[opendtv] Re: A Competing TV Provider
- From: Bob Miller <bob@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004 11:26:23 -0400
Monty Solomon wrote:
>A Competing TV Provider
>
>It uses broadcast TV infrastructure to compete with TV stations. It's
>not an ISP, but its business model is unique, fascinating, and
>strangely familiar.
>
>by Gerry Blackwell
>[August 27, 2004]
>
>ISPs are not the only players hoping to muscle in on the lucrative
>pay TV services market, and as start-up U.S. Digital Television Inc.
>(USDTV) has shown, delivering alternative TV services over IP
>networks-as inevitable as it may seem to ISPs-is not the only option.
>
>IP is an option USDTV is considering for the future, says Bret
>Westwood, the company's vice president of Internet services and
>information technology. But for now, the Utah-based company is
>concentrating on quite a different business and technology model.
>
>In March, USDTV launched a consumer pay TV service in Albuquerque NM,
>Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas, offering a package with multiple
>time-shifted relays of 12 popular cable TV channels for $19.95 a
>month. Subscribers purchase a USDTV set-top box from Wal-Mart for
>$99, which also pulls in free local digital broadcasts.
>
>The company is partnering with local TV stations, transmitting on
>their unused digital broadcast spectrum and using their transmission
>infrastructure. Its ambitious plan is to expand to 100-plus markets
>over the next three years.
>
>The stations subscribers get with the USDTV service include Disney,
>ESPN, Fox News, The Learning Channel (TLC), and Discovery Channel.
>With time-shifted transmissions and local stations, the receiver
>brings in close to 40 digital channels, with image and sound quality
>superior to analog and comparable to digital services from satellite
>and cable companies. Some offer high definition TV (HDTV) programming
>as well.
>
>The number of channels is obviously far fewer than with cable and
>satellite. Will USDTV add more? It might, Westwood says, but that's
>not really the point.
>
>...
>
>http://www.isp-planet.com/business/2004/usdtv.html
>
>
>
One error, the receiver is only $19.95.
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