[opendtv] Re: How did Plug and Play (cable) come to include ATSC?
- From: Mark Aitken <maitken@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 09:14:40 -0500
Then, we have this take on the current situation.
Also, while I'm at it...One question NO ONE WILL ANSWER...
If it is so important to move the digital transition forward, why is it
that analog products are allowed to be sold? I mean REALLY! I think that
the FCC ought to move on a mandate to shut-down the manufacture of
analog TV sets. CEA should move in to support that one! They can sell
the CE manufacturers on the increased profit margins and the easier sell
(because you can stretch the truth on things people know little
about...that includes the sales folks...).
Let the market decide clearly won't work. It would be best for all of us
realize this fact. Also, I think that while the FCC is about getting
that done, the mandate ought to be that all sets be 16x9. It would also
be easier to make sure that producers elect 16x9 as a mandatory format
for all material. Oh, by the way, what color should the cabinets be?
Silver? Black? Other? We need to make a solid decision so that interior
decorators have an easier time of blending the surroundings...
(Oops, where is my tongue?)
http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=2475
Date posted: 2004-11-12
Tuner Mandate Loses Steam in the Real World
In yet another splendid example of how government policy reflects actual
human behavior, the FCC's tuner mandate is causing tuner-integrated sets
to not sell like hotcakes. Consequently, the consumer electronics
lobbies asked the FCC if it could please make the phase-in part of the
mandate go away.
In a cleverly worded statement that makes it appear as if they want a
faster digital transition, the Consumer Electronics Association and the
Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition asked the FCC to ditch the
half-way point for phasing digital tuners into mid-sized TV sets.
"CEA and CERC requested that the 100-percent deadline for DTV tuners in
television screen sizes 25 to 36 inches be accelerated to March 1, 2006,
thereby speeding the consumer migration to DTV," stated a release from
the two groups.
The current deadline is July 1, 2006, but the half-way point--when 50
percent of sets that size have to have DTV tuners--is a year earlier.
Less than five months into the 50-percent phase-in for big-screen TVs,
the CEA is having nightmares about what the same process will do to the
category of sets that comprise the bulk of all TV sales.
As of last July 1, half of all 36-inch and larger TV sets with
over-the-air analog reception and/or CableCARD slots also had to have
over-the-air digital reception, aka ATSC capability. The CableCARD/ATSC
combo added $300 premium to the price of those sets, so guess what the
big retailers ordered by the truckload for the holidays?
Retailers appear to favor the cheaper non-ATSC sets by about
three-to-one over those mandated by the DTV tuner phase-in, based on
highly scientific numbers derived from Mark's Monday Memo. The Memo,
compiled by New York-based television expert Mark Schubin, tracks ads
for TV sales across the country. Since July, about 24 percent of the
so-sized sets in stores have included ATSC reception. (The average
number of ads for 36-inch and larger sets was 86; an average of 21 of
them had ATSC reception.)
Part of the problem is that the FCC is not the boss of Circuit City or
Wal-Mart. It can only strong-arm manufacturers into turning out
ATSC-capable sets; it can't force anyone to buy them. And retailers buy
what consumers buy, and consumers unfailingly buy the A) biggest thing,
at B) the lowest price.
It's one thing to stack up a 50-inch Hitachi widescreen LCD projection
set at $3299.97 against the very same set, only sans an ATSC tuner, for
$2999.97. It's another thing to tack $300 onto sets that retail in the
$500 neighborhood.
"CERC believes the proposed modification will eliminate the unintended
consequences of the Commission's 50 percent requirements that became
apparent only recently, but threaten to impede the DTV transition," said
CERC Executive Director Marc Pearl. "In practice, the 50-percent
requirement has proven to be unduly disruptive. It creates an artificial
scarcity of products without tuners, providing an incentive for
retailers to assure their supplies of these non-tuner products. This is
the opposite result from the one sought by the commission, and by
retailers, as a matter of public policy. Accelerating the100 percent
obligation would eliminate that situation."
Translation: getting rid of the 50-percent obligation would help
retailers and manufacturers unload their current inventory somewhere
besides eBay.
--
Regards,
Mark A. Aitken Director, Advanced Technology
***********************************
Sinclair Broadcast Group
10706 Beaver Dam Road
Hunt Valley, MD 21030
Business TEL: (410) 568-1535
Business MOBILE: (443) 677-4425
Business FAX: (410) 568-1580
E-mail: maitken@xxxxxxxxxx
Text PAGE: page.maitken@xxxxxxxxxx
www.newscentral.tv
www.sbgi.net
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