The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and the Ministry of Science, ICP and Future Planning (MSIP) formed a committee named ‘Ground-wave UHD Broadcasting Committee’ consisting of relevant parties in the industries, government departments, and research institutions. The committee discussed key agendas for launching ground-wave UHD service in February 2017, which will provide quality that is four times better than the current HD.

The committee, with 14 members from governmental agencies, ground-wave broadcasting systems, manufacturers, content manufacturers, research institutions, universities, consumer association, is co-chaired by Ki-Joo Lee at the KCC and Jae-Yoo Choi at the MSIP. The committee will help the government throughout the process of reviewing, introducing and stimulating the ground-wave UHD broadcasting scheduled to begin in February 2017. 

Last December, the KCC and MSIP announced a set of measures for introducing ground-wave UHD broadcasting along with a three-step introduction plan:

• Step 1: In Feb. 2017, the ground-wave UHD service will be launched by KBS, MBC and SBS in Seoul metropolitan area first, followed by EBS who will join in September.
• Step 2: Starting Dec. 2017, the service will expand to other metropolitan city areas (Busan, Daegu, Kwangju, Daejeon and Ulsan) and the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics village areas (Pyeongchang and Kangreung).
• Step 3: Starting 2020, the service will further expand to other areas of the nation, until offered nationwide in 2021.

The topics discussed include approval for UHD broadcasting, measures to improve signal reception, standards for UHD program approval, etc. Investment in production of quality content, and provision of ATSC 3.0-based UHD TV and set top box in time were also called for during the meeting.

Jae-Yoo Choi at the MSIP urged that efforts be made to ensure the world’s first ground-wave UHD broadcasting service is launched successfully, allowing for the service to be offered during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in Feb. 2018. 

Ki-Joo Lee at the KCC said, “We will begin the approval process for service providers in October, and will cooperate with broadcasting service providers, manufacturers, consumer associations, etc. for successful introduction of the service.”