Sinclair Broadcast subsidiary One Media 3.0 is teaming with Saankhya Labs to develop ATSC 3.0 chipsets for next-gen TV service.
Saankhya Labs, which specializes in Cognitive Software Defined Radio chips, will begin working on an ATSC 3.0 chipset for use in various consumer devices including televisions, cell phones, tablets, dongles, gateways and automotive units.
The companies intend their work to be more of an “incubation” stage for ATSC 3.0 chipset development before a “full-fledged development program” is launched. During this incubation stage, Saankhya Labs will move ahead with chip architecture definition and algorithm identification in collaboration with Sinclair and One Media 3.0 technical leads.
The partnership between the two companies comes as the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards is set to be finalized in the coming months and approval from the FCC for deployments is anticipated to arrive by the end of 2017.
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“We are pleased to begin working with Saankhya Labs to fast-track development of a global ATSC 3.0 device ecosystem that is focused on mobility, and provides support for all global broadcast transmission standards,” said Mark Aitken, Sinclair’s vice president for advanced technology, in a statement. “One Media 3.0 and Sinclair, as digital innovators and the largest U.S. broadcaster, are committed to ‘mobile first’ services, advanced data delivery as well as emergency and educational connectivity. Saankhya Labs’ software defined technology will allow us to exploit the underlying flexibility of the Next Generation standard in evolving beyond ‘3.0’ in support of the unique needs of large markets like the United States and India.”
“We are excited to partner with One Media 3.0 and Sinclair to develop an ATSC 3.0 chipset that is set to revolutionize the mobility broadcast and data delivery services industry,” said Parag Naik, CEO of Saankhya Labs, in the statement. “Based on ‘Pruthvi,’ Saankhya's award winning Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform, the next generation ATSC 3.0 chipset will enable true convergence of networks and devices. The new age chipset bears testimony to Sinclair and Saankhya's commitment to innovate and Make in India.”
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Sinclair and One Media 3.0 have been among the most active early on as the industry moves ahead with implementation of ATSC 3.0 standards.
Last November, the companies announced that they would shift their ATSC 3.0 development efforts toward receiver design and user data collection.
Sinclair and One Media anticipate the technology and data-gathering methodologies they are working on will be able to capture information relating to the consumer's actual viewing and consumption behaviors.
“No longer will broadcasters have to depend on expensive third party measurement services with small sample sizes and questionable results,” the companies said in a press release.