After five years of spadework, ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV is ready for its close-up with the fall football season and growing HDR interest across the sports world. The August 23 NFL preseason game between New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos was an inflection point, the first time a local U.S. broadcaster delivered an over-the-air show in native HDR from “glass to glass” — camera lenses to NextGen TV home screens. Now the NextGen coalition Pearl TV is gearing up for a marketing push to promote the benefits of HDR in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

That highly anticipated event, hosted by 16 North American cities from June 11 to July 19, will be broadcast in HDR by FOX, as will the NBC’s 2026 Winter Olympics coverage from Italy, reports TV Technology, which credits station groups such as Gray Media with helping audiences “to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings” to the viewing experience on the local level.

Gray owns the New Orleans FOX affiliate WVUE that broadcast the Saints game, and the Tupelo Media Group, which produced it.

More than 250 U.S. channels are currently supplying HDR content, across the country, Pearl TV explains in an announcement.

“With NextGen TV reaching more than three-quarters of viewing households, it’s exciting to see broadcasters enable HDR on almost every channel to greatly enhance picture quality,” said Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle, adding that more than 50 percent of U.S. households also have access to broadcast Dolby Atmos audio as part of the NextGen TV experience.

Cord Cutters News writes that “NextGen TV reaches over 76 percent of U.S. households, covering 78 designated market areas (DMAs) and more than 250 million potential viewers.” When taking into account Internet-connected platforms, there are more than 620 NextGen TV services available.

Sinclair is another local station group bringing HDR home, “transmitting in upconverted HDR through its NextGen TV stations in addition to offering the Tennis Channel and Pickleball TV in 45 markets through broadcast-enabled streaming virtual channels available to CTV viewers,” Pearl says, noting WatchNextGenTV.com lists available channels by zip code and highlights 100 models of NextGen TV sets available from five manufacturers.

HDR is a feature adopted by nearly all broadcasters using ATSC 3.0, branded NextGen TV, writes Cord Cutters, which says the format “enhances picture quality by improving contrast between the brightest and darkest colors, providing a more vivid viewing experience.”

The FCC recently released new guidance “it hopes will encourage more launches and NextGen TV services,” TV Technology reports.