List of ATSC standards

ATSC 3.0 is a non-backwards-compatible version of ATSC being developed (as of May 18, 2016) that uses OFDM instead of 8VSB and a much newer video codec (instead of ATSC 1 and 2's MPEG-2). At the time of this article's writing, it has several candidate and one finalized standard.

On March 28, 2016, the Bootstrap component of ATSC 3.0 (System Discovery and Signalling) was upgraded from candidate standard to finalized standard.[1]

On May 4, 2016, the Audio Codec component of ATSC 3.0 was elevated to candidate standard, with two finalists remaining: Dolby AC-4[2] and MPEG-H Audio Alliance format from Fraunhofer IIS, Qualcomm and Technicolor SA.[3][4] A third entry from DTS named DTS:X (a successor to DTS-HD) was withdrawn before the standard was upgraded to candidate status.[5]

On September 8, 2016, the Physical Layer Download (OFDM) component of ATSC 3.0 was upgraded from candidate standard to finalized standard.[6]

On October 5, 2016, the Link Layer Protocol Standard (A/330) was elevated from Candidate to final standard, along with the Audio Watermark Emission Standard (A/334) and Video Watermark Emission Standard (A/335). ATSC Technology Group 3 (TG3) members have also begun voting on elevating the following Candidate Standards to Proposed Standard status (the final step before becoming an approved standard): Service Announcement (A/322), Service Usage Reporting (A/333) and Captions and Subtitles (A/343). TG3 members also are voting to elevate Security (A/360) to Candidate Standard status, joining Schedule and Studio-to-Transmitter Link Standard (A/324), which was recently elevated.[7] On March 30, 2016, A/324 (Schedule and Studio-to-Transmitter Link) was upgraded from Proposed to Candidate Standard.

On January 3, 2017, ATSC announced the updated status of its standards, in time for its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.[8] As a result, this update, Captions and Subtitles (A/343) was upgraded from Candidate to Finalized Standard; Security (A-360), Lab Performance Test Plan (A-325) and Field Test Plan (A-326) were upgraded to Candidate Standard from "Under Consideration".

By March 7, 2017, ATSC announced a further update to the status of its standards, with the following as Finalized: A/321 (System Discovery and Signaling); A/322 Physical Layer Protocl (COFDM); A/326 (Field Test Plan [Recommended Practice]); A/330 (Link Layer Protocol); A/333 (Service Usage Reporting); A/334 (Audio Watermark Emission); A/335 (Video Watermark Emission); A/336 (Content Recovery in Redistribution Scenarios [ATSC 3.0 over Cable and Satellite]); A/342 Part 1 (Audio Common Elements); A/342 Part 2 (Audio: Dolby AC-4 System); A/342 Part 3 (Audio MPEG-H System); and A/343 (Captions and Subtitles). The following are Proposed Standards: A/325 (Lab Performance Test Plan [Recommended Practice]); A/332 (Service Announcement); A/338 (Companion Device); A/341 (Video - H.265/HEVC). The following are Candidate Standards: A/300 (ATSC 3.0 System); A/324 (Scheduler/Studio-to-Transmitter Link); A/331 (Signalling, Delivery, Sync Error Protection); A/337 (Application Signalling); A/344 (Interactive Content); A/360 (Security and Service Protection). The following is a Draft Standard: A/323 (Physical Layer Uplink/Downlink).[9]

Structure/ATSC 3.0 System Layers[10]

1. Bootstrap: System Discovery and Signalling
2. Physical Layer: Transmission (OFDM)
3. Link Layer Protocols: IP, MMT
4. Presentation: Audio and Video standards (to be determined), Ultra HD with High Definition and standard definition multicast, Immersive Audio
5. Applications: Screen is a web page

Finalized Standards

• A/300: ATSC 3.0[11]
• A/321: System Discovery and Signalling
• A/322: Physical Layer Download
• A/323: ATSC Candidate Standard: Dedicated Return Channel for ATSC 3.0 (Physical Layer Upload/Download (Uplink/Downlink)) (accepted on 2 November 2017, finalized on 7 December 2018)
• A/324: Schedule and Studio-to-Transmitter Link (finalized on 5 January 2018)
• A/325: Recommended Practice: TG3/S32 Lab Performance Test Plan
• A/326: Field Test Plan (Recommended Practice)
• A/330: Link Layer Protocol
• A/331: Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization, and Error Protection (finalized on 6 December 2017)
• A/332: Service Announcement
• A/333: Service Usage Reporting
• A/334: Audio Watermark Emission
• A/335: Video Watermark Emission
• A/336: Content Recovery in Redistribution Scenarios
• A/337: Application Signaling (finalized on 2 January 2018)
• A/338: Companion Device
• A/339:2017, “ATSC Recommended Practice: Audio Watermark Modification and Erasure”
• A/341: Video Standard (H.265, Scalable HEVC with HDR) [12][13]
• A/341:2018, “Video – HEVC, With Amendments No. 1 and No. 2″ (Approved 24 January 2018. Amendment No. 1 approved 9 March 2018. Amendment No. 2 approved 12 March 2018, finalized on 14 February 2019)
• A/342: Audio Standard (composed of the following three parts)[14]
• A/342 Part 1: Audio Common Elements
• A/342 Part 2: AC-4 System
• A/342 Part 3: MPEG-H AA System (declared the audio standard for ATSC 3.0 in South Korea)[15]
• A/343: Captions and Subtitles
• A/344: Application Runtime Environment Standard (apps for advanced televisions) (finalized 18 December 2017)
• A/360: Security and Service Protection (encryption for broadcasters) (finalized 9 January 2018)

Proposed Standards

Candidate Standards

• A/200: Regional Service Availability
• A/341 Amendment – 2094-40
• A/345: Personalization

Draft Standards

Under Consideration - Working Drafts and Recommended Practices

• ATSC standards