NextGen TV goes global at NAB with Brazil minister and FCC commissioner

A featured session on April 20 will bring together Brazil's Communications Minister Frederico de Siqueira Filho and FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to discuss international ATSC 3.0 adoption alongside Brazil's parallel TV 3.0 initiative — the first time a senior Brazilian government official and a sitting FCC commissioner have shared a NAB stage on the topic.

On the same day, Pearl TV will officially launch its NextGen TV Converter Box Program, and ATSC will display prototype low-cost converter boxes designed to accelerate household adoption of the ATSC 3.0 standard. The FCC is separately weighing a hard cutoff date for ATSC 1.0 broadcasts — a decision that would force the transition timeline that broadcasters have so far navigated voluntarily.

"The evolution toward TV 3.0 in Brazil opens new possibilities for business models," said Minister de Siqueira Filho. The joint session puts two of the world's largest broadcast markets in direct policy conversation at NAB for the first time.

The converter box program is a practical response to the adoption bottleneck: ATSC 3.0 transmitters have rolled out across much of the US, but receiver penetration in households without a new television remains limited. Low-cost converter boxes target the gap between transmission infrastructure and living-room hardware.