It's too bad the FCC wasn't equally aggressive about promoting HD radio, or better still, an open standard pure digital in-band format like DRM-FM.  These formats have now been around for more than 20 years, but, sadly, there has never been a game plan. Also, there's no doubt that existing broadcasters really don't want to promote a format which would allow introduction of more players, as DAB did in Europe.
While ATSC 3.0 has a lot of very positive technical attributes, it isn't necessarily a case of "build it and they will come".  ATSC M/H failed to get out of the starting gate, because the two companies that had demonstrated prototypes (LG and Samsung) were probably strongly discouraged from eating the lunch of their biggest customers, the wireless guys.
While ATSC 3.0 is capable of very high bit rates with the right encoding schemes, and making 4K over-the-air possible, you can be sure that the bean counters will want more channels of lower resolution, and/or, as stated, the ability to deliver different commercial streams.
All of this will require a complicated broadcast traffic system to do the housekeeping.

Be careful what you ask for.
 

In the past month I was shopping for a new 4K TV for my bedroom.  I went to major manufacturers' Canadian websites, and only a handful of "high end" TV's had ATSC 3.0 tuners.  Virtually all (expensive) OLED and QLED sets sold in Canada were only ATSC 1.0 compatible.  I ended up buying an Amazon (brand) FIRE TV which has the greatest number of "apps" that are compatible with my streaming service providers.  

This reminds me of the UHF fiasco in the U.S.  Between 1952 and 1959, a majority of UHF stations went dark, because there were few built-in tuners in TVs.  I clearly remember the FCC mandating VHF/UHF compatibility  which came into effect April 30, 1964.  It was only then, that the survival rate of UHF stations rose.   

After 1964 there was a huge take-up of Colour TV in the U.S., so millions of TV sets came onto the market with UHF tuners.  And UHF stations started to survive and some prospered - like WUTV.

This latest ATSC 3.0 fiasco is a train wreck, a self-inflicted wound of the TV industry that the NAB and FCC have largely ignored.  TV set makers will never "voluntarily" add (expensive) features.  It simply has to be mandated - just as the UHF tuner issue was dealt with in 1964.   And even then, there have to be reasonably priced set-top boxes, for those old fools like myself who use OTA reception, because of the tens of millions of TV sets that don't have ATSC 3.0.  The Silicon Dust $250 CDN set-top box is simply a non-starter.   I have no intention of replacing my Amazon Fire TV in the next decade.  It's a great 4K tv with all of the features that I wanted, at a really good price point.  As for Canada, ISED has no apparent interest/expertise in consumer products.  The CRTC has no jurisdiction over the specifications of TV sets that are imported or sold in Canada.  So, conceivably off-shore manufacturers could "dump" ATSC 1.0 models into Canada, even if the FCC mandated 3.0 for new sets sold in the U.S.

Last edited by tvguy (June 23, 2023 2:48 pm)

My parents first television set with UHF installed was a 1970 20" Panasonic. The UHF dial spun like a radio tuner. When I purchased a 1977 Zenith 12" set, it had an individual "Click" style channel changer for UHF.

I buy my TV's at MTC, they refurb and give a better warranty than the manufacturer does.. the Sony I got was a steal and just happened to have 3.0.  Amazing picture!!