NextGen TV is coming for your television set

“NextGen TV exponentially expands the type of content broadcasters can provide and the ways that viewers can engage with their television screens,” said Shane Miner, chief operating officer at Boston TV station GBH, which broadcasts in the new format.

NextGen TV was created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, a consortium of electronics companies that set the technical standards for TV broadcasting in the United States. It uses internet data protocols that allow for much more efficient audio and video compression. That means there’s enough bandwidth to broadcast shows in 4K video resolution with seven channels of surround-sound audio. And for TVs connected to a broadband link, NextGen TV will enable interactive features like the ability to time-shift broadcast shows or look at special video streams made available by local TV stations.

For instance, on Boston 25, a local station that broadcasts in NextGen TV, a viewer with a smartphone app can switch from the live TV program to an internet service that shows round-the-clock Boston weather reports, or look at video clips from the station’s news broadcast.

ATSC president Madeleine Noland said that the service could someday offer other features, like the ability to watch the station’s local programs anytime on demand, just as a cable subscriber can.

NextGen TV broadcasting has already begun in most of the United States. But only about 10.3 million compatible TV sets have been sold in the United States, according to the Consumer Technology Association. That’s expected to change this year, as TV makers roll out more than 100 new NextGen-compatible models. CTA expects sales of NextGen sets to increase by 45 percent in 2024.

The last time the ATSC made a change this big, it was the switch from analog TV to high-definition digital broadcasting. That process took over a decade and forced millions of US viewers to purchase new TV sets or special converter boxes for the old ones.

This time the transition will be kinder and gentler. Consumers who don’t want NextGen TV won’t have to upgrade their sets anytime soon, and broadcasters don’t have to offer the service. TV stations that offer NextGen TV will continue their old-school broadcasts as well. The Federal Communications Commission says stations can keep using the older system until 2027, and it is open to extending the deadline even further.

But by then, it’s likely that most new TVs will include the NextGen TV technology at no extra cost, giving consumers little reason to resist the changeover. Meanwhile, adapter boxes for older sets are already on sale at retailers like Walmart for around $90, and the ATSC’s Noland predicted that the price will fall sharply over time.

Noland said that NextGen TV isn’t available on smaller, cheaper sets yet. “It’s like with any technology. Things start at the high end and they work their way down,” she said, adding that larger models equipped with NextGen TV will cost little more than TVs that lack the feature.

While NextGen TV offers new features to viewers, Noland said its deployment is equally important to TV broadcasters hoping to remain competitive with the higher video resolution and advanced interactive features offered by pay-TV services.

“Over-the-air broadcasters are using 25-year-old technology,” Noland said. “The old system, it’s not serving the people anymore. It’s got to change.”

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GlobeTechLab.