[opendtv] Re: Out of market coverage

At 9:52 PM -0400 9/23/08, Albert Manfredi wrote:
Sigh. Maybe that was as far as you took it. My comment was that it's good to see that the FCC worries, or at least considers, out of market viewers. As stated here: 

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-285330A1.pdf
"A significant number of calls (232) were related to the viewer's inability to locate the Wilmington NBC affiliate. Prior to the digital switch, the Wilmington NBC affiliate signal was available to viewers outside the television market as far south as Myrtle Beach, SC and as far north as Raleigh, NC. The Wilmington NBC affiliate's new coverage area does not include these out of market communities. Some of these complaints were from these viewers who will continue to receive their local NBC affiliates in Myrtle Beach and Raleigh. The Commission is continuing to work with those residents who have unresolved reception problems."
As I said before, I disagree with the FCC's concern about loss of OUT-OF-MARKET service. The viewers in Raleigh and Myrtle Beach ALREADY have service - they have only lost a service that replicates their in market service. 




 If we want a market based system,


Who's this "we," Craig?
The people of the United States. This is not to say that the people DO want a market based service Bert. Nor does it say that the people want all the channels they must buy to get an extended basic multichannel-TV service. What is says is that We the people are being screwed by the special interests who use the power of government to subvert competition.
It is our representatives in Congress and the regulators who implement their will, who have decided that we need a market based TV service; and that the broadcasters in these market deserve the protection of the Federal government to maintain their oligopolies in the markets that the FCC defines.
My fellow OTA TV viewers and I can assure you that we don't give a tinker's damn about "TV market." What we want is the maximum choice. I don't doubt that broadcasters would prefer not to have overlapping patterns. So what?
It is the overlapping patterns with market-into-market interference that prevent folks like you from getting what you want...more choice.
The current market-based system is wasteful of spectrum, causing at least half of the spectrum available to broadcasters to lie fallow to protect the other half. Unfortunately for you Bert, the broadcasters LOVE this, as it limits real competition. There is nothing new here Bert - broadcasters have ALWAYS had enough clout in DC to limit competition whether it is via TV or radio - remember when the NAB successfully prevented new low power radio stations from being approved by the FCC?
Truth is Bert, that most people do not care where their TV comes from. The main reason for this is that there is VERY LITTLE that is local about local television. Viewers might get upset if a cable system cut a better deal with an out of market station and they were no longer able to watch the local news and weather reports from the local station that demanded more for their signal. But the reality is that only a small percentage of viewers even watch the local and national news from the affiliates of the major networks. Ratings for the evening news from the major networks are now well below 10% of the population - local news is not faring much better.
So if you really want more choice, you might consider supporting what I am saying. But you better get used to the idea that you may have NO CHOICE but to subscribe to a multi-channel service when the broadcasters go belly up.
Since Wilmington OTA lacks local MNT, CW, and PBS OTA broadcasters, and since viewers from markets adjacent to (or even quite far from) Wilmington were apparently capable of receiving at very least that one Wilmington station, let's do a "huge" leap of logic here.
Do you suppose that some of these Wilmington viewers are also going out of market, to get those three missing networks? Do you suppose that after analog shutoff in those other markets, Wilmington OTA users might also miss some of those distant networks, if the affiliates also change their coverage patterns?
No huge leap here Bert. Sure people want content they cannot get from their local market broadcasters. This just MIGHT be a factor in the decision of more than 85% of the population to give up on local broadcasters and subscribe to a multi-channel service. 

Regards
Craig


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