[opendtv] Re: Are HD Broadcasts Required by Feb. of 2009
- From: "johnwillkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:59:49 -0700
Most commercial affiliates don't get paid, they actually pay their networks
(negative network compensation.)
There is little incentive to produce local news at this point in HDTV
because:
1. That requires you to reconfigure your sets to account for 16:9 framing,
but then you need to deal with the 4:3 sets. So, 4:3 viewers either miss
essential visual information, or they get a "telescoped" view of the talent,
while 16:9 sets see the talent centered in a broad expanse of set.
2. There is little incremental revenue with HDTV news, but there are
tremendous start-up costs: cameras, encoders, switchers, graphics and
playout systems, etc. Some stations can abate this somewhat if they planned
ahead and upgraded their plant to -601 distribution over the last decade.
And, most stations are under tight budgets, so you want to synchronize
upgrades with the time-of-life of existing equipment.
3. Relay equipment. Not only is the equipment more expensive, most
stations are in the middle of a transition and reconfiguration of their 1.9
-2.1 ghz remote pickup (microwave relay) gear that is being paid for by
Nextel/Sprint, which will use the freed up bands for mobile communications.
This transition should be 2/3 complete by now, but it appears to be about
1/3 or so complete. It would be foolhardy to invest in new digital
microwave gear that will be replaced by Nextel at some point in the near
future. So, you can have an HDTV newscast with analog SDTV field reports:
people will notice that!
4. More electricity. Larger (or broader) sets mean more Lights, increasing
the electricity load and the HVAC load on the studio. Increasing HVAC load
can be interesting, since if it's done badly, it increases the noise floor
in the studio, and AC-3 enables viewers with DTV sets to hear more of the
existing noise floor from the studio.
I'm sure there are more.
The Los Angeles Times first started running full-color pictures on the front
pages of its news sections in the early 1970's (and in ads, of course.) The
New York Times and Washington Post sneered at it for many years. In 1990 or
so, with a press upgrade, the Washington Post started running editorial
color. The New York Times, after a press upgrade, started running editorial
color around 1998. Their argument ahead of time? They were concerned that
color pictures would somehow cheapen the textual content.
I would argue that none of the numbered items above are of the same ilk as
the newspapers' troglodyte arguments vis a vis editorial color.
John Willkie
-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Steve Wilson
Enviado el: Friday, July 13, 2007 11:32 AM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Are HD Broadcasts Required by Feb. of 2009
Don Moore wrote:
> dan.grimes@xxxxxxxx wrote:
>> A local Fox affiliate employee said they are working hard to upgrade
>> their news to HD because it is required with the analog turn-off in
>> Feb. 2009. Is that true now? I thought broadcasters were required to
>> broadcast ATSC, but nothing about what definition (in fact, Table 2
>> isn't even official, correct?) I think he is mistaken but I didn't
>> want to confront him on it because so much is changing so fast,
>> perhaps I missed something somewhere.
>
> That's the problem....
>
> Broadcasters must transmitter digitally; but there is no mandate as to
> which format. If they wanted to retain 480i, they could.
>
> There's very little HD (1080i or 720p) content available to the
> broadcasters to fill their share of the 24 hour void. Networks are
> increasing their HD content; but eliminating revenue share to the
> point where some affiliates are paying for content instead of
> receiving compensation as they did in the "old days".
>
I looked the amount of CBS/NBC/ABC content a few months ago - each have
about 2 hours in the morning and 3 hrs in the evening - very roughly -
plus they are all going to HD news. Not much really. I dont know how
affiliates get pd, but I have heard that argument that there is little
incentive to produce in HD because the audience is less. But, if they
produce in HD, they can distribute HD, SD and analog so I dont see how
their audience or revenue goes down. Expense is up, sure. If they
distribute HD only, sure audience is down, but who would that?
> The "digital" TV is where the consumer confusion begins. Digital TV
> is not High Definition; yet thousands of HD sets are being used to
> watch digital standard definition content and the consumers are
> happy. If we educate them too much, they would discover that the
> broadcasters are not offering 24/7 HD content - BUT cable and
> satellite are offering a few dozen 24/7 HD content channels.
>
> A confused consumer is may be the broadcasters last hope.
>
>
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