[opendtv] Re: Zenith/LG NOT announcing new STB's based upon 5'th gen chip
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 11:58:53 -0500
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> > A simple answer is: because the marketplace works.
> > If they don't offer the good stuff, you can bet
> > someone else will.
>
> What?
>
> FIRST, this is not the workings of a "marketplace."
> This is an attempt by government to set industrial
> policy and to force consumers to purchase something
> they do not want or need.
It's both, Craig. Just as it was in Berlin.
I don't subscribe to the school of thought that every
law is a reason to don my fatigues, pick up my AK-47,
and go on the lookout for "black helicopters." The
FCC has a mandate to manage the public spectrum, and
the marketplace responds accordingly. Just as it did
in Berlin. Go to the mabb site and see if there was
any public demand for DTT in Berlin, *before* they
started shutting off the PAL service.
That's why manufacturers will sell products that work.
> Second. How do OTA ATSC broadcasts qualify as "the
> good stuff?" If this is "the good stuff," why do 85%
> of U.S. homes pay extra for the "other" stuff?
This is getting pretty tiresome.
Some, or even many, of that 85 percent use or can use
OTA as well as their umbillicals. DBS and cable
customers. In any event, most of the components of the
ATSC receiver, and the majority of the royalty costs,
are shared with the cable receiver. And of course,
combined DBS and ATSC receivers have existed for eons
now.
The plug and play concept depended on the cable
agreement, to make it beneficial to the majority.
As the STMicroelectronics and LG offerings prove
conclusively, a cost effective solution that
incorporates *two-way* cable interfaces, along with
a good ATSC interface, is feasible.
> > As it's critical to the success of anyone selling
> > OTA TV equipment. DBS systems are HD challenged.
> > If they can't depend on the OTA path today, it's
> > at least in part due to inadequate receivers.
>
> Exactly! And this is one of the major reasons that
> there are very few people trying to sell OTA TV
> equipment of the ATSC variety.
As usual, you miss the point. DBS services *want* to
be able to use OTA for the local HD content. If that
option is made available, they will use it. What's
the big deal? They already have to install a dish
antenna. What's an extra UHF yagi going to cost
them? (Or a simple loop antenna.)
It might come as a surprise to you, but I have no
vested interest in helping OTA service to fail and
force people to become pregnant with subscription
services. I don't skip around gleefully every time
some trade journal hack writes an article about
the supposed decline in broadcast viewership. They
are always discredited by more balanced articles
anyway.
Similarly, the fact that 55 percent of vehicles
sold last year were SUVs only makes me more opposed
to those monstrosities, not the other way around.
I just can't understand why you keep throwing
around this 85 percent figure, as if it were some
sort of proof of great taste, or blue blood, or
anything other than the strictly average desire of
the strictly average working stiff. Who then
predictably complains about the fact that the
rates keep going up. Wow. What a surprise.
Bert
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