[opendtv] Re: How About Portable ATSC Receivers?
- From: BenWebber@xxxxxxx
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:11:55 -0500
John Shutt wrote:
> If the United States were 90% wired (and/or DBS),
> and Australia were0% wired, that would still make
> a market of 10 million US TVHHs, and only 7
> million AU TVHHs.
>
> Where is your logic? Mine says every manufacturer
> that has tried to make an ATSC box has found out
> they are difficult and expensive to make, don't work
> very well, and there is too high of a return rate.
> Therefore there is no profit in them. Yes, it is
> market forces, but with, as the CEA claims, over
> 16.5 million DTV sets sold in the United States
> since 1998, shouldn't that be a big enough market?
> Bigger than Australia, and they have plenty of STBs
> to choose from.
Demand and market size are two different things. It doesn't matter how
many dogs live in your town if they won't eat the dog food you're
selling.
There is negligible demand for standalone ATSC tuners (i.e., STBs) at
present. Why? As a thought experiment, ask yourself what subset of U.S
TVHHs would actually want to buy a standalone ATSC STB. Basically, that
subset would include:
a) a few thousand hobbyist and engineer types; and
b) people who own a tuner-less DTV set AND for some reason don't want to
watch HD via cable or satellite.
Everybody else either:
a) watches TV via cable or satellite;
b) buys a DTV set with an integrated tuner;
c) cannot afford a DTV set to begin with; or,
d) is content with NTSC, and will only switch when forced by government
fiat or attracted by a significantly better value proposition (e.g.,
multiplex).
Notice, I haven't said one word about manufacturing costs, receiver
performance, or modulation scheme. Even if ATSC worked really well (I
have no idea if it does or not), demand for standalone ATSC tuners would
still be negligible.
Regards,
B.
------------------------------------------
Ben Webber Managing Director
Psychofish, LLC ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
180 N Stetson Ave #810 312-819-4042(v)
Chicago, IL 60601 USA 312-819-4041(f)
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