From From Prototype Demonstration to Scalable Networks: How the Last 12 Months Moved Castanet to a New Orbit

Twelve months after unveiling its hybrid ATSC 3.0 + 5G Broadcast prototype, Castanet has scalable pilot networks, standards recognition, and growing industry momentum

With NAB New York just one day away, I figured it is time to reflect. For a long time, the broadcast industry has been working through an open question: ATSC 3.0 “or” 5G Broadcast? Regulators, broadcasters, LPTV licensees, and their technology partners were being asked, in effect, to pick a path, and the framing left many unsure where to commit. Each technology had its own promise, but treating them as alternatives created hesitation about investment, and about when and how the next generation of broadcast-internet services would reach the market.

Castanet’s position was that such a choice did not need to be made: ATSC 3.0 “and” 5G Broadcast, time-multiplexed on the same RF channel under the existing Broadcast Internet framework. What the industry needed was not a better argument argument about an “either-or decision”, but a working system it could see, test and deploy at scale.

That system arrived 12 months ago at NAB New York, and this is where the story really starts. Castanet presented the world’s first hybrid ATSC 3.0 + 5G Broadcast prototype to a select audience. Once the hybrid could be seen working rather than only described, awareness and momentum began to build. Light Reading covered the architecture shortly afterward in “Castanet takes aim at 5G Broadcast” (https://www.lightreading.com/5g/castanet-takes-aim-at-5g-broadcast).

Just a few months later, we had deployed the world’s first hybrid ATSC + 5g Broadcast pilot network in Silicon Valley. In February 2026, Light Reading returned to the story in “Castanet tees up 5G Broadcast market trials” (https://www.lightreading.com/5g/castanet-tees-up-5g-broadcast-market-trials), reporting on our first Silicon Valley pilot.

Our technology team and partners swiftly applied our learnings in Las Vegas in a commercial-ready Castanet 5G Broadcast Internet pilot network. At NAB Las Vegas 2026 Castanet demonstrated its live hybrid feed from its transmitter atop the Rio Hotel proving the coexistence worked (https://www.lightreading.com/5g/castanet-takes-aim-at-5g) faultlessly in a non-interferring manner between both services.

Tony Masiello, our Chief Network Officer, represented Castanet on the Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference session at NAB 2026 in concert with Qualcomm, DigiCAP, TRedess, and Neutral Wireless presenting a test report on ATSC 3.0 + 5G harmonization. TV Tech covered the deployment in “Castanet Launches Hybrid ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast Internet Pilot Network in Vegas (https://www.tvtechnology.com/platform/broadcast/castanet-launches-hybrid-atsc-3-0-and-5g-broadcast-internet-pilot-network-in-vagas).

The same period produced a widening platform for thought leadership. Castanet appeared on official programs rather than only in private suites. Vern Forheringham joined a hybrid panel at the sold-out LPTV Broadcasters Association annual meeting alongside Qualcomm, and later spoke on a panel at the ATSC Annual Meeting in Washington, where Tony Masiello presented a live feed of the combined service from the Las Vegas station. ATSC also profiled our CEO Jon Romm in its “Someone You Should Know” series. Across these sessions Castanet shared the stage with Qualcomm, NAB technology leadership, and its own equipment partners, an opportunity to present the hybrid architecture, the pilot results, and the Castanet 5G Broadcast Internet thesis directly to the industry.

Standards and regulatory corroboration also accumulated. Castanet was central to the ATSC adopting its architectural approach as a Recommended Practice A/327 (including Amendment No. 1, approved March 2026) that documents time-division multiplexing (TDM) of ATSC 3.0 with other broadcasting systems and incorporates LTE-based 5G Broadcast. 3GPP tracks the same work through 3GPP Release 19, including UHF-band work relevant to LPTV. The FCC’s HC2 proceeding describes 5G Broadcast as a 3GPP-approved global standard, and the Commission’s earlier record includes Qualcomm’s technical statement that ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast can coexist on a six-megahertz channel via TDM. Castanet’s current implementation operates within the existing FCC Broadcast Internet rules.

Industry response has been strong. Mark Aitken of Sinclair / ONE Media shared Castanet’s commercialization press release on LinkedIn (“Great work being done by Vern and his team. This is an effort I can get behind! ... Not an either/or decision for ATSC or 5G Broadcast”) and published a TV Technology op-ed, “Stop the False Choice – 5G Broadcast Can Ride Inside ATSC 3.0, and We Can Deploy Now” (https://www.tvtechnology.com/insights/opinion/op-ed-stop-the-false-choice-5g-broadcast-can-ride-inside-atsc-3-0-and-we-can-deploy-now), that used the Castanet Broadcast Signal Workflow as the illustrative architecture.

The past twelve months also included C5G Interactive Live Sports application, development of the nationwide VoDoS satellite contribution network, and the July 2026 Castanet Manifesto and subsequent technical blog series.

The uncertainty that clouded the industry’s direction has become less central since the hybrid demonstration at NAB New York 2025. What followed – pilots, independent coverage, ATSC standards enhancements in A/327, a growing speaking platform for thought leadership, and broader industry engagement – all have contributed to elevating the Castanet hybrid architecture into the conversation as a practical path that can be deployed on existing LPTV spectrum under current rules.

The investment case is increasingly clear. 5G Broadcast is moving from a standards discussion toward a commercial device ecosystem, with 5G Broadcast-capable chipsets expected to begin appearing in mobile handsets as early as 2028. The significance is not simply that compatible devices will become available—it is that the infrastructure Castanet deploys today is designed to serve that future market without waiting for it to arrive.

That is why a hybrid architecture matters. By combining ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast today, while maintaining a software-defined stack across transmitters, network infrastructure and receiver devices, operators can deploy, test and monetize the network now while preserving the flexibility to evolve as the ecosystem develops. Investments are therefore not dependent on a single regulatory outcome, a single transmission standard or a single generation of consumer devices. Whatever direction the FCC ultimately takes, the underlying infrastructure and software-defined architecture can continue to evolve with the market.

For broadcasters, network operators, technology partners and investors, that changes the equation from “Should we bet on Castanet 5G Broadcast  Internet?” to “How do we position ourselves for the future of digital media and the inevitable transition to one-to-many wireless data delivery?”

At NAB East in New York, Castanet will demonstrate that this is no longer a theoretical proposition. And there will be a few surprises.