Detroit Television's NextGen TV development was highlighted this week (4/1) in Broadcasting and Cable. NextGen TV has been on-the-air in Detroit for more than three years. At this point, not too many people are tuning in, but broadcasters there are using the market as a laboratory, testing features and getting ready for when more viewers are paying attention.

“There’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg phenomenon going on,” Michael Newman, Director of Transformation at Graham Media Group, owner of WDIV Detroit, told B+C Multichannel News. “We need to demonstrate the value of this next-generation television broadcast system.”

“We continue to search for the killer app that will be the motivating factor,” said Kerry Oslund, VP of Strategy and Business Development at E.W. Scripps, which owns WXYZ-WMYD Detroit.

During the next quarter, the Scripps stations in Detroit plan to enable “start over” and “pause” functionality, giving over-the-air viewers a feature that cable viewers and streamers take for granted. The features also create new advertising inventory for the stations to sell.

Read the complete article at Broadcasting and Cable here.