ATSC 3.0 organization Pearl TV today announced that Dielectric, Enensys, GatesAir, Harmonic and Triveni Digital have all signed on to provide equipment for the Phoenix model market.
The Phoenix model market—a collaborative initiative being run by E.W. Scripps, Fox Television Stations, Meredith Local Media Group, Nexstar Media, TEGNA, Telemundo Station Group, Univision Communications and Pearl TV—will be a test bed for a number of emerging ATSC 3.0 technologies.
“We are delighted to announce the first group of technology suppliers who will help make the Phoenix Model Market a reality. This is just first round of key broadcast equipment vendors who are now at work to create an over-the-air ATSC 3.0 deployment. Phoenix is an open test bed environment and we plan work with additional suppliers and share our findings broadly with the industry,” said Pearl TV managing director Anne Schelle in a statement.
Dielectric will provide its UT8D7F-3K, a 3 kW, 8- Pole, UHF bandpass filter, for the Phoenix project’s use in mask applications.
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Enensys is providing its ATSCheduler, a broadcast gateway that can bring MMT, ROUTE and IP streams in an ATSC multiplex while allocating data and managing synchronization for SFNs.
GatesAir is providing its Maxiva UAXTE-3 UHF air-cooled TV transmitter for the first Phoenix ATSC 3.0 broadcasts.
Harmonic is providing its Electra X ATSC 3.0 media processor that integrates its encoding solution and statistical multiplexer for delivering multiple HEVC programs over DASH. The Electra X also connects to Harmonic’s cloud-based VOS 360 SaaS platform to enable hybrid OTA/OTT services.
Triveni Digital is providing its Broadcast Services Management Platform content distribution system, including GuideBuilder XM signaling, announcement, and transport generator, as well as StreamScope XM advanced monitoring and analysis systems.
Pearl TV said that Phoenix is the twelfth-largest U.S. TV market with more than 1.8 million households and more than 1 in 5 viewers relying on over-the-air reception for TV viewing.
Many local Phoenix broadcasters are participating in the model market tests that will involve independent broadcasters along with the major networks’ owned and affiliated stations.
Test objectives for the model market project include confirming basic TV service parameters and performance, determining the appeal of next-generation high dynamic range video and immersive audio content to consumers, assessing TV application features and implementation requirements, testing interactive and addressable advertising functionality, and determining consumer device and service appeal.