The Future Of Local Television — And Why It Matters To You
The following was offered as a rebuttal to TVREV contributor Tim Hanlon’s article Weigel Says The Quiet Part Out Loud. TVREV welcomes a diversity of opinions and will, on occasion, run counterarguments to our commentary and analysis.
Broadcast television is in the middle of an extraordinary transformation. Local broadcasters, who are fierce competitors in the market, have been voluntarily cooperating to pool limited spectrum resources to enable the future of television in the United States. A new transmission standard, ATSC 3.0, or NextGen TV, will set the stage for better service for viewers, critical public service and national security benefits, and a secure future for local enterprise journalism.
Unfortunately, a few self-interested naysayers are downplaying the importance of this transition and its benefits for viewers and the public. While unsurprising, it is disappointing to see these parties cloaking their own parochial business concerns in the guise of the public interest – asserting that NextGen TV means leaving broadcasting’s traditional public service model behind.
That narrative misses the bigger picture.
Local television has always had one central purpose: to serve the communities where we live and work. That mission has not changed. What has changed is the world around us.
We operate in a media environment dominated by massive, global, largely unregulated digital platforms. These companies can innovate rapidly, collect stunning amounts of data, and deploy new services without permission, without the shackles of regulation, and without the same public interest obligations that local broadcasters have willingly embraced. We remain the most reliable and trusted source of local news, weather coverage, election information, and emergency alerts and public safety messaging, and we provide our service for free to anyone with an antenna.
So when broadcasters talk about the need to modernize our service television, we are focused on ensuring local television can continue to compete, innovate, and serve.
ATSC 3.0 allows clearer pictures, better sound, improved reception, interactive features, more robust emergency information, and a critical terrestrial complement to a trillion-dollar vulnerability from GPS attacks or failure. ATSC 3.0 enables television to operate more like the internet, while remaining free and accessible. That matters in a world where audiences expect modern functionality on every screen. Stated plainly, ATSC 3.0 allows broadcasting to enter the 21st century.
It is also important to be clear about something often overlooked: the first digital standard, ATSC 1.0, had real technical limitations. It was not designed to be IP-native, it was not built for two-way or interactive services, and it did not effectively support mobile reception in a smartphone world. Broadcasters experimented creatively within those constraints, but the system itself could not deliver the kind of portable, connected, app-like experience consumers now expect. Many of the so-called “broken promises” were not failures of vision — they were limitations of the technology available at the time. ATSC 3.0 was designed specifically to solve those problems, bringing television into the IP era and finally enabling reliable mobile delivery, interactivity, advanced emergency alerting, and true data services.
Stronger technology also supports stronger economics. Local newsrooms cannot operate on goodwill alone. If broadcasters cannot compete effectively with streaming platforms for advertising revenue and audience attention, communities lose trusted local journalism. Modern capabilities help create sustainable business models that keep reporters in the field, meteorologists on the air during storms, and emergency alerts reaching households when they matter most. While the naysayers insinuate that new economic opportunities will undermine localism, local journalism, or the public service, the reality is that broadcasting must innovate or risk obsolescence. Local news is at the heart of what we do, but requires resources, time, and skilled employees. Advertising and distribution revenue alone do not ensure a stable future for broadcasters.
Just look at the newspaper industry. A handful of newspapers have managed to evolve and prosper, while so many others have failed. The survivors have succeeded by embracing new opportunities such as gaming, cooking, sports, and lifestyle platforms. Broadcasters must lean into new opportunities to continue to succeed in our core public interest mission.
Finally, some parties have raised concerns regarding ATSC 3.0’s ability to enable digital rights management technology, or DRM. This is puzzling. For the first time, broadcasters are now able to offer similar levels of content protection to their unregulated streaming competitors. For viewers, this is not about restriction; it is about protecting content and ensuring that programming rights, including sports and other premium programming, can continue to be offered over the air. Every major streaming platform uses similar protections. The goal is not to take something away from viewers, but to ensure that broadcasters can continue to provide high‑value content while abiding by rules set by content producers and copyright holders.
We cherish the role of local television. We are part of the communities we serve. Our employees live there. Our children go to school there. When disasters strike, we are there because our friends, family, neighbors, and communities are our first priority.
The future of television must allow us to continue to play our indispensable role, strengthened, modernized, and made sustainable.
That is the future we are working toward. Not for ourselves, but for the communities we are privileged to serve.
