[opendtv] Re: Spectrum Comments Pour into FCC

At 5:23 PM -0600 12/23/09, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Not that I buy the argument that having spent all these billions on the DTV transition, we must hang on to it at all costs. That could be just throwing in good money after bad. However, for sure returning OTA TV to the NTSC model would be a loser. That's why crunching down spectrum to where multiple stations would share a single channel is a loser. 

Bert
You really need to drop this NTSC mantra. Even You Tube delivers higher quality video, on average, that NTSC.
The very article you posted suggests that broadcasters are now focusing on Mobile DTV as the technology to "save their spectrum" this time. The only argument they use related to HDTV is the investment consumers broadcasters and consumers have made in MANDATED ATSC receivers, which for thew most part are NOT BEING USED.
If delivery of "multicasts" to mobile devices is the future of broadcasting, then the ability to deliver HDTV is meaningless.
Let's assume that broadcasters are repacked into fewer channels, and that each station gets 6 Mbps to deliver programming. What could a station do with 6 Mbps, and how would this compare to NTSC quality on a hand held display in the range of 3 to 10 inch diagonal?
The answer is that they could use the entire 6 Mbps for Wide Screen 480P that would deliver a near HDTV experience, even on larger screens in the family room. But those bits could also be used to deliver multiple programs at 1-2 Mbps, something the DBS systems have been doing with MPEG-2 technology for years.
If the system were set up as a utility, the operational cost to each station would be a fraction of what they are spending today to light up the big sticks, and the spectral efficiency would be significantly greater - far fewer dormant channels to protect out of market signals.
The NAB and MSTV are beginning to make a bit of sense, claiming that broadcasters can deliver video streams more efficiently than the cellular unicast model. This obviously ignores the reality that the broadband systems can also deliver multicasts.
It is interesting that Cliff's friend focused on Free TV versus the subscription models currently being used by the telcos. But this ignores the fact that people are paying the telcos for broadband, not TV; BROADBAND is the real Telco TV killer.
There are reports today that Apple may compete with the MVPDs, offering a subscription service via iTunes. On the surface this makes little sense, UNLESS the service delivers this programming across a range of platforms, from the TV in the family room to iPhones and the new Apple Tablet.
Notsurprisingly, this is almost exactly what Comcast is doing with their TV everywhere initiative. The real issue here is not how the bits are delivered, but how they are paid for.
A single subscription that lets you watch live programming at home and on mobile devices, AND download programming for time and place shifting, would be far more compelling to me than what I get for $70/mo from Cox Cable today.
Also, Tom made a point recently that I think applies here. Tom said that the OTA users he knows also get their TV material from other sources, like DVDs (or Internet?). That sounds credible to me, being among this group.
Which leads me to conclude that yes indeed, OTA broadcasters can increase their total viewership. And it's not even difficult. It doesn't even require taking subscribers from MVPD services.
It all depends on what content is available. People pay for cable and DBS to access content that IS NOT available FOTA or live via the Internet. This reality is NOT going to go away; in fact it will become even more important as we move from subscription packages to an ala carte world. The money is ALREADY being spent; now it is just a case of redistributing a very large pie, while cutting out a bunch of middlemen.
If it's true that MVPD subscribers these days prefer to get their video material from the MVPD rather than from pre-recorded discs, that also must apply to OTA users. So, make more options available, support the use of PVRs, and the OTA viewers won't resort to prerecorded media quite so often.
People use packaged media to access high quality content that IS NOT FREE, or constantly interrupted with ads. This is primarily movies, but also premium cable content like the Sapranos and entire seasons of popular broadcast TV shows.
Packaged media WAS the best economic means available to deliver this content, but is now being replaced with VOD and Internet TV services. 

Regards
Craig


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