CPE makers to declare 5G Broadcast pledge by year-end

By: Tommy Flanagan Rethink Research

Cell phones may be the focal point for the roll-out of 5G Broadcast, which was officially baked into 3GPP standards last week, but Faultline has learned that set top manufacturers are expected to rally support for the fledgling 5G Broadcast technology by the end of this year.

This show of faith from TV CPE makers so early in the 5G Broadcast journey could mean these same set top makers could shelve plans for ATSC 3.0 devices, despite the hybrid broadcast broadband standard having an eight-year head start over 5G Broadcast in the US marketplace. This comes days after LG suspended sales of its ATSC 3.0 TV sets in the US (see separate story in this issue), and days after we covered details of the first successful proof of concept for 5G Broadcast at Boston-based TV station WWOO-LD.

One of the companies involved in pulling together this world-first transmission of a 5G signal over a licensed broadcast facility is XGen Networks – not so much a technology vendor as a broker for low-power TV stations – and in this case is our source of information about interest in 5G Broadcast from CPE makers.

Frank Copsidas, CEO at XGen Network, tells Faultline that set top makers are just months away from joining the push for 5G Broadcast. Players are being lured to 5G Broadcast by lower barriers to adoption in commercial devices, as well as its simplicity – currently beaming a single 4K broadcast in a traditional one-to-many architecture (based on 3GPP Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service ), while ATSC 3.0 can deliver multiple 4K and 8K streams, with Dolby Sound and interactive on-demand content too.

This is why advocates of both ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast, like Copsidas, are sitting on the fence. They are technically very different, yet there are only so many devices, only so many eyeballs, and only so many hours in the day. It is unlikely we will see devices supporting both ATSC 3.0 signals and 5G Broadcast transmission, and besides the smartphone ship has already sailed for ATSC 3.0, as device makers could not see the benefit of installing compatible receivers.

Copsidas could not feed Faultline any names on the CPE front, unfortunately, but the multi-hat-wearer made no hesitation that 5G Broadcast as a pure revenue generator for XGen Networks will far outweigh and outpace revenues from ATSC 3.0 stations.

While backers of 5G Broadcast boast that it will not face the same headwinds faced by ATSC 3.0, with no requirement for separate systems or specialized silicon to be integrated into smartphone products, we reserve skepticism about this timeframe.

Particularly if we contrast this to the ATSC 3.0 timeline – from first call for proposals in 2013 to first ATSC 3.0-compatible TVs at CES 2020.

Stranger still is how 5G Broadcast set tops are expected to be available on the market well ahead of 5G Broadcast compatible smartphones, which are not expected to begin field trials until Q4 2024.

It is true that no dedicated SIM card is required to receive broadcast signals in smartphones, using building blocks of existing cellular systems from billions of existing smartphones, but to develop a 5G Broadcast compatible set top should be more complicated.

Uncovering additional details about the recent WWOO-LD set top demonstration of 5G Broadcast, we learn that a specially adapted software-defined radio was developed to receive 5G Broadcast, using an Intel NUC (Next Unit of Computing) 13 Pro Kit – effectively a tiny computer – running 13th Gen Intel Core Processors, costing about $475 per unit.

Running Linux, this device is powered by a bladeRF 2.0 micro chipset, featuring off-the-shelf USB 3.0 software-defined radio and 2×2 MIMO.

Software-defined radio effectively unleashes RF hardware into a new world of possibilities – in this case testing a 5G Broadcast signal in the newly published Band 108, which includes the ultra-high frequency (UHF) TV broadcast spectrum (470 MHz to 608 MHz), not only in the US but most other countries too. 

For XGen Network and Copsidas, the journey into becoming a 5G Broadcast broker started around two years ago, when speaking to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who told Copsidas that 5G Broadcast would not happen in their lifetime. “You’ll need to climb Mount Everest,” Wheeler apparently warned.

This resistance spurred Copsidas on, and a meeting with the FCC last year proved fruitful, paving the way for XGen Networks to be formed in May 2023 when it filed for an experimental license for 5G Broadcast. This culminated just weeks ago with the world-first at WWOO-LD in Boston.

The key to this speed and efficiency is in simplicity and flexibility. The FCC told XGen Networks and the parties involved – WWOO-LD, XGen Networks, Ateme, Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, Nakolos – to put down one stream and one emergency alert.

The mission brief was not to get fancy; not to go above what was asked. In following this order, 5G Broadcast aims to avoid the pitfalls of ATSC 3.0.

Because 5G Broadcast operates independently of cell towers, it can continue to deliver emergency alerts using more robust broadcast towers – a key criteria of the FCC when delivering this experimental license. A lesser discussed topic is how 5G Broadcast can turn an entire emergency dispatch center into a TV control room.

There are a little over 7,000 broadcast licenses in the US. Almost 25% of these licenses are full-power, and the remaining 75% are considered low-power TV, operating in the UHF band, where stations are limited to an effective radiated power of at or under 15 kilowatts.

However, there are no limits on transmitter output power and on antenna height. In Europe, 15 KW is considered full-power.

“There are no broadcast supply issues in 5G Broadcast,” claims Copsidas. “The baby has been born, but it doesn’t walk or talk yet. We’re about half a year old – there’s a long way to go.”

As for the elephant in the room – patents – Copsidas cites Rohde & Schwarz and Nakolos as the two main patent holders in 5G Broadcast.

There is no standalone licensing pool yet for 5G Broadcast, and this may end up falling under Sisvel’s existing 5G Multimode licensing program.

Founded only in May this year, XGen Network is a new project for Copsidas, whose long-term job is CEO of Intrigue TV, which owns and operates a number of TV broadcast stations in the US.

Another of Copsidas’ side gigs is as President and Founder of the LPTV Broadcasters Association, which aims to bring stakeholders in ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast under the same umbrella. The camaraderie won’t last.