The Future Of Television Why The Country Needs To Complete The Next

Leo Migdal

-Dec 5, 2025, 10:53 PM

the future of television why the country needs to complete the next

Free, over-the-air television broadcasting stands at a crossroads. Nearly a decade after the industry first proposed transitioning to Next Generation Television (Next Gen TV or ATSC 3.0), we’ve made impressive progress – but the final leap to complete adoption now requires the... Today, NAB filed a petition to get us to the finish line. Since 2016, when major industry organizations including NAB first petitioned the FCC, Next Gen TV has transformed from vision to reality. Today, it reaches over 75% of the U.S. population across more than 80 television markets, all while broadcasters continue to provide ATSC 1.0 service without any additional spectrum.

The results speak for themselves. Since receiving FCC authorization in 2017, Next Gen TV has delivered: And the best part is, because it’s over-the-air broadcasting, these new features are delivered for free to viewers. All you need is a Next Gen-capable TV and an antenna. There are no monthly subscription fees. Despite this progress, the broadcast industry faces what FCC Chairman Brendan Carr calls a “break glass moment.”.

As competitive pressures mount from streaming services and other platforms, completing the transition to ATSC 3.0 has become essential for the industry’s future and the public’s benefit. Without immediate, decisive action, we risk missing our window of opportunity to ensure that free, local, over-the-air television remains a strong, high-quality option for consumers. The television continues to evolve, the NBA’s new media rights agreement is indicative of the future direction of the medium. Last month, the NBA added NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video as media partners and dropped TNT which had been televising games since 1988. The 11-year $77 billion agreement will expire after the 2035-36 season. NBC, a broadcast network, has extensive reach, available in 125 million U.S.

households. Prime Video has a reported 115 million subscribers in the U.S. and 200 million globally. In another indication on the direction of television has been the financial challenges the one-time lucrative regional sports networks have been facing. Last year, AT&T SportsNet, operational in four markets, exited the RSN business. The Diamond Sports Group, the largest RSN, declared dropped the RSN with a combination of broadcast stations and a direct-to-consumer offering.

Local stations have extensive reach in TV markets and are benefiting from the growth of digital antennas and increasing availability of NextGen TV. Also, watching live sports on a streaming service has been on the rise. Below is a quick overview on the sttatus of cable, streaming and broadcast. The number of households with access to cable programming had reached its high-water mark in May 2011 when subscribers totaled more than 105 million households accounting for nearly 91% of TV homes. Since then, with the emergence of cord-cutting, the percentage of homes has dropped precipitously. Nowadays, only 57% of television households subscribe to cable, accounting for just over 71 million households.

Furthermore, the number of households dropping their cable TV subscription has been accelerating. In 2023, among the largest cable programming distributors, a record five million canceled their cable subscription, an increase from 4.6 million in 2022. With the decline in subscribers the audience for most cable networks have been in a freefall. In 2023 there were only three cable networks that averaged over one million viewers in prime time. By comparison, in 2013, there were 19 cable networks that averaged over one million viewers. The audience erosion is not slowing down.

In Nielsen’s June 2024 Gauge report, cable totaled a 27.2% share of TV usage, the lowest to date. In June 2023, cable’s share had been 30.6% and in June 2021 cable’s share numbered 40.1%. ) By: Emily Gomes and Alison Martin Free, over-the-air television broadcasting stands at a crossroads. Nearly a decade after the industry first proposed transitioning to Next Generation Television (Next Gen TV or ATSC 3.0), we've made impressive progress - but the final leap to complete adoption now requires the... read full story Answer for your question of the article will be displayed here ...

Once dominated by traditional television channels and cable networks, broadcasting is now shaped by digital streaming, on-demand content, and emerging technologies. As new trends continue to redefine how content is delivered, watched, and monetized, the future of broadcasting will be determined by innovation, consumer-centric experiences, and evolving business models. Traditional broadcasting relied heavily on linear TV, where viewers tuned into scheduled programming airing on a specific channel transmitting to a particular location. From over-the-top local stations to the cable revolution, the growth of linear TV fueled technological advances in broadcasting. The proliferation of channels and program choices combined with cable bundling and rising prices paved the way for on-demand subscription streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+, allowing audiences to consume content whenever and... It also led the way for new ways to broadcast digitally, like with FAST platforms where VOD assets are aggregated and streamed linearly.

