PILOT Launches New NEXTGEN TV Fellowship

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — PILOT, the NAB‘s innovation initiative, has launched the PILOT NEXTGEN TV Fellowship program with support from Amazon Web Services (AWS).


Structured like an early-stage start-up, the fellowship will focus on exploring capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard and developing a concept for a NEXTGEN TV product or service.

Alongside industry experts, fellows will gain “practical, first-hand experience” with NEXTGEN TV technology. The eight-month program will include product training, seminars and one-on-one coaching with NEXTGEN TV standard experts and AWS representatives. The fellowship will conclude with fellows presenting their projects at the 2022 NAB Show in April in Las Vegas.

The 2021 fellows are current Howard University students Mikaela Mosley and Sulaiman Bastien.

Mosley is a senior television and film production major and political science minor and serves as the GM and producer for Howard University’s Spotlight Network/WHUT-TV. Mosley recently completed an internship with Amazon Studios as a Drama Development intern.

Bastien is a senior television and film production major and computer science minor, with a concentration on directing and software engineering. He recently completed an internship with NEXTGEN TV promotional and rollout entity Pearl TV as an application developer.

Howard University is partnering with local broadcast television stations to bring NEXTGEN TV to local stations in Washington, D.C., with Howard University’s WHUT serving as the host station. Other participating stations include WJLA-7, WUSA-9, WTTG-5 and WRC-4.

Fellows will also participate in NAB Leadership’s Technology Apprenticeship Program (TAP). TAP is a complimentary career development program that is designed to train, inform and recruit the next generation of leaders in the broadcasting industry. Between these two innovative programs, fellows will be poised to launch a cutting-edge career as an engineer or technology professional in the broadcasting industry.