North Korea Rolls Out Next-Generation Television to Captive Audience

Not to be outdone by their neighbors to the south, North Korea has taken its first steps in rolling out the next-generation television standard KTSC 3.0. Based on ATSC 3.0, KTSC 3.0 modifies the standard, for example by replacing COFDM with TEADM, so that compliant televisions are unable to receive the ATSC 3.0 broadcasts from South Korea.

A key feature of the new standard is its incorporation of a DRM scheme permitting broadcasters more control over how viewers consume their programming. Viewers are not allowed to pause or fast-forward through commercials or state-sponsored segments, for example, although they are allowed to rewind and watch them again.

A more controversial aspect of the DRM scheme requires viewers to wear a bracelet monitoring their proximity to the television. Televisions will only display programming while a viewer is within five meters of the set. Straying from those bounds during a commercial (or certain “Kkog Bwayahanda” or “Must Watch” programming) results in the administration of progressively stronger electrical shocks.
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NextGen Fresno!

Three exciting events have recently occurred in the normally sleepy region of Fresno, California. First, Cocola Broadcasting brought an RF 6 ATSC 3.0 “Frankenstation” on line. With UHD content! Second Sinclair launched its emission. Third, the temperature in mid-June was unseasonably cool for a couple days (highs in 70s). With that confluence of events we just had to trek out and see what NextGen Fresno had to offer!

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ATSC 3.0, Encryption, and You

Recently there’s been a lot of chatter about ATSC 3.0 broadcasts going encrypted in the not-too-distant future. We’ve actually been hearing murmurs about this for quite a while, however what seems to have set things into a flurry is a notice from Nuvyyo (i.e. Tablo) indicating that their much-anticipated ATSC 3.0 version of Tablo is being delayed – because they need to implement A3SA. A3SA is the security architecture for handling encrypted ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. Apparently Nuvyyo learned a number of broadcasters were going to flip the encryption switch at the end of summer, and (kudos to them) elected not to release a product which wouldn’t handle those encrypted services.

(Now you actually can receive and watch an encrypted service due to the way ATSC 3.0 and common encryption works.  It won’t exactly be what you expect, but the psychedelic melange of greens and fuchsias can be quite, well, entertaining in its own right…)

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NextGen TV Arrives in the Bay Area!

It was a bit unexpected. And the programming isn’t exactly a showcase of what NextGen TV can deliver. But at long last the Bay Area has an ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV) broadcast compliments of KBKF! After spending a couple years trekking to Phoenix, Santa Barbara and Las Vegas to go to the emissions it’s nice to have one in our own backyard. And we’re pleased to add ATSC 3.0 monitoring support at SFBayATSC!

KBKF is operated by Venture Technologies Group, LLC and broadcasts on VHF 6 from Mt. Loma Prieta. At the time of writing the 3.0 emission consists of a single PLP utilizing 64 QAM and an 8/15 code rate. This is a bit more robust than other 3.0 emissions, which often utilize 256 QAM, though at the expense of a lower capacity (~14 Mbit/s). In mid June two ROUTE/DASH services were being transmitted – a barker channel as 6-1 and UChan as 6-2. At the moment UChan has taken the 6-1 VC and the barker has signed off. Interestingly the services are using AAC audio. While this was prevalent in early 3.0 phases when AC-4 support for receivers and encoders was still under development, commercial deployments in the US are required to use AC-4. (The ATSC 3.0 specification provides for multiple audio codecs, but only a single codec is allowed in a region. In North America that codec is AC-4.)
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