One of the most interesting announcements at CES this year came from four of the nation’s largest TV broadcasters. E.W. Scripps Company, Gray Media, Nexstar Media Group, and Sinclair announced the formation and launch of EdgeBeam, a new wireless venture.

The companies would use the spectrum that TV stations still own. You may recall a few years ago that the FCC held an incentive auction to try to lure TV stations to give up spectrum, and many of them did if they were offered enough money by an auction bidder. However, many TV stations retained the spectrum because they saw value coming in the future from owning it.

The number one use for the spectrum is to take advantage of ATSC 3.0 technology. ATSC 3.0 is a major upgrade for broadcast TV that overlays broadband into an over-the-air TV transmission signal. This opens up a whole world of possibilities for TV stations. When the technology was first introduced, stations talked about using it to provide reliable 4K video through the air, allow for video-on-demand, provide immersive high-quality audio, and greatly improve the broadcast emergency alert system. TV stations also envisioned a whole array of digital features that are standard with streaming services like program guides, actor bios, and any other kind of added information a station wants to send to customers.

The EdgeBeam venture is going to go far beyond that original vision. The CES announcement focused on three new ventures:

• Automotive connectivity, including software updates, infotainment, precision navigation, and safety enhancements.
• Content delivery networks (CDNs), where EdgeBeam could improve ubiquitous over-the-air streaming services.
• Improving the accuracy of GPS.

The broadcasters are envisioning a world where TV stations expand their viewership by delivering free programming to cellphones and cars, funded by their standard advertising models. A lot of people might still be happy with network TV if they can easily view it on the go.

There are a few unique aspects of the available spectrum tied to ATSC 3.0 technology. A TV station can deliver about 25 Mbps of broadband to all receivers in its over-the-air footprint, and as a broadcast technology, the bandwidth doesn’t get diluted by the number of users. ATSC 3.0 technology could be delivered to any device that has a chip capable of receiving it. That could be cars and trucks, drones, marine vessels, phones, tablets, and television sets.

There are a few interesting consequences if the group can hit the market. First, this creates real competition to AT&T and Verizon, which currently claim to serve over 55 million connected cars with 5G. EdgeBeam would be competing in the accurate GPS business with Iridium and NextNav that are tackling this with satellites.

Perhaps the biggest consequence of TV stations using their spectrum is that it won’t be available to the cellular companies that have been eyeing it and hoping for another incentive auction. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out at the FCC, which clearly favors freeing up more spectrum for 5G.

The biggest hurdle will be getting device manufacturers to include ATSC capability into their chips. The technology has been built into some TVs, but not much of anything else.