Dolby Atmos is coming to free-to-air TV at last no internet, no fee, and no next-gen tuner, but still immersive audio

Date:
Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:12:30 +0000

Description:
There's life in free broadcast TV yet, and you won't need ATSC 3.0 to get it

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member
features. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Dolby Atmos audio will be broadcast freely over the air for the first time A Mexican broadcaster will be the first to offer the tech It will use ATSC 1.0 rather than 3.0 / NextGen TV Something exciting is happening in Mexico for home theater fans. Dolby Laboratories and broadcaster TV Azteca have joined forces to bring Dolby Atmos to free-to-view broadcast TV not streaming and they're doing it over the widely available ATSC 1.0 standard.

That's significant because while the current US and Mexico standard for broadcasting 4K TV is NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, support for version 3.0 is still pretty patchy. ATSC 1.0 tops out at 1080p HD for visual resolution, but it's been around since 1996 so it's much more widely supported than the newer version and ATSC 3.0 devices are backwards compatible. That means Dolby
Atmos over ATSC 1.0 should be available to a lot of people in the future, assuming it takes off. Article continues below You may like Recent LG OLED
TVs are getting a great free Dolby Atmos FlexConnect upgrade LG is adding support for Samsung's new Dolby Atmos rival to some of its TVs Sonos' CEO is cool about Dolby Atmos FlexConnect muscling in on his turf

For now this project is only happening in Mexico, but it raises some interesting possibilities elsewhere and it suggests that there's still
plenty of life in the free broadcasting model even in an age of streaming subscriptions. Bought a powerful immersive system? It'll be nice to get Atmos from more sources (Image credit: Future) What is Dolby Atmos doing over ATSC? According to Pankaj Kedia, vice president of Americas, commercial
partnerships at Dolby Laboratories, Atmos will be especially tempting for sporting events. "Imagine watching a game from your living room and hearing where every cheer in the stands comes from, the sound of the ball, and the voice of the commentator moving around you. That is what Dolby Atmos makes possible today in Mexico.

That's obviously nothing new for sports if you want over a more premium cable or streaming service, but a lot of people haven't had access to these. Although I'm not 100% sure I want the commentary "moving around" me

TV Azteca's chief technical officer Pedro Manuel Carmona Ortiz says the collaboration is a "technological milestone... We are collaborating with
Dolby to demonstrate that innovation in audio can transform free-to-air television." Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me
with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

That innovation could be used by broadcasters in other territories too. ATSC 1.0 is widely used in the US, Canada and Mexico, and its intended replacement by ATSC 3.0 has been moved back several times.

Current proposals in the US suggest sunsetting ATSC 1.0 from 2028 to 2030 but those are based on broadcasters doing so voluntarily. Earlier this year, America's Public Television Stations (APTS) and PBS wrote to the FCC asking the regulator not to set a firm date for ending ATSC 1.0 broadcasting; other broadcasters are urging the FCC to do exactly that to boost adoption of ATSC 3.0.

On top of that, ATSC 3.0 is still hit and miss in even the best TVs . LG actually stopped including ATSC 3.0 , while Samsung has also stopped (having only included them in limited models in the past).

Improving a 30-year-old broadcast standard may seem strange when most of the free-to-view hype has focused on streaming rather than broadcast TV thanks to the fast-growing free-TV services from the likes of Roku , Google TV and, in the UK, Freely.

But internet speeds and service have never reached the reliability of over-the-air broadcasts in many areas, so having an immersive audio upgrade delivered no matter your connection options is a win for everyone. The best soundbars for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best soundbars 1. Best overall: Samsung HW-Q800F 2. Best budget: Sony HT-S2000 3. Best premium all-in-one: Klipsch Flexus Core 300 4. Best Dolby Atmos surround system: Samsung HW-Q990F Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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