WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 16, 2017 – Patrick Butler, president and chief executive officer of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), today commended the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) adoption of the final rules for the ATSC 3.0 broadcast television standard (Next Generation TV).
In a statement, Butler said, “America’s Public Television Stations applaud the Federal Communications Commission’s adoption of the final rules for ATSC 3.0, the new broadcast standard that will revolutionize the television experience and make possible extraordinary advances in mobility, interactivity, customized viewing preferences, spectral efficiency, and service to the American people.
“Public television stations are particularly intrigued by the potential for significant improvements in our public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership. The new standard will enable enhanced distance learning, more robust public safety datacasting, and additional channel capacity for comprehensive coverage of state governments, among many other benefits. Television viewers will be amazed by the new standard’s picture and sound quality, and they’ll be delighted that they can enjoy this experience anytime, anywhere, thanks to the mobility embedded in the Next Gen standard.
“We’ll be able to provide huge volumes of immersive learning materials to children and families who lack broadband internet connections, supplementing the children’s programming for which we’re well known and the PBS LearningMedia initiative that now helps two million educators teach 40 million K-12 students and homeschoolers every day.
“We can enrich emergency communications with real-time video, voice and data information for first responders, localized event mapping, evacuation routes, and critical information in multiple languages.
“And we can do all of this, as well as provide more local programming, and still have spectrum available to create new service and revenue opportunities, as Congress and the Commission have encouraged us to do.
“The transition from the current broadcast standard to the new one will be voluntary, market-based and industry driven, and we are committed to ensuring that our viewers are not inconvenienced by this transition, which will take several years to complete.
“Today’s action by the FCC heralds a new era in television broadcasting that will benefit both the public and the broadcast industry – certainly including public television stations – in ways we cannot fully foresee. We commend the Commission for its expeditious approval of this standard, and we congratulate all of those within our industry and in allied fields who worked so hard to create an endlessly adaptable technological platform on which to build a very exciting future of service and success.”
About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and civic leadership to the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
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