Pearl TV, the US-based industry consortium backing the transition to NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0), claims there has been “significant progress” in one crucial area that has hindered the uptake of NextGen TV devices—making the converter boxes more affordable. While there has been genuine progress in making the transition to ATSC 3.0-based TV services easier through availability of more affordable hardware, evidence is still lacking to support Pearl TV’s argument that it has solved the affordable-device problem. What Pearl TV has done is assemble a coalition of sorts committed to reducing prices. Testing provider Resillion, the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority (A3SA), Dolby, and unconfirmed patent owners in the Avanci Broadcast licensing platform have been named in the announcement as supporters of…