SK Telecom (SKT) and Sinclair Broadcast, one of the largest TV broadcasting companies in the US, announced they will establish a joint venture to develop new broadcasting services in the first quarter of 2019.

The companies signed a deal at CES in Las Vegas, agreeing to jointly fund and manage the JV in the US. They aim to launch services including personalised adverts and in-vehicle terrestrial TV broadcasting based on ATSC 3.0, a next-generation broadcast transmission standard.

SKT said in a statement ATSC 3.0 is the latest version of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standard. It will support several advancements including mobile viewing; 3D television; 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD); high dynamic range (HDR); high frame rate; wide colour gamut picture quality; and immersive audio.

ATSC 3.0 also supports two-way communication between broadcasting companies and smartphones, vehicles and TVs by recognising a user’s personal IP address.

The two companies said they plan to develop ATSC 3.0 standards-based services for all US broadcasting companies and pursue other opportunities globally.

Park Jung-ho, SKT president and CEO, said it will work closely with Sinclair Broadcast to gain leadership in the next-generation broadcasting solutions market in the US.

Chris Ripley, Sinclair Broadcast president and CEO, said the companies will “explore and commercialise solutions that optimise the economic value of our spectrum, our broadcast infrastructure, our programming ventures and our emerging OTT platforms.”

“Bringing these assets together in a converged broadcast and broadband platform environment will be a significant value multiplier”.

At CES 2018, SKT and Sinclair Broadcast agreed to jointly develop technology for ATSC 3.0 broadcasting.