Nexstar Media and Sinclair Broadcast Group said that Univision Local Media signed on with their consortium built to promote spectrum aggregation, monetization and work in the wireless data transmission sector.
The companies, as part of the consortium, will work together on a nonexclusive basis, and remain on the lookout for more companies to join their initiative. According to the broadcasters, Nexstar, Sinclair and Univision reach approximately 90% of the country.
Nexstar and Sinclair in March announced the consortium, which is particularly invested in developing products and services associated with ATSC 3.0 and monetization opportunities such as spectrum utilization, virtual MVPD platforms, multicast channels, automotive applications, single frequency networks and wireless data applications, according to a news release.
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"We are encouraged by the leadership that Nexstar and Sinclair have shown in advancing the new ATSC 3.0 standard for our industry," said John Eck, executive vice president and chief local media officer at Univision, in a statement. "We look forward to partnering with them to identify new content and distribution opportunities that maximize the value of our broadcast spectrum and provide meaningful benefit to consumers and advertisers."
"We are excited to add Univision to the consortium and achieve near complete coverage of the country. Univision's addition to this partnership brings Spanish language broadcasters into the mix which will be able to benefit from the many 3.0 products and services that are on the horizon," said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley in a statement.
The ATSC 3.0 next-gen TV standards are nearing finalization and are currently undergoing a public rulemaking process at the FCC. The standards are expected to deliver features like improved picture and sound quality, heightened viewer safety features, and the ability for mobile devices to receive OTA broadcast signals.
Upon adoption of ATSC 3.0, Nexstar and Sinclair expect to capture information relating to consumers’ actual viewing and consumption behaviors and, as a result, “broadcasters will no longer have to rely on expensive third party measurement services with small sample sizes and unverified results.”