[opendtv] Re: Bob likes COFDM

At 1:59 PM -0500 3/28/05, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
>Can you be more specific? What govt reg is preventing
>an affiliated OTA station from airing the productions
>of small, local producers, say off prime time, instead
>of infomercials? I mean, other than a simple business
>decision of that station (wanting to maximize revenues),
>what's preventing this? You seem to be against business
>using a simple profit motive. Like in these two quotes:

Profitability. They make more money with infomercials. And ratings; 
they can buy a syndicated program with a proven track record and get 
better ratings, which allows them to charge more and thus make 
greater profits.

>
>>  The local broadcasters is going to take the MOST
>>  PROFITABLE way out. Benovolence to independent
>>  producers is not a trait one associates with
>>  broadcasters.
>
>and
>
>>  Even if you could buy a station, you are at the mercy
>>  of the programming oligopoly for content that will
>>  attract a meaningful audience.
>
>So what? What makes this any different from any other
>business? And more importantly, how is govt forcing
>stations to operate any differently from any other
>large scale business? The small independent station
>has to consider the taste of the masses to get a large
>audience, or remain a niche station catering to the
>few. And risk going out of business.

OK Bert. Let's just blame it on the people.

You can cater to the masses or to small niches.

Cable/DBS does better with the niches since they can accumulate an 
audience nationwide, which they can then sell to specialty retailers.

Local broadcasters have little incentive to cater to niches, unless 
they were designed from the start with that business model. Hence we 
see religious radio stations and LPTV stations that are supported by 
the donations of their patrons.

>
>"Most profitable" and "benevolence is not a trait"
>are the common denominators of all non-charitable
>businesses, are they not?

No. Many businesses are benevolent. Even broadcasters, who on 
occasion will help raise money for worth causes. But in the case of 
broadcasters, they use these opportunities to meet their public 
service REQUIREMENTS, which is part of the deal for the spectrum.

>
>>  Perhaps the best comparison I can offer is what is
>>  happening in the music business. We are seeing more
>>  and more artists choosing to go direct, selling CDs
>>  out of the trunk of their car (or their website)
>>  when they do live performances. Some even encourage
>>  file sharing to help make their music more popular.
>
>Exactly. And there's nothing the large-scale music
>business can do to stop this. Similarly, as Tom points
>out, a film producer can use the Internet and unicast
>file transfers to get his stuff out there.


Nothing?

IF they win at the Supreme Court they will not only shut down most 
file sharing, but may stifle innovation in many related areas where 
the technology is being used legally. At the very least it will 
dampen innovation, as any company with assets would be liable for the 
illegal uses of a product.

>
>TV is a large scale, mass medium. It takes a large
>scale, mass audience to operate TV profitably. The
>payoffs are big if you can get on TV, and that's
>probably what most aspiring producers are looking for,
>ultimately.

You have defined one segment of the TV industry. This is not 
surprising since it is the only segment that you have experience 
with. But there are other segments that operate profitably serving 
niche audiences.

I do agree that the lure of making it big in TV Land is a driving 
force. This is one reason that the industry can get away with paying 
the people who are NOT in front of the camera less than people with 
similar skill levels in other industries.

It is amazing how much people will put up with to climb the TV ladder.

>
>I think the same applies to film studios and movie
>theater chains.

To a large extent this is true. But the independent film industry is 
thriving. The ability to gain distribution at festivals and through 
direct DVD/Tape release does support the independents. To a limited 
extent this is also true for TV production - actually they are one 
and the same as many of the programs being shot by independent film 
makers are shot with 24P camcorders.


>As far as I can tell, to use a scarce resource such as
>RF spectrum set aside for TV, you need to be a large
>scale outfit. I don't find anything wrong with this.

To support the infrastructure needs I agree 100%. We don't need 
multiple broadcasters in each market, however, to do this. What we 
need is a well designed transmission infrastructure and a policy that 
forces the large scale companies to use profits form the larger 
markets to bring the infrastructure in smaller markets up to the same 
standards.

If we then decouple content from carriage, and create a TRUE 
marketplace for the bits that are delivered via this infrastructure 
we will have the best of both worlds.

A reliable distribution system that is paid for via the fees that 
content creators pay to have their bits delivered.

Regards
Craig
 
 
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