The FOX, ABC and MyNetwork TV affiliates serving Pittsburgh are now among the first in the nation to begin broadcasting with NEXTGEN TV, the new digital broadcast standard using the ATSC 3.0 protocol.
BitPath, which is developing new data broadcasting services, led the planning and coordinated efforts across the three stations.
The participating stations cooperated to ensure that all existing programming remains available to all viewers, regardless of whether they receive their television service by antenna, or by cable or satellite.
Antenna viewers should simply rescan their TV sets to ensure full service.
Cable and satellite subscribers do not need to take any action.
The stations include Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned WPGH-53, the FOX affiliate, and MYNetwork TV WPNT-22.
The station’s GM, Kent Crawford, pointed to how KDKA-AM began 100 years ago this November as the first officially recognized commercially licensed broadcast media property — right down the street in Pittsburgh.
“It’s only appropriate then for us to usher in the latest in broadcast innovation,” Crawford said. “We are excited to continue this legacy and introduce our viewers to an extraordinary new TV experience.”
Charles W. Wolfertz III, President/GM of Hearst Television‘s ABC affiliated WTAE-4, added, “Pittsburgh continues to re-invent itself and has welcomed well known innovators like Apple, Uber, Facebook and Google. At WTAE, we are excited to help write the next chapter in Pittsburgh’s storied tradition of innovation by launching the next generation of broadcast television to our viewers throughout western Pennsylvania.”
