On December 24, 1996, the U.S. FCC adopted the major elements of the ATSC Digital Television (DTV) Standard, mandating its use for digital terrestrial television broadcasts in the U.S. (The FCC did not mandate use of the specific HDTV and SDTV video formats contained in the ATSC Standard, but these have been uniformly adopted on a voluntary basis by broadcasters and receiver manufacturers.)
In 1997 the FCC adopted companion DTV rules assigning additional 6 MHz channels to approximately 1,600 full-power broadcasters in the U.S. to permit them to offer digital terrestrial broadcasts in parallel with their existing analog services during a transition period while consumers made the conversion to digital receivers or set-top boxes. The FCC also adopted a series of rules governing the transition to digital television, including a rather aggressive schedule for the transition. Under the FCC'#146;s timetable, stations in the largest U.S. cities would be required to go on the air first with digital services, while stations in smaller cities would make the transition later.
Under the FCC's plan, more than half of the U.S. population would have access to terrestrial broadcast DTV signals within the first year, all commercial stations would have to be on the air within five years, and all public TV stations would have to be on the air within six years. Analog broadcasts would cease after nine years, assuming that the public had embraced digital TV in adequate numbers by that time. Part of the FCC's motivation in mandating a rapid deployment of digital TV was to hasten the day when it could recapture 108 MHz of invaluable nationwide spectrum that would be freed up by the use of more spectrum-efficient digital television technology.
In accordance with the FCC plan, digital television service was launched in the U.S. November 1, 1998, and more than 50 percent of the U.S. population had access to terrestrial DTV signals within one year. As of March 1, 2003, there were more than 750 DTV stations on the air in the U.S. The ATSC DTV Standard was submitted to Task Group 11/3 of the ITU-R, and it was included as System A in ITU Recommendations BT.1300 and BT.1306.
When the ATSC DTV Standard was first adopted by the ATSC in 1995, the ATSC was strictly a United States organization with approximately 50 members, although Mexican and Canadian organizations played a significant role throughout the entire Advisory Committee process in developing what was always expected to be a standard for all of North America, at least. In January 1996 the ATSC modified its charter to become an international organization, and the ATSC began to work with a variety of countries around the world to explore the possibility of using the ATSC Standard for their DTV services. Since that time, the ATSC DTV Standard has been adopted by the governments of Canada (November 8, 1997), South Korea (November 21, 1997), Taiwan (May 8, 1998), and Argentina (October 22, 1998), and many other countries are now considering the ATSC Standard for possible use in their countries. Today, the ATSC has approximately 170 members from a variety of countries in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Ongoing Work of the ATSC
Since the primary ATSC DTV Standard was adopted in 1995, the ATSC has conducted an ever greater and more varied program for developing supplemental DTV and DTV-related standards, and for addressing important implementation issues that have arisen in the countries that have adopted the ATSC DTV Standard. Highlights of this work include a standard for program and system information protocol (PSIP), a conditional access standard to permit restricted or pay services, a data broadcasting standard, a standard for return channel protocols to support interactive services, a standardized software environment for digital receivers (DASE), standards for satellite contribution and distribution services as well as direct-to-home satellite services, and support for non-alphabetic languages. ATSC members from the computer industry have played a central role in leading much of this work, helping to ensure that the full range of potential information services can be achieved using digital television technology.
In conclusion, key organizations that contributed to the development of digital television, and to the ATSC DTV Standard specifically, include the U.S. Congress and FCC, the FCC's Advisory Committee consisting of hundreds of volunteers from all corners of the television industry, the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance, the ATSC itself, and the ITU-R. The huge, coordinated effort to create this Standard is, in itself, a momentous achievement. Fortunately, most of the people responsible for this achievement are continuing their efforts under the banner of the ATSC.
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