Benzinga | Dec 21, 2021 04:01PM EST

Nexstar Media Launches NEXTGEN TV At WHTM-TV In Harrisburg, PA, Marking The Company's 17th Market To Launch ATSC 3.0 In 2021

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) today announced that WHTM-TV, the Nexstar television station serving Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has begun broadcasting with NEXTGEN TV, a revolutionary new digital broadcast technology, powered by ATSC 3.0. Harrisburg is Nexstar's 17th market to begin broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 in 2021. Over the course of the year, Nexstar deployed ATSC 3.0 at 25 of its local television stations; close to 30% of all U.S. television households now receive a NEXTGEN TV signal from a Nexstar-owned or -operated station.

NEXTGEN TV brings a whole new dimension to the television viewing experience, with brilliant video and enhanced audio. Based on the same fundamental technology as the Internet, digital applications, and other web services, NEXTGEN TV can support a wide range of features such as immersive audio and video (up to 4K), datacasting, broadcasting to mobile devices, personalized viewing tools, and advanced emergency alerts. Nexstar is a participant in BitPath, a broadcaster-supported consortium creating a network for datacasting, with services launching in 2022. Nexstar's ATSC 3.0 television stations plan to participate in the BitPath broadcast data network.

"When it comes to the deployment of ATSC 3.0, we think scale is critically important to fostering consumer demand for NEXTGEN TV sets and developing new businesses and services," said Brett Jenkins, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Nexstar Media Group, Inc. "Nexstar reaches more television households with a NEXTGEN TV signal than any other local broadcast company. With even more Nexstar television stations deploying ATSC 3.0 in 2022, we are well-positioned to launch broad-based datacasting services to support new businesses in such areas as agriculture, automotive, digital signage, education, location services and public safety. A recent BIA study suggested that these services could generate up to $15 billion in additional broadcast revenue by 2030, and Nexstar will be very aggressive in pursuing the new opportunities presented by NEXTGEN TV."