[opendtv] Re: DTT tuner design

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 10:45:39 -0400

At 4:51 PM -0400 7/4/07, Albert Manfredi wrote:
If Congress is truly interested in retaining a FOTA TV system in the US, as it claims it is and as many other governments also claim to be, then they will probably want to revisit that national cap rule. My bet is that the national cap will keep edging up, making it more desirable for content creators to keep the FOTA medium in existence. I think this will be one of those knobs that is constantly adjusted.


What ever gave you the idea that Congress wants to have a viable FOTA system in the U.S.?

The FOTA medium is going to survive BECAUSE of political considerations. The threat of regulation is more than adequate to keep broadcasters in line, and the pay-off is more than adequate in terms of the bonus the broadcasters get every other year from ever more expensive elections. Looks like the 2008 elections will deliver more than $3 BILLION into the local broadcast coffers.

But FOTA just enables the politicians to exert political and content control over the major content conglomerates. The real action is in the "relationships" between Broadcast, cable, DBS and IPTV, and all of the power it gives the politicians to regulate these businesses.

You can be CERTAIN that the politicians would not be happy going back to the "good old days" when they only had access to the TV audience during the evening news and a handful of news programs like Meet the Press. Today they have CSPAN, PBS, the networks, and multiple 24/7 news channels for which they provide the "talent pool." CNN has become the "official" news channel of the U.S. Government - just walk into any public building in DC and you can confirm this yourself.


There's no Must Carry for digital once the analog stream is shut down.

I don't think this is the case, necessarily. Aren't they debating a multicast must-carry after analog shutdown?

Bert is correct. Stations can elect either analog or digital must carry today. after the shut-down they get full protection for their primary digital channel. Multi-channel must carry is not going to happen, however, it may not be necessary. Stations are now using the primary must carry channel as the bargaining chip to NEGOTIATE carriage for HD and multicasts. It would be ironic is the multichannel systems came to grips with paying fees for everything they carry, then the consumers wake up and decide to spend that money to download the content they really want, without the commercial glut and content restrictions that encumber virtually all cable and broadcast networks today.

Regards
Craig


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