TV broadcasting may emerge as a use case for 5G. Jörn Krieger at Broadband TV News reports that German broadcast technology institute IRT wants to examine through a research project called 5G-Today to what extent 5G is suitable for the large-scale transmission of TV channels. Meanwhile, Trent Welsh at Seeking Alpha reports that American Tower Corp. is advancing next-generation TV service and may benefit from 5G rollout by AT&T and Verizon.

Krieger reports that 5G-Today will employ FeMBMS (Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) at a test field currently set up in the Bavarian Oberland region. Participants in the project include Kathrein, Rohde & Schwarz, and mobile network operator Telefónica Deutschland. Bavarian public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) which will operate the 5G-FeMBMS broadcast network at its transmitter sites.

He quotes Professor Birgit Spanner-Ulmer, director of production and technology at BR, as saying, “The developments in 5G bring the standard closer to the classic parameters of a broadcasting system. This will enable widespread and economic transmission of TV channels.”

Welsh writes that American Tower is targeting the Dallas area as it looks to monetize the latest advances in wireless. “Dallas will be the initial launch site for the broadcasting of Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0 signals, an upgrade from ATSC 1.0 signals after the FCC’s recent approval of the ATSC 3.0 standard,” he says. While current plans don’t call for 5G technology to carry the TV signals, American Tower can rent space on its tower sites to companies rolling out 5G.

Last February, Strategy Analytics reported that TV and video delivery will likely become a core capability of 5G wireless services.