The “NextGen” of Subsumption: The Adoption of ATSC 3.0 by US Public Broadcasters

This paper offers a critical political economic analysis of the adoption of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard by public broadcasters in the US. ATSC 3.0 promises enhanced video and audio quality, and IP-enabled possibilities like mobile reception, emergency communication, datacasting, and 5G improvements. We argue that beneath the hype of ATSC 3.0, the widespread and faithful lobbying for the adoption of the standard by local stations as a means for rejuvenating public broadcasting in the digital world challenges the normative democratic social totality of publicly funded media. Specifically, we argue that the push for economic innovation through ATSC 3.0 adoption furthers the subsumption of public broadcasting into the auspices of the private market.