The International Telecommunications Union adopted the Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0 as a recommended digital broadcast standard.

"With initial U.S. deployments in place, we're anticipating the first announcements of consumer receivers for the U.S. market in the coming days," ATSC Board Chairman Lynn Claudy, senior vice president for technology at the National Association of Broadcasters, said in a Jan 2 news release.

The ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, also known as Next Gen TV, allows broadcasters to transmit data to increase TV broadcasts and provide new revenue opportunities.

The ATSC 3.0 was approved by the Federal Communications Commission in 2017. The order allows TV broadcasters to use ATSC 3.0 on a voluntary basis, but it also requires any broadcaster using the new standard to provide a simulcast in the current digital television transmission standard for five years.

The ITU is a United Nations agency that helps coordinate global technical standards.