What IS after ATSC

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

You can relax.

"...every TV station that converts to ATSC 3.0 will be required to continue to provide ATSC 1.0 service."

Read the whole article HERE

That is the best news I've heard (read) all day. I don't want to have to convert my TV to yet another broadcast standard if it isn't absolutely necessary.

I am not against progress, but this business of the TV industry "reinventing the wheel" every so often (DTV, then 4K, then eventually 8K..., and now ATSC 3.0) makes me wonder. I like DTV because of its much sharper picture and more channels (by way of subchannels of existing stations), but some of these other innovations....sheeesh! Ever-larger screens, curved screens, and, again, ATSC 3.0, to name but three. At least the FCC is requiring (not simply asking or allowing) TV stations to operate using the ATSC 1.0 standard along side of the newer one; this should calm viewers' fears that their new flat-screen HDTV will be rendered obsolete when the new standard takes effect. It won't happen. That is, there will be a new broadcast standard, but the nation's TV stations and networks, which have already spent millions (!) on upgrading their transmitters, studios and antennas for DTV, will not necessarily have to switch to ATSC 3.0 unless they desire to do so. Even if and/or when they do make the switch, however, viewers need not worry about the change rendering their expensive HDTVs obsolete in the blink of an eye, as DTV itself did to NTSC CRT TVs.