At the 2018 NAB Show, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance and the Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA, a trade association that represents Korean broadcasters, equipment manufacturers and researchers) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that pledges the three organizations’ efforts to work collaboratively on Next Generation TV development using the ATSC 3.0 standard, with particular emphasis on advanced emergency alerting efforts.
Television broadcasters in the Republic of Korea (RoK) began transmissions using the ATSC 3.0 standard in May 2017. The MoU is intended to align Korean and U.S. efforts in deploying and testing ATSC 3.0 services, and harmonize the two countries’ usage of the new standard’s advanced capabilities in emergency alerting for next-generation TV.
The MoU announces the formation of a joint committee among the three organizations, which will develop a plan to share information on ATSC 3.0-related activities, and facilitate joint participation in ATSC 3.0-related events across the two countries.
NAB and RAPA also agree in the MoU to mutually promote the ATSC 3.0 standard, and to share use cases, service scenarios and test results of system deployments in the new format. In addition, the MoU affirms AWARN and RAPA’s agreement to develop and execute plans for a global alliance on emergency alerting in next-generation TV using ATSC 3.0. The groups further agree to provide opportunities for testing and to create best practices for emergency alerting in the U.S. and the RoK. The best practices will be based on available social science research and input from emergency managers in both countries.
