[opendtv] Re: How important are new Codecs wrt OTA Broadcasting?

At 11:49 AM -0500 2/22/06, Bob Miller wrote:
>  >
>        The business model includes the technology. It relies on it.

No, it simply enables it. Or inhibits it as is the case currently in the U.S.

But bottom line, U.S. broadcasters - for the most part - do not care 
whether it works, as they are trying to hold onto Retrans Consent, 
which makes it more profitable to use cable and DBS to reach their 
viewers and to collect subscriber fees.

If broadcasters wanted to compete with cable and DBS, they would 
quickly move to a platform that would give them a competitive 
advantage.  We are NOT talking just about modulation standards here:
- We are talking about the reliable delivery of bits to fixed, mobile 
and portable devices.
- We are talking about the delivery of all kinds of bits and services 
(a good way to look at this is to ask: How successful would the 
Internet be if it could only deliver program length video?).
- We are talking about the development of viable platforms for the 
deliver of these bits. These platforms will compete with cable and 
DBS platforms and devices that pull their bits from the Internet 
today. The platforms must support a wide range of services, but every 
device need not support all of the available service. And the 
platform must have the ability to close the loop with the customer to 
deal with interactions and transactions.
- And we are talking about fundamental changes in the way that 
content is aggregated and delivered. The notion that people are going 
to make appointments to watch TV live and that they will watch 
whatever appears next on a channel is fading. The content that will 
be delivered via a competitive broadcast system in the U.S. will come 
from MANY sources, not just a handful of media conglomerates trying 
to preserve their oligopoly. Broadcasters MAY make money aggregating 
and producing content, but the first priority must be to gain fair 
compensation for the delivery of bits for any entity that wishes to 
reach the public via the broadcast DTV infrastructure. Competitive 
access to the airwaves will be the key to success!

>The only business model that works under these circumstances is the
>current one. Maintain your control of Congress as to must carry and
>obtain multicast must carry. Make consumers pay for your programming
>over cable and take a piece of the action. Maintain OTA broadcasting
>only in so far as it is necessary to maintain must carry. So far 8-VSB
>works for those purposes. It stops working for those purposes when the
>transition actually happens and many consumers who actually depend on
>OTA find out the reality. Then all hell breaks loose IMO.

Correct. The current ATSC standard is doing an excellent job of 
protecting NTSC  and the related perks. You can depend on this thing 
blowing up again as the 2009 deadline approaches. The broadcasters 
can STILL play their hole card - the fact that the current ATSC 
standard does not enable a viable business model.

>
>It also stops working when cable takes multicast must carry to the
>Supreme Court.

First the government must give the broadcasters this new perk. it 
won;t happen, because everyone knows that this would give cable and 
DBS the ammunition they need to go back to the Supremes and have 
retrans consent overturned.

>
>Technology is the big hurdle but one that is easy to hurdle once must
>carry goes away. Without must carry 8-VSB doesn't exist for an RF minute.

This is irrelevant. Most broadcasters do not care if DTV works. Yes 
they would like multicast must carry, but it is not critical to their 
success. Retransmission Consent for ONE primary program is what is 
critical to their success - and this is preserved, even if NTSC goes 
away in 2009.

Regards
Craig
 
 
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