unveiled at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, which opens next week in Las Vegas (Jan. 7-10).

For ITU, the next step is to update its ITU Digital Handbook with best practices for implementing the Next Gen TV standard. Members of ATSC, including those on the new ATSC Planning Team 6 on Global Recognition of ATSC 3.0, are set to continue their support for international standardization efforts, the committee said.