STAMFORD, Conn.—XGen Network (XGN) and Milachi Media, as the founding members along with the LPTVBA, have announced the launch of the 5G Broadcast Collective, a new broadcast industry non-profit to promote and help deploy 5G broadcasting worldwide. The group will formally launch at the 2024 NAB Show, April 14-17 in Las Vegas.
Along with XGN and Milachi, other members include Qualcomm and HC2 Broadcasting, a New York-based broadcast group that owns four full-power stations, 34 Class A stations and 97 LPTV stations.
5G Broadcasting is a direct to mobile platform that runs independently of any other service on a smartphone chip be it cell service, satellite, wifi, or Bluetooth. U.S. broadcasters can deploy 5G Broadcast by replacing their current exciter with 5G Broadcast exciter with modulator and 5G core software, without impacting the station’s current transmitter and antenna, according to the Collective. In other parts of the world, 5G Broadcast can be interlaced with ISDB and DBTV-2 to operate simultaneously and is being studied in the US for interlacing with ATSC 3.0.
5G Broadcast was successfully deployed on Milachi Media’s Boston DMA WWOO-LD last September, showing both a streaming channel and proof of emergency alerts being delivered to a smartphone within 0.5 seconds. The proof of concept also included a 5G Broadcast CPE receiver delivering a 1080p signal in 800 kbps using Ateme processing to a 65-inch television with “pristine results,” the Collective said. Additional experimental licenses for 5G Broadcast have been issued by the FCC to XGN in Stamford, Conn., Washington DC, and Las Vegas.
Milachi Media’s President Bill Christian stated, “5G Broadcasting is an exciting new platform for broadcast television to deliver a signal directly into a smartphone. Milachi Media is committed to being on the cutting edge of technology and is proud to work with 5G Broadcast Collective to bring our worldwide 5G Broadcasters together for both streaming and emergency alerts.”
5G Broadcast Collective President/Founder, “SuperFrank” Copsidas, also President/Founder of LPTV Broadcasters Association, stated, “In speaking with broadcasters from around the world, interest in 5G Broadcast is strong with many countries looking at trial deployments. There is a need for an organization to bond together the knowledge and experience of broadcasters as this exciting new technology emerges.”
Although no exhibitors have publicly announced plans to demonstrate 5G Broadcast at the NAB Show, some vendors, including Italy’s SYES currently have 5G Broadcast solutions; Rohde & Schwarz, as well, has demo-ed 5G Broadcast at numerous broadcast shows over the past year and as recently as the 2024 MWC Barcelona. Software to receive 5G Broadcast is projected to roll out in various locations around the world in 2025, the Collective predicted.
A similar alliance designed to promote 5G Broadcast was launched in Europe last year.
5G Broadcast Collective will be in the XGN booth at NAB (W3849, West Hall, LVCC) with a live, licensed demonstration of 5G Broadcast transmitting directly into a smartphone.
