Broadcasters were insisting that the few legacy 8VSB DTV receivers not be rendered unusable. Al Limberg ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Miller" <bob@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 2:40 PM Subject: [opendtv] Re: Toward digital TV > You did nothing wrong but be alone. Without must carry most OTHER > broadcasters would have been as intensely interested in the digital > modulation issue as Sinclair was or even more so and earlier. As a group > broadcasters would have fought a lot harder for and known a lot more > about DVB-T by late 1999. By the hearings in 2000, if that were so, > Sinclair would have had a gallery of broadcast supporters at the > hearings demanding DVB-T and banging their shoes on the table and I > can't believe that the test of 2000 would have been allowed to proceed > as they did. By now broadcasters would be demanding much higher fees > from cable and satellite than the timid fees demanded by retransmission > consent if broadcasters were even offering their content to cable and > satellite at all. > > Correct initial test results, a second round of testing and much greater > support and involvement of more broadcasters in the test procedures > would have guaranteed at least further discussion. At the least DVB-T > would have been allowed as Sinclair asked for. More than three > broadcasters would have had the guts to vote for DVB-T in the face of > Congressional intimidation.If it had been allowed I believe we would > have a completely different DTV landscape in the US today with a hundred > different OTA receivers on the market and multiple successful, possibly > wildly successful USDTV ventures all of which would have been offering > free DVB-T receivers for the last almost six years. > > In the UK they have sold over seven million receivers so far with a > million in the last quarter alone and I would suggest they will sell > close to two million this quarter. What if they had been giving them > away free with subscription based services as well like I suggest would > have happened in the US? What if they had been doing it since early > 2001? After all USDTV can subsidize 8-VSB receivers at $19.95. > > The nine million receivers that will have been sold in the UK by the end > of the year, my estimate, would be equivalent to 63 million in the US. > Add on a few extra years we would have had, add on the possibility that > there would have been a number of USDTV ventures giving away free > receivers and that number could be far higher like 100 million. The > digital transition would be virtually over and OTA would be kicking ass > in the US. > > Freeview is outselling SKY four to one. Wouldn't it be nice if OTA was > offering real competition to cable and satellite in the US instead of > whatever it is broadcasters do with them? > > And now you say it is starting to get exciting? New ideas are being > thought because maybe there is a solution for 8-VSB? Could have happened > years ago. Could still happen if all the hopes for 8-VSB over the next > few years were shown to be true and exceeded by DVB-T today. I don't > think Congress knows this. They would only know if broadcasters as a > group said enough is enough and laid out the facts and said that they as > a group were willing to do what it takes to do a switch and that this > would speed up the transition not slow it down. > > Can you imagine the frenzy among all the manufacturers of DVB-T > equipment if this were to happen?. > > None of this is meant as a criticism of you or Sinclair. > > Bob Miller > > Mark Aitken wrote: > > >I/we am/are (a) Broadcaster(s). I/we am/are NOT married to must carry > >(Sinclair believes in the power of retransmission consent). There is > >8VSB in the US. There is NOT DVB-T for Broadcasters. There was a time > >I/we asked for DVB-T. We did not get what we asked for. Do you think > >if we asked again (in a very nice/pleasant way) we might get it? What > >did we do wrong? > > > >Bob Miller wrote: > > > > > > > >>If broadcasters were not married to must carry there would be no 8-VSB > >>modulation in the US and we WOULD have adopted DVB-T. > >> > >>None of these issues would be discussed at all. > >> > >>Bob Miller > >> > >> > >> > >> > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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.