When we cannot share the same channel across the country (usually) then we must have boundaries. And if we can't have very sharp boundaries then I guess we have to assume adjacent market areas can't use the same channel. This sounds sort of like a map coloring problem. I think it has finally been proven that any arbitrary map can be colored with only 4 different colors. A simplified view of equal sized market areas with no political gerrymandering would then suggest that 3/4 of the spectrum then would be unusable because of adjacent areas, which seems like a waste. I suppose that a carefully layed out grid of hexagons across the country could do it wasting only 2/3 of the spectrum but that still doesn't seem very good. And of course I'm ignoring all those subtleties of population density, terrain, etc. It's a thorny problem I hadn't really thought about much before. Seems like there should be a better way. How sharp can these boundaries be anyway? - Tom Craig Birkmaier wrote: > At 5:09 PM -0500 3/19/05, Manfredi, Albert E wrote: > >>KBoiling all of this down, I don't think the idea >>of creating overly sharp signal boundaries makes >>good sense. Again, metro Phila is enough to separate >>signals between NYC and Balt VHF co-located stations. >>Not at all bad. Since context matters in these >>discussions, the proper context to put Craig's idea >>into is to say that the alternative to this scheme >>makes little sense. Even if this alternative has >>some nice attributes. > > > Nice try Bert. But you are pissing in the wind. > > The reality is that we have a market based system and that it must > compete with other media in those markets. Media that are > increasingly targeted, with the ability to reach sub-markets, zoned > areas, and in the near future individual consumers. > > There may well be room for a national service with national ads. I > encouraged you to come up with a plan for the VHF spectrum that would > do exactly that, but you ignored the challenge. > > The easy way out is to do nothing. In that case broadcasting as we > know it will die in a decade. > > 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.