Smith is talking about Sinclair ' s contribution to landmark innovation - ATSC 3.0 , also known as NextGen Broadcast . It essentially enables broadcasting to be an integral piece of the 5G telecommunications ecosystem . The project is led by Sinclair ’ s Senior Vice President of Advanced Technology , Mark Aitken .
“ We ' ve invested tens of millions of dollars helping to develop the NextGen Broadcast standard , and no one else in our industry was willing to do that ,” says CEO Ripley , “ but that ' s the sort of entrepreneurial spirit and technology focus that we have , the expertise we have with guys like Mark [ Aitken ] and Del Parks and their teams that enabled us to do that .
“ It was that long-term vision , which caused us to be able to take that leap and invest in the future for which the rest of our peers had no appetite ,” notes Ripley .
The technology repurposes the 6 MHz channel that television stations around the world use to transmit their signal . Developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee - an international standards setting body - with substantial input from Sinclair - ATSC 3.0 - also known as NextGen Broadcast utilises the existing infrastructure to do so much more than linear video programming to a fixed TV set in the home . Using the same “ language ” of the Internet - Internet Protocol or IP - broadcasters can now use their
116 May 2022