Boston low-power TV station to test 5G broadcast platform

BOSTON – WWOO-LD, a digital television station in Boston, has filed for an experimental license with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to become the first 5G Broadcaster in the country. 5G is currently used by wireless carriers but until now has not been deployed in the broadcast band.

XGen has spent months working with chip manufacturers, transmitter companies, software developers, mobile device makers and government authorities to put the pieces in place.

Right now, the 5G format is only used in the cellular world, where the one-to-one model is limited by congestion, often sending the same video and date thousands or millions of times to individual devices.

5G Broadcasting is a one-to-many model which can supply massive supplemental downloads directly to mobile devices.

Research is showing that the nation's low power tv stations are a great fit for 5G. With lower towers and lower power than their full-power brethren, interference is not an issue. Low power stations represent 75% of all broadcasters in America and cover the nation coast-to-coast in both rural and urban areas.

WWOO is grateful to the LPTVBA and XGen Network for their efforts working with Qualcomm to not only create cell phones capable of receiving the broadcast band, but also for pushing to get that band put into the Worldwide 5G standard, expected to be released by 3GPP shortly.

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