[opendtv] Re: Food for thought

At 1:24 PM -0500 2/21/07, Tom Barry wrote:
If all TV's (except monitors) will shortly have to have a digital tuner then most of the smart ones will probably also have a QAM digital tuner. This will allow the lifeline tier of all digital cable without an STB.
So it seems the cable companies could be pretty much off the hook after the digital transition since an increasing number of TV's could receive digital and the lifeline tier should not require any cable card or STB to receive digital non-premiums.
That might make the cable transitions to all digital somewhat less painful than that of OTA.
Cable tuners ARE NOT required, and are not showing up in the highly competitive market segments, especially many LCD panel displays. It is not just a matter of the additional demod, there is also the issue of a slot for a smart card and the associated circuitry. Perhaps this situation will change when the CE and cable industries are able to agree on a downloadable security technology.
And even IF all new digital ready sets have a cable tuner, you still need to buy one. The concern here is all the folks with analog TVs who have not purchased a digital ready TV. 

Regards
Craig


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