At 1:23 PM -0500 2/28/07, Barry Brown wrote:
On Feb 28, 2007, at 10:56 AM, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Not only are second and third sets fed off an antenna quite common, but
folks who use DBS and OTA together are also quite common. The end result
is that actual TV households that make use of OTA are at least double
those that are using OTA exclusively. The number goes from 15 percent to
the high 30 percent range, which is not at all a negligible number.
I've got to throw in my $.02 here. I'm in one of those households that
is combining DBS and DT-OTA. I think helping subs to easily and
cheaply achieve this combination should be almost SOP for DBS
companies, as long as the exclusivity agreements prevent national
distribution of network programming. Otherwise, the DBS spectrum is
flooded with large time segments of duplicate programming, which will
become significantly worse as we progress toward an all digital
system. Not an efficient system of program distribution.
Agreed that it is not efficient, however it is the direction that
DirecTV and Dish are moving today.
What is at stake is about $50 - 100 million per month in fees that the
DBS companies are now collecting (or will be soon) for local
broadcasters. Most of the money goes to the broadcasters, but the DBS
companies get a small share and interest on the cash flow.
The unfortunate reality is that most subscribers are not like yourself
and would rather pay the $5 per month for local stations to avoid the
hassle of putting up an antenna.
Regards
Craig
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