Cultivating partnerships for the future of TV with Sinclair
Sinclair Broadcast Group is one of the largest and most diverse television broadcasting companies in the US looking to engage consumers on multiple platforms with relevant and compelling news, entertainment and sports content.
A key member of the team is Mark Aitken, Senior VP of Advanced Technology, who explains: “Sinclair is a multifaceted organisation. We have a 40 plus year history in television broadcasting, but besides television broadcasting, we have 185 stations that we own and operate.”
The company aims to make a significant mark in the television industry with the development of ATSC 3.0 technology, which offers 4K resolution and HDR content for over-the-air broadcasts.
To help with this, Sinclair recognises the need for sound strategic partnerships, which is why he enlisted the help of Korea-based DigiCAP, providers of digital media transport technologies, and content protection and rights management solutions.
Commenting on the partnership, Sang Jin Yoon, Senior Vice President at DigiCAP, says: “Sinclair has really helped us to fortify our products quickly for commercial deployment. They have also helped us to fire up our receiver business, which enabled us to establish a supply chain of components, as well as manufacturing, and those devices are now, with the advent of COVID, are used for distance learning.”
“It's been a great partnership. I think that it's important on a number of fronts. But, by working with DigiCAP, we’ve taken a standard and put it into action when it comes to ATSC 3.0 technology,” adds Aitken.
This technology will reshape and improve broadcast TV. By mid-2022, the technology is estimated to have rolled out across the US. The expected significance of this technology is why DigiCAP were keen to support Sinclair as it works on ATSC 3.0., as Yoon explains: “We bring our experiences in the mobile environment to the partnership, which we believe fits well with Sinclair’s direction. We developed content protection technologies for mobile devices and also streaming services; Sinclair is our first customer as we enter the broadcast market.”
As the pair are dealing with an emerging technology, both Sinclair and DigiCAP have to be open to collaboration based on trial-and-error. Reflecting on this, Aitken comments: “What's great about the relationship is that we don't mind putting impossible problems on the table and then solving them. It's got to be balanced against the business side of the equation, both in terms of the cost of development, the cost of getting there and what that represents on the revenue side. This flows out of our walls and into DigiCAP. In years to come, this industry will be reliant on close personal relationships built on trust, where you have the ability to ask difficult questions and work through problems.”
Concluding, Yoon adds: “It is a privilege that Sinclair has opened the door wide open for us. It’s a fun partnership with many large and small problems that we have tackled together ‒ that is how partnerships grow and we hope to achieve a lot more things with them.”
