Strictly speaking the Bay Area has had 3.0 for a while in the form of KBKF on RF 6. But like many of the 3.0 RF 6s KBKF is more of an experimental station demonstrating that ATSC 3.0 can share spectrum with FM radio (thanks to 3.0’s OFDM modulation scheme). KBKF presently carries Jewelry TV – not quite one would call a major offering.
Despite being hailed as the technology center of the US, the SF Bay Area seems to be late to the party when it comes to ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV). Even Honolulu lit up with 3.0 last year! (Admittedly it may have provided some excuse for broadcast engineers to visit the islands…)
But it’s finally happening: the major networks will arrive on 3.0 at the end of March.
Per Larry Kenney’s post to AVS Forum:
“ATSC 3.0 will soon be available in the SF Bay Area! It’s expected to go live on March 29 with KRON as the “lighthouse” station. KRON is going to broadcast ATSC 3.0 multiplexed signals on RF channel 7 for KRON, KTVU, KPIX, KGO, KNTV and KDTV. KRON’s ATSC 1.0 signals will be spread out among all of those stations.” (link to post on AVS Forum)
We’ve been working with ATSC 3.0 for several years and our experiences and thoughts can be found in our blog.
SFBayATSC currently monitors the RF 6 3.0 emission and we’re looking forward to adding the RF 7 lighthouse on March 29!