[opendtv] Re: NBC turning flagship O&O into 24/7 news channel
- From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 20:56:35 -0400
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
>> It makes no sense to me, at all, that if you take content
>> away from the OTA stations, slap a monthly fee on it,
>> and make it available only over walled gardens,
>> suddenly that content will become more attractive. If
>> it's not interesting OTA, it will continue to be uninteresting.
>> If it causes OTA stations to become unprofitable, it will do
>> likewise to the cable systems.
>
> They can get enough eyeballs nationally to attract national
> and regional advertisers. Local stations are struggling in
> part because local advertisers are moving their money into
> more efficient vehicles, including cable.
Right, and that's why I keep saying that this emphasis on localism for OTA TV
in the US is what is causing the problem. If the FCC has any interest in saving
OTA TV, it will have to consider something more like the European model, in
which there are only a handful of local networks throughout the country. Most
of the OTA spectrum is taken up by national networks. I continue to think that
Michael Powell had it right.
That's why the national cap needs to be lifted. Doing so won't stop competition
within each market, and it will get the advertizers interested again, and give
the media congloms (or whoever buys the national coverage) a much bigger
incentive to make it good. And it should be easy enough to reserve one 6 MHz
slice, or even a piece of one, for a local network. Maybe by state or by market.
And by the way, I think this is true no matter what use the spectrum gets put
to in the future. The US economy is obsessed with "growth." If companies can't
show "growth," they go under, even if they are profitable. You can't
demonstrate "growth" if the FCC shackles you with national caps.
Bert
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