I've been telling people for more than 10 years that any argument that uses the term "dark fiber" is a non-sequitur, that there is no dark fiber. There certainly is no dark fiber in front of homes. Now, I'd say that's the best part of your "what if." By the way, title 2 companies (telephone companies) are forbidden by the communications act from owning content. This has been eroded just a bit in the last two decades; now they can only own content through fully separate subsidiaries. In udder words, ain't gonna happen. They'll have to license content produced by others -- it's actually the inopposite of your view -- not a tight binding of content and distribution, but an enforced distance. John Willkie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx> To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 5:25 PM Subject: [opendtv] Re: SBC Joins the Convergence Crowd > At 2:30 PM -0800 1/4/05, Ralph P. Manfredo wrote: > >There are two reasons for the numerous attempts by both Pacific Bell and > >SBC's failure to get into the video delivery business. > > > >1. Management is dial tone oriented, and thus they are afraid to provide > >non-dial tone service because they might fail and loose their jobs > > > >2. They have shareholders who are only interested in profit, so management > >is unwilling to spend the money to get into the video delivery business > >because of the cost which will affect the bottom line. > > > >Until RBOC management gets some intestinal fortitude, they will always be > >bungling a video delivery solution. They will wake up when the cable > >companies start getting aggressive on offering dial tone to their customers. > >Who knows, we may see the end of the RBOCs when that happens, and it will be > >their own fault. > > Or there could be another scenario... > > What if it is the tight coupling of content and carriage that is in > danger of extinction? > > The telcos have always done best selling bandwidth, not the content > that is carried. > > What if content owners are able to bypass all of their existing > distribution "partners" and simply deliver products to consumers via > IP networks. In other words, the consumer just pays for bandwidth, > and they buy content in an open marketplace, not unlike the Internet? > > What if the dark fiber that terminates in front of my house suddenly > becomes an "all you can drink bit pipe" for say $50/month? > > Regards > Craig > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: > > - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org > > - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.