[opendtv] Re: Broadcasters vs. MVPDs: Economic effects of digital transition on television program supply
- From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:51:07 -0500
inline ...
Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
> Craig Birkmaier wrote:
>
>
>> Truth is that regulated industries and those that regulate
>> them are not interested in creating open markets - they are
>> dependent on the power of government to help them avoid free
>> market competition.
>>
>
> And if anyone doubts that, consider how the FCC is talking about possibly
> taking away more or all of TV RF spectrum.
>
> The way I see it, OTA DTV is as I expected it should be, NOT in the sense
> that it is being used as effectively as possible, but in the sense that I get
> much more choice and much better quality images and audio, for a one-time
> charge of new equipment, and the service is over the same spectrum as before
> (actually, less spectrum). Exactly the same as the improvement to stereo FM,
> for example, or color NTSC TV, or the HiFi audio improvement in network TV,
> or just plain hifi audio. All are system upgrades that pervaded the video and
> audio media, made available to consumers with one-time upgrade costs to the
> consumer.
>
>
You can praise it technically as much as you want but it is obvious ATSC
OTA DTV is an abject failure in the marketplace. For whatever reason
less than 10% of homes now rely exclusively on it and that number is
declining. Meanwhile broadcasters (again for whatever reason) are
making no attempt to actually get folks to use it, only to get Congress
to preserve it. That can only be a delaying action at best.
Pick a number. Would you be willing to give it up once the number of TV
viewing households relying solely on OTA drops to less than 8%? 5%?
What do you think is reasonable? Or do you think the number is going to
suddenly climb again?
> On the other hand, DTV from MVPDs becomes an excuse to soak consumers on an
> ongoing basis. Digital tiers still cost a premium over analog tiers (even
> though they take up less spectrum per program), MVPDs insist on making
> consumers dependent on their own STBs, which adds to MVPD overhead costs and
> to consumer costs, and every innovation seems to come with additional
> dependency on non-standard solutions (e.g. switched video), and more on-going
> costs to consumers.
>
>
Yes, obviously there is not much competition and the MVPDs seem to be
able to get away with a lot right now. It reminds me of the old Ma Bell
monopoly where the government had to do a bit of saber rattling to
correct things. We will likely have to re-regulate cable eventually.
> I would sort of not mind so much going to Verizon FiOS, if I had any
> assurance that they would retain a clearQAM tier, but I have zero trust in
> them or in other cable companies to do so. As far as I can tell, the clearQAM
> tier is a way to lure customers away from FOTA TV, and will disappear the
> instant FOTA TV is yanked away by the new FCC. That would be consistent with
> MVPD practices. (But, of course, that's how the system is supposed to work,
> when there's scarcely a hint of resistance from the customers.)
>
> Bert
>
>
Hopefully the FCC will get a hint and strongly suggest that the lifeline
basic cheapest tier remains on clear QAM. But there are no guarantees.
And, yes, at todays needed speeds for broadband video only FIOS