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There is an unused channel/transmitter in Cleveland that has been and will be used for technical tests.

The choice of market for an initial test of a whole-market adoption plan depends on what broadcasters are there, are eager to cooperate, and how quickly and economically their transmitters can be adapted, how many have to change frequency, whether any currently use easily adaptable broadband antennas, etc. etc. etc.

Remember, this change is accompanied by a channel repack to free up spectrum that has been auctioned to the cell phone companies. The biggest markets will have the greatest difficulty in repacking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffhs (Post 3199158)

I haven't yet heard or read anything about ATSC 3.0 tests in Cleveland, but that could change at any time. As I write this, all seven Cleveland TV stations are still operating under the ATSC 1.0 standard; none of them have made any tests or have announced that they are going to switch to ATSC 3.0 any time soon. The Phoenix area is much larger than the Cleveland TV market, though, so it makes sense that the former would be one of the first markets to run tests of ATSC 3.0. However, I would have expected the Los Angeles market, which is much larger than Phoenix, to have been the first market to test the new standard. Why was Phoenix chosen as the first test area? As I said, it would have made more sense to test the standard in L.A. or New York City since, again, these markets are much larger than any other television market in the US.

AFAIK no one among the general public, in large markets or otherwise, currently has a television capable of receiving the new signals. The first TV station in the US to broadcast a digital ATSC signal was WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1996. Read about it here. Not exactly a huge market, but the article even says HDTVs were not available to be purchased until 1998, so it didn't matter. I don't understand why you think it would make more sense for the testing to take place in LA or NY. Once this new standard is ready to go mainstream, I am sure the large markets won't be left behind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffhs (Post 3199158)

Why was Phoenix chosen as the first test area

Quoting from the original press release:

“There were a few reasons Phoenix, with more than 20 percent of its 1.8 million TV viewers receiving OTA television, was chosen for the model market project, she said.

“First, we are already testing together for the Verance watermark test,” said Schelle. Another factor was separate ATSC 3.0 interactivity testing Pearl TV has been involved with in the market.

Additionally, the consortium has a good relationship with cable operators in Phoenix, which makes it easier to test MVPD interoperability, she said.

Finally, only a couple of the stations participating in program will be changing channel assignments as part of the FCC TV spectrum repack and those stations are assigned to Phase 1 of the repack, she said. That made it relatively uncomplicated to get an early start in Phoenix.

Participating stations include:

· KNXV (Channel 15), E.W. Scripps Company’s ABC affiliate;

· KSAZ (Channel 10), Fox Television Station’s Fox station;

· KUTP (Channel 26), Fox Television Station’s MyTV Network;

· KPHO (Channel 17), Meredith Local Media Group’s CBS affiliate;

· KTVK (Channel 24), Meredith Local Media Group’s independent;

· KASW (Channel 49), Nexstar Media Group’s CW Network affiliate;

· KTAZ (Channel 39), Telemundo Station Group’s Telemundo station

· KPNX (Channel 12), Tegna’s NBC affiliate;

· KFPH-CD (Channel 35), Univision’s UniMas station; and

· KTVW-DT (Channel 33), Univision.

Phoenix will serve as a testbed for the business models and the consumer testing needed to prepare go-to-market strategies for next-generation television, said Schelle.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffhs (Post 3199158)

. Why was Phoenix chosen as the first test area? As I said, it would have made more sense to test the standard in L.A. or New York City since, again, these markets are much larger than any other television market in the US.

Phoenix was a good choice because of its isolation. This provided the availability of channels for ATSC 3.O testing.

Compare to Cleveland, where Youngstown, Erie, London (ON), Columbus, Pittsburgh, Toledo and Detroit stations all make it difficult to find a channel for test stations that wouldn't case interfere with viewing in other surrounding areas.

ATSC 3.0 To Be Deployed In 40 U.S. Markets By End Of 2020
ATSC 3.0-enabled consumer devices to reach market by 2020.

https://www.tvtechnology.com/atsc3/a...by-end-of-year

Will the broadcasters have any programming to take advantage of the technology? I wouldn't hold any hope. After HD came out I've only seen one advantage of HD: High def from the ISS live. Minow wouldn't notice any changes from the '60's! DVD and Blu-ray (actually purple) is only good for movies between 1955 and 1975.