This week on TechHive: Why ATSC 3.0 isn’t relevant yet

Jared Newman
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January 7, 2022
Clearstream Antenna

For years now, the broadcast TV industry has been talking up plans to overhaul over-the-air TV with a new standard called ATSC 3.0.

Also known as NextGen TV, ATSC 3.0 can deliver 4K HDR video, enhanced dialog, on-demand viewing options, and potentially better reception, all for free with an antenna. Stations in 46 U.S. markets are now broadcasting in the new standard, covering nearly half the United States, with dozens more markets to come throughout 2022.

But before you buy into the hype and shop for compatible TVs or tuner boxes, keep in mind that NextGen TV is still bleeding-edge technology, and broadcasters have yet to realize its biggest benefits. As I wrote last year and the year before, most antenna users can safely leave ATSC 3.0 out of their cord-cutting plans for now, even if it’s something to keep an eye on for the future. Read the full column on TechHive.

Weekly rewind

Tablo’s ATSC 3.0 DVR: I mentioned this in my column as well, but it’s worth breaking out the news that Nuvyyo plans to launch a NextGen TV DVR in the spring. The Tablo ATSC 3.0 Quad HDMI—a mouthful, admittedly—plugs directly into a television over HDMI and has four tuners, each capable of supporting either ATSC 3.0 or 1.0 channels.

But trade-offs apply: At $300, it’s $100 pricier than Tablo’s existing Tablo Quad HDMI, and unlike the ATSC 1.0 model, it’s incapable of sending video to other screens around the house via Tablo’s streaming TV apps. Nuvyyo says it may add streaming capabilities in the future, but ATSC 3.0’s various technical and copy protection issues make this difficult to implement at the outset.

All of which reinforces the points made above about not rushing into the new broadcast standard. Unless you’re an extreme early adopter, you can safely stick with an ATSC 1.0 over-the-air DVR (from Tablo or others) instead.

Peacock’s Olympic plans: As rumored back in October, NBCUniversal will stream the entirety of next month’s winter Olympics on Peacock Premium, essentially bringing the cost of the games down to just $5 for the month. The coverage will include every live televised event—even those airing on NBC’s cable channels—along with on-demand replays, studio shows, and the opening and closing ceremonies.

It’s a major turnaround from NBCU’s summer Olympics strategy last year, which involved spreading coverage across Peacock and traditional cable channels. Watching the games as a cord cutter was therefore about twice as expensive as it was in 2018, and about 10 times more confusing. The network appears to have realized that trying to prop up the pay TV bundle isn’t worth alienating potential Peacock subscribers (and advertisers).

More catch-up

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As always with these deals, if you cancel your subscription the day after signing up, you’ll still get the full two-month trial and won’t get billed at the end. Once your subscription ends, you’ll be eligible for whatever new code has emerged by then.

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s nice to back after a refreshing week off, and I’m relieved there weren’t any new carriage disputes or other dramatic events while I was gone.

Got cord-cutting questions you’d like me to answer? Ideas on what I should write about next? Get in touch by replying to this email.

Until next week,

Jared

Cord Cutter Weekly is a labor of love by tech journalist Jared Newman. Say hi on Twitter, and spread the word that there’s a better kind of TV out there.