[opendtv] Re: Why aren't there more converter boxes?

At 6:10 PM -0500 1/29/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:

Craig Birkmaier wrote:


 Now for the reasons it is a dying franchise.


You keep getting lost in the words, Craig.

If broadcasting is such a lucrative business as you claimed, so
lucrative that you feel they are morally obligated to demand less from
their customers than the customers are clearly willing to pay, then BY
DEFINITION they are not dying.
They are only able to make these demands because of government intervention in the operation of the marketplace. I'm NOT clearly willing to pay taxes - I have no choice. Much the same can be said about TV in the U.S.
It is a government regulated drug, and people put up with the inflated cost, just as they do for tobacco and liquor.
The question you must ask, is whether the U.S. broadcast business model could survive as is without government protection? 

The answer is clearly NO. IT is in decline, even with government protection.



If they start to go moribund, that will immediately be reflected in loss
of these supposed outrageous profits.
According to Dale, this is already happening. The rub is that the profit margins are so high for the companies that have the best franchises, that they can ride this sinking ship down for many years to come. I suspect, however, that the ship will go down early in the next decade, when consumers have REAL, VIABLE alternatives to the current content creation and distribution oligopolies. 



Unlike the illegal drug trade, high prices are not a result of the
product being illegal. And by the way, it is also available for "free."


Another poor analogy.
The price of drugs is inflated because the government chooses to make them illegal. There are many ways for the politicians to cash in on this illegal activity.
In the case of TV the prices are high because the government props up a system that could not exist in a real marketplace.
In both cases the prices are higher because of government regulations and enforcement. 

Regards
Craig


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