The standard behind NextGen TV now has an Emmy. ATSC, the Broadcast Standards Association, accepted a 2026 NATAS Technology & Engineering Emmy Award on Oct. 14 "for Standardization of ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV for Digital Broadcasting." The ceremony was held at the Television Academy's Saban Media Center in Los Angeles.
ATSC President Madeleine Noland accepted the award for the organization and the hundreds of engineers and members who worked on the standard. She called ATSC 3.0 a "groundbreaking IP-based communications platform" that delivers television while also opening the door to datacasting.
For US stations, ATSC 3.0 is the successor to the ATSC 1.0 digital standard in use since the DTV transition. It carries content as IP data, which allows features such as Ultra HD video, personalized audio, advanced emergency alerting and data services alongside regular programming. US adoption remains voluntary, and stations that have moved to 3.0 generally keep a 1.0 simulcast on the air.
The standard is also gaining ground abroad. ATSC said an International Telecommunication Union workshop in Geneva on Sept. 23 included a session on Brazil's ATSC 3.0-based system, known as TV 3.0/DTV+, where Brazilian representatives showed DTV+ receivers. ATSC also contributed to seven technical input documents for the related ITU-R Study Group 6 meetings.
On the standards side, ATSC members have approved and published a revision of A/362, the Digital Rights Management standard, and work continues on updates to A/343, which covers captions and subtitles. An updated Candidate Standard for B2X System Discovery and Signaling has also been published for implementation and technical feedback.