SK Telecom And Sinclair To Invest USD 33 Million In ATSC 3.0 Joint Venture

SK Telecom and Sinclair Broadcast Group will invest USD 33 million into a joint venture that will develop next-generation broadcasting solutions, the companies have announced.

The South Korean telco and US broadcaster will co-develop solutions based on the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 standard.

The application of the standard will allow faster data transmission for high resolution broadcasting, as well as the combining of broadcasting and telecommunications spectrum. It will also allow broadcasting spectrum to recognize IP addresses, which will translate to personalized services for users.

The ATSC 3.0 standard has been commercialized in South Korea since 2017 and the US is expecting to deploy it sometime this year.

The two companies will each invest USD 16.5 million into the joint venture which will be formed in the US during the first quarter of 2019.

The joint venture aims to provide its ATSC 3.0 solutions to some 1,000 local broadcasters that are expected to switch to the newer standard from ATSC 1.0 within the next 10 years.

SK Telecom is also preparing a slew of new services to go with the rollout of 5G this year, and is collaborating with Hyundai and Trimble to develop construction monitoring solutions that improve the overall efficiency of construction work.

The South Korean telco is also partnered with Samsung Electronics to further improve 5G equipment.― ZDNet