Fred Dawson
Sep 1, 2026
Here are some of the key points of the article related to Castanet and our hybrid ATSC 3.0 / 5G Broadcast network. U.S. TV station owners face a high-stakes moment: stay relevant across every device or risk being sidelined by the 5G ecosystem. New hybrid approaches are opening more practical paths forward.
Mark Aitken, president of Sinclair’s ONE Media Technologies, put it bluntly: this is “our last chance to remain a viable communications platform across all devices.” What changed his view? Seeing Castanet’s hybrid ATSC 3.0 + 5G Broadcast strategy in action.
Castanet is currently running live, commercial-ready 5G Broadcast Internet services using the 3GPP Release 19 standard over ATSC 3.0 transmitters in Las Vegas and Silicon Valley. As Mark Aitkin of Sinclair announced they plan to test the Castanet platform on WIAV-CD in Washington, D.C.
Castanet, led by founder and Executive Chairman Vern Fotheringham, has allied with LPTV spectrum holders that cover 60% of the U.S. population (with a path toward 95%). Castanet's near-term focus is implementing early vertical market applications using Software Defined Radio (SDR) 5G Broadcast receivers and get stations ready for the projected 2028 arrival of mass market smartphones supporting 3GPP Release 19. Those chips will let smartphones and tablets receive TV and 5G applications without a separate tuner or SIM and without hitting users’ data caps — using interleaving and CAS muting so 5G signaling can share spectrum with broadcasts.
The economics are compelling. Fotheringham notes that capex for a 5G Broadcast master site is comparable to a single 4G macro site, yet it can serve the population of hundreds or thousands of cell sites — a major cost advantage versus traditional MNO streaming.
LPTV operators, free of full-power 1.0/3.0 simulcast rules (as long as they stay within FCC requirements for 5G Broadcast over ATSC 3.0 transmitters), represent an immediate market. The window is open. Stations that prepare now — with partners like Castanet — will be better positioned when mass-market devices arrive.
-> Read the full article: https://www.tvtechnology.com/platform/broadcast/broadcasters-gain-flexibility-in-pursuit-of-5g-multicasting