At 5:18 PM -0700 8/6/04, Eory Frank-p22212 wrote: >That is ludicrous Bob, when so few people rely on OTA reception. The >fact that newer receivers work better than older receivers is what >is irrelevant. DTV reception quality or lack thereof was never a >significant reason for the slow adoption of OTA DTV by consumers, >and no matter how well these receivers work, most people STILL don't >want them -- especially not if they have to pay extra for them. Frank hit the nail on the head. OTA distribution is largely irrelevant to consumers today. Broadcasters are not offering a competitive service to cable and DBS; they are just hitching a ride. By the way, the dramatic growth phase for new TV stations (especially UHF) was in the mid '80s. This was fueled by several factors, not necessarily in ranked order: 1. Mandated cable carriage (must carry); 2. Major cost reductions during the '80s in virtually all of the gear required to put a station on the air; 3. Satellite distribution of programming, which made more content available to independent stations (especially networks like HSN and QVC). Many of the new stations were little more than a satellite receiver and low power transmitter to get a signal over the city of service so that they could get on cable. The total number of stations grew from about 1000 to more than 1500 in the '80s. Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.