UHD Broadcasting of 2018 Winter Olympics Is Now Available in US.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of South Korea announced on February 12 that it worked with CBC to broadcast the 2018 Winter Olympics live in UHD and mobile HD in the United States.

The ETRI used layered division multiplexing (LDM) based on ATSC 3.0 for the live broadcasting. The technology is characterized by transmitting at least two broadcasting signals by using different layers and it allows UHD and mobile HDTV broadcasts to be enjoyed on the same channel. The technology has been part of ATSC 3.0 since January 2016.

According to the ETRI, the reception performance of LDM is three to four times better than that of time-division multiplexing (TDM), which is used in Europe. The institute confirmed through the live broadcasting that mobile HD broadcasting using ATSC 3.0 LDM is received without any problem even at a speed of more than 130 km/h.

“Although UHD broadcasting of the 2018 Winter Olympics is available via cable, IPTV and satellite in a lot of countries other than South Korea, viewers in the United States will now be able to enjoy the UHD broadcasting via terrestrial networks based on our technology,” the ETRI explained.

CBC, in partnership with NBC, is the exclusive broadcaster of the Olympics in the United States. The station broadcasts the games live on ATSC 3.0 LDM.