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Louisville stations launch Nextgen TV

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September 13, 2022

Five local TV stations in Louisville, Kentucky are banding together to launch Nextgen TV, the first enhanced broadcast A/V standard in a quarter century, according to a press release.

WBKI, a Block Communications station, is spearheading the effort and is joined by partner channels WAVE, WHAS and WBNA in the initial launch, with KET joining on Sept. 19, which will bring local Nextgen TV coverage to an estimated 660,000 viewers in the metro and outlying areas, which comprise a top-50 media market. The combined initiative is coordinated by Pearl TV, a collective organization of U.S. broadcast companies and more than 800 television stations that collaborate on broadcast media nationwide.

"Nextgen TV delivers unprecedented entertainment, information and engagement opportunities to consumers and it will revolutionize Louisville viewers interactions with their screens," Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, said in the release. "Today and in the future, Louisville viewers will have a television experience that is more immersive, visually and audibly better, and will continue to be enhanced as more features from broadcasters and device manufacturers become available."

Nextgen TV standards include 4K HDR video quality and movie-theater sound fidelity along with standards for interactivity and futureproofing to enhance compatibility with future broadcasting innovations and is tailored to enhance sports broadcasts, according to the release. Nextgen TV is designed not to interfere with streaming bandwidth, an effort by broadcast media producers to operate alongside the streaming paradigm rather than combating it.

Nextgen TV will reach 60% of American households by year's end, replacing the Advanced Television Systems Committee's broadcast standard for OTA signals. The standard is also designed to grow in step with new technologies and is optimized for the Run3TV web platform, an industry-standard system designed to integrate broadcast media with web and interactive components.