Cutting the cord is about to get easier for people without high-speed Internet – CNET

If you’re curious about cutting the cable TV cord you’re probably aware of live TV streaming services like Sling TV and YouTube TV that offer hundreds of channels including CNN, FX and Cartoon Network, for a monthly fee. You might also know about free TV, either from an ad-supported streaming service or, if you want a major channel like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS, from an over-the-air antenna broadcast.

But what you probably didn’t know is that one company, Edge Networks, has a cord cutter solution that doesn’t rely on streaming yet offers numerous pay TV channels. Its new Evoca service takes advantage of the new technologies rolling out with Next Gen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, to broadcast those channels over the air. It’s designed to serve people in the many smaller cities and rural areas across the US saddled with mediocre and expensive broadband internet — or no Internet at all — where streaming TV isn’t an option.

Evoca rolls out this summer starting in Boise, Idaho. Here’s how it’s going to work.

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What’s Next Gen TV?

Beginning this year, many stations across the US will start broadcasting Next Gen TV, formerly known as ATSC 3.0. It’s a huge leap forward in tech compared with the current ATSC 2.0 broadcast standard for HDTV — almost big as the leap from fuzzy analog TV signals to HDTV itself. 

The headline features for Next Gen TV are 4K resolution, HDR and potentially higher frame rates. We might eventually get the ability to watch live broadcast TV on phones and tablets too.

Read more: Next Gen TV is free 4K TV with an antenna, and it’s coming to TVs this year.  

Enter Evoca

One of Next Gen TV’s more obscure but important features is the fact that it’s IP-based. That means it’s kind of like streaming video, just sent over the air instead of via wires. With Next Gen TV it will be easier to send broadcast video to various devices around your house. 

Many Americans live in big cities with access to fast home Internet, numerous broadcast stations and multiple TV providers. But in smaller cities not only are there fewer local broadcasters, but the “high-speed” Internet could be slow or have data caps. Both of these things mean that “cutting the cord” by giving up an overpriced cable service isn’t easy. Over-the-air content might be limited, and streaming TV either doesn’t work or costs too much money (or both).

With its Evoca service, Edge Networks wants to be like other pay TV providers, offering a slate of channels for a monthly fee. Instead of running wires to your house, however, it’ll use Next Gen TV’s tech to broadcast those same channels over the air.

This sadly doesn’t mean that everyone in Boise with a Next Gen TV-capable television will have free HBO. Edge Networks customers get a special tuner box, similar to a cable box, that decodes the broadcast. The difference being that the “last mile” from the provider to the house is the airwaves.

In addition to the Evoca tuner box, all a potential customer needs to get started is an antenna and an Internet connection (and it can be a slow one) for downloading optional video-on-demand content. The box will give a single point of access, functioning as a tuner for Next Gen TV and other local broadcast channels, plus the various cable channels and specific video-on-demand content.

Under $50 per month, no fast Internet required

Edge Networks is hoping to offer over 80 channels of sports, news and other entertainment for less than $50 a month, in HD or potentially 4K as well. By way of comparison, CNET’s favorite live TV streaming service, YouTube TV, also costs $50 per month for more than 70 channels and requires a decent Internet connection, especially if you want HD resolution or to stream more than one show at once.

With Evoca there will be no bandwidth issues in the home when watching multiple streams, HD or even 4K video, since the signal isn’t reliant on the speed of an Internet connection. This is useful for anyone without a superfast internet connection, but especially so for people with speeds that might not support 4K at all — Netflix requires 25Mbps to stream in 4K, for example.

The niche for Edge Networks is in smaller markets that are underserved by Internet providers and by cable/broadcast. Many communities are in so-called “TV deserts” where there are few, if any, local broadcast stations. These areas often also have poor Internet for streaming. Next Gen TV, with its more efficient HEVC compression, opens up possibilities like this for high-quality, more varied content. 

It’s unlikely Evoca will expand to larger markets, where internet is generally cheaper, faster and lacks data caps. In those markets, cutting the cord usually just means getting an antenna and streaming everything not broadcast. It’s probably surprising to many people how often that’s not an option in many parts of the US.

To Boise and beyond

Edge Networks is aiming to launch Evoca this summer in Boise, with the intention of expanding to other, similarly sized markets in the future. Official pricing and specific channels available haven’t been announced, nor have many details about the hardware. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months, and how subscribers in Boise like it.

For the rest of us, how well Evoca does might have some influence on offerings in other, larger markets. Perhaps more stations might see this as a way to offer a wider variety of content, in new ways, just on a smaller scale than a full “cable” TV package.

Got a question for Geoff? First, check out all the other articles he’s written on topics such as why you shouldn’t buy expensive HDMI cables, TV resolutions explained, how HDR works and more.

Still have a question? Tweet at him @TechWriterGeoff, then check out his travel photography on Instagram. He also thinks you should check out his best-selling sci-fi novel and its sequel.