Ion Media and Richland Towers said today that they have completed testing of a distributed transmission network in the New York City market that they believe is a viable alternative to broadcasting from the Empire State Building or the planned Freedom Tower.

Rather than one antenna driven by a high-power transmitter on a tall tower, a distributed transmission network uses a patchwork of antennas and transmitters on lower antennas, much the same way that cell phone networks do.

The key is the ability for all the transmitters and antennas in the network to operate of the same channel without interfering with each other.

Dave Denton, senior VP and chief marketing officer for Richland Towers, says the test shows that distributed transmission network can “meet or exceed” the coverage broadcasters could achieve on Empire or the Freedom tower.

As tested, the network comprised two installations—a high-powered antenna on Richland’s tower is West Orange, N.J., and another low-power antenna atop a building in Times Square in Manhattan.

Fully deployed, the network would also include low-power installations in Brooklyn and Westchester County, N.Y., and possibly one on Long Island, Denton said.

“We are happy with the results,” said Ion CEO Brandon Burgess. 

“The Richland network provides signal quality at least equal to that of traditional digital broadcast towers at substantially lower investment and operating cost,” he said.

“Based on these favorable results, we intend to work with Richland on its digital TV coverage solution for New York City.”

Denton hopes other broadcasters follow.

“We believe this system offers demonstrable advantages over other solutions, including the potential for significant cost savings, channel uniformity, utilization of broadcasters’ full 19.4 megabit digital bandwidth and significant opportunities for mobile digital television broadcasting,” he said.

New York broadcasters have been struggling to overcome the loss of coverage ever since they lost their tower atop one of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11.

Right now, most are using the tower on the Empire State Building, although it requires some to operate at reduced power.

Organized as the Metropolitan Television Alliance, the broadcasters are now planning to move their antennas to the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, the centerpiece of the complex that is rising on the site of the World Trade Center towers.

The Freedom Tower is expected to be completed in 2011 or 2012.

The MTVA is also experimenting with distributed transmission networks.

In fact, said MTVA's Paul Bissonette, testing of a prototype system, including four remote sites and the Empire State Building, will begin shortly.

"The ensuing test results will tell us a great deal about the viability of the [distributed transmission] approach in the challenging New York City urban environment, particularly for viewers who depend on indoor reception."

Bissonette says the MTVA has been keeping an eye on Richland's tests, which have been progressing in parallel and involves several MTVA member stations. The results "certainly sound promising, and we look forward to fully analyzing them," he said.