[opendtv] Re: Out of Sync?

Hello, 

The way it was here: our transition to off-air digital has happened 
overnight in December. The ONLY announcements have been some articles 
in the newspapers and maybe in some TV guides (the paper magazines), 
during the weeks before. And maybe a few ads on public TV, but I 
don't even remember those, if any. And then it happened. I have 
heard no complaints at all... On the other hand, if the local cable 
company (UPC) talks about taking some commercial channels out of 
the analog package (and leave them in the digital package, but that 
was not explicitly said) then the local newspaper receives thousands 
of letters complaining about the injustice of it all. Go figure... 

To put the OTA transition into perspective: we had ONLY THREE analog 
channels off-air, i.e. the 3 national public channels. Everything 
else, i.e. a dozen or so commercial channels aimed at NL plus a 
dozen or so foreign stations, has only ever been available on cable 
and satellite. So you could lose only 3 channels, and for that you 
get 4 or 5 digital channels back, free-to-air. (You get also the 
provincial channel, and maybe the next province.) If you get a smart 
card, and pay a low subscription fee, then you can get a number of 
other channels as well, and you can cancel your cable subscription. 
So you really get more in return than what you lost. 

BTW, Digitenne promises the same 99% of coverage as analog, only 
it is not necessarily the same 99%. Your Mileage May Vary. 

The cheapest settop boxes are ?90, but you get the money for the 
first box back when you pay the subscription of ?10 per month. 
For that fee you can have 3 smart cards registered, so you only 
pay the hardware for the 2nd and 3rd TV. Given that a digital cable 
subscription costs in the neighborhood of ?20, it seems to be a 
really good deal. 

Until you figure out that satellite reception is even cheaper ! 
And then you're talking thousands of channels free-to-air, and a 
subscription fee of ?40-50 per YEAR for the majority of the Dutch 
channels. Which is mostly needed to prove that you _are_ Dutch. 

Best regards, 
-- Jeroen

+-------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| From:     Jeroen H. Stessen   | E-mail:  Jeroen.Stessen@xxxxxxxxxxx |
| Building: SFJ-5.22 Eindhoven  | Deptmt.: Philips Applied Technologies |
| Phone:    ++31.40.2732739     | Visiting & mail address: Glaslaan 2 |
| Mobile:   ++31.6.44680021     | NL 5616 LW Eindhoven, the Netherlands |
| Skype:  callto:jeroen.stessen | Website: http://www.apptech.philips.com/ 
|
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