These platforms and new live streaming services have gained popularity, offering real-time broadcasts of everything from news events to sports and gaming. OTT (over-the-top) apps have also disrupted traditional broadcasting by bypassing cable networks, and directly delivering content via the Internet. Complementing this shift is the rapid rise of connected TV (CTV), where consumers access streaming services through devices like smart TVs, Roku, or Apple TV, making the home viewing experience more flexible than ever. The broadcasting industry’s ongoing transformation is fueled by technological advancements and shifting consumer preferences. Public broadcasters won’t have to adopt ATSC 3.0 anytime soon if they don’t want to. That’s the biggest takeaway from the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking for ATSC 3.0, also known as Next Gen TV.

While the commission wants to strip away some regulations that could hinder support for the new broadcast standard, for now it’s stopped short of setting cutoff dates for the existing ATSC 1.0 standard or... The FCC will likely vote on its proposed rules next year. The lack of an ATSC 3.0 mandate should come as a relief for public broadcasters that aren’t prepared to upgrade, but some broadcasters believe that the new standard won’t go anywhere without a clearer... “If you don’t mandate it, it’s probably not going to happen,” Franz Joachim, CEO at New Mexico PBS and former chair of America’s Public Television Stations, said in an interview. ATSC 3.0 uses an IP-based architecture to broadcast information over the public airwaves, similar to how data flows over the internet. It also makes broadcasts more efficient by using newer compression formats such as High Efficiency Video Coding.

Drive action with scaled, universal, and privacy-forward weather data Leave a lasting impression with storytelling built for maximum impact Own the moment with contextual experiences that drive relevancy Build relationships while creating value and driving performance Learn how brands are transforming business with the power of weather Proposed rules would give broadcasters flexibility, but a lack of direction for devices, rights management and MVPDs risks slowing adoption

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. In late October, the FCC voted to give U.S. broadcasters more freedom in determining how to manage the transition to ATSC 3.0 and the shutdown of ATSC 1.0 services. Since broadcasters have a strong incentive not to disenfranchise existing viewers, this makes sense. The proposed rules (the Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking or “5FNPRM”) are not clear on what steps, if any, the Federal Communications Commission will require from other partners, such as receiver manufacturers, to...

It also raises questions about the current use of content protection (digital rights management) and whether that complies with broadcast requirements in the Communications Act. While the proposed rules offer positive steps towards a transition to ATSC 3.0, they also highlight the challenges and risks to broadcasters in an ATSC 1.0 shutdown. With this in mind, I’ll look at some of the main topics in the 5FNPRM. The National Association of Broadcasters’ transition proposal has been widely covered, so I don’t plan to focus on it here. The evolution of technology is a constant in our daily lives. Under our very noses, what is old disappears and new ways of doing things emerge in a state of flux.

For our broadcast industry, the challenge is two-fold: not only must it adapt but it must also stay at the forefront of change. In a world where the amount of digital content is doubling every two years and where the internet is getting faster and more ubiquitous, television must be reinvented to remain relevant. How is television adapting to such ultrafast-paced technological changes? By exploring how the way we produce, distribute and consume content on TV changes, we can anticipate where our industry is headed to. New technologies – The future is already here The digitization of our societies has led to a large-scale data explosion.

Live events are an excellent example of how we are adapting to this new reality. Thanks to Edge Computing technology, which processes data where it is generated rather than sending it to a central location, latency, or delay in data transmission has been dramatically reduced. According to data analysis company Statista, by 2025 the adoption of this technology is expected to generate a turnover of up to $15.7 billion. Over The Top (OTT) television services, which broadcast content over the internet rather than over traditional terrestrial, satellite, or cable airwaves, are radically transforming television. Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus are examples of OTT giants that have shaken the audiovisual landscape. According to Grand View Research, in 2020 global revenues from OTT services reached $104 billion, which demonstrates the growing popularity of this form of television consumption.

The Future Of Television Why The Country Needs To Complete The Next

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