[opendtv] Re: White paper from CEA

The simple fact is that the broadcasters did at first promote DTT.  Then
along came the controversy over changing to COFDM.  That caused =
everything
to come to a halt.  STB R & D stopped.  Sony and others pulled back =
product
in the pipeline as well as support for HD broadcast production.  It =
looked
like VHS vs Beta again. With almost no receivers out there it would have
been asinine for the broadcasters to heavily promote their Digital =
service.

The next step came when the dust settled over the modulation standard, =
and
even Nat Osteroff, the most ardent supporter of COFDM, agreed that the
improved equalizers for ATSC reception made COFDM a dead issue.=20

What then happened was that the big retailers told the manufacturers =
that
they would be wasting their time to expend R&D on STBs, because the
retailers had decided it was not in their interest to advertise and sell =
an
item that reduced the incentive to buy new TV sets or sign for Cable or =
DBS.
It was the retailers that killed the market.  I read of one retailer =
that
actually told a TV station to STOP advising their viewers to get =
converters,
because they weren't selling them and didn't want people coming in =
looking
for them!!! =20

Oh but how much more fun it is to blame the big bad broadcasters for the
sluggish transition, despite that for 7 years now they have been =
spending
millions upon millions for new transmitters, new STL's, new terminal and
studio equipment, even new towers in some cases, and a double or triple
power bill at the transmitter sites.  The broadcasters did this =
willingly,
even eagerly in most cases.  The station personnel dug in to learn
completely new technology and measurement technique.  No small task =
that.

It is just too much to expect the broadcaster to carry all the load, =
when
even now, DTT receivers are few and far between in the hands of viewers.
Now, really, does anyone truly think the retailers would be eagerly =
pushing
DVB-T STBs if we had somehow gone that route?=20


-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] =
On
Behalf Of Manfredi, Albert E
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 4:29 PM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: White paper from CEA

Frank wrote:

> Does anyone think there is any real chance that the
> FCC could be convinced to reverse it's decision on
> allowing COFDM? How many corporate executives are
> foolish enough to bet their careers on a business
> model that assumes such a change of heart will happen
> at the FCC?

I agree completely. So what's stopping these corporate
executives from playing in the ATSC market?

> That RFP is a joke.

That RFP is only a joke if the NAB allows to become a
joke. In my opinion, it's a good way to kick start the
market, because it should convince the CE guys that
*broadcasters* are actually interested in DTT now, as
opposed to before. And by the way, if anything, the
NAB ought to include recording devices as well as
bargain basement simple STBs.

> assuming anyone even responded to the RFP

I don't understand this. Are you saying that the NAB
was just making it all up?

http://www.nab.org/newsroom/pressrel/Releases/100505_Thomson_LG_Converte
rBox.htm

I thought they selected LG and Thomson.

> Most companies that are actually in the IC business
> and highly capitalized have given up on that idea for
> ATSC DTT. Good luck to any newcomers.

But the 5th gen LG chips exist, in quantity production,
do they not? I don't understand what you're saying here
either. And it looked like Micronas is also getting
into the chip market, and perhaps Samsung too.

Leaving aside the conspiracy theory for why these DTT
products aren't coming to market, the only rational
explanation I can come up with is that the broadcasters
have been so uninterested in pushing this transition
that the CE guys saw no credible market out there. Maybe
the CE guys are expecting OTA to die. (Or maybe Dale is
correct, and the CE guys are *ensuring* that OTA will
die.) I'll accept that poor performance was a good
reason for broadcasters to be uininterested -- in the
past!

Now that decent and low cost receivers have been demoed
and that some of these are being sold (in LG integrated
sets, anyway), the best way to get DTT going is for the
broadcasters to get in the thick of the action, JUST
LIKE their cable and DBS counterparts do.

Bert

=20
=20
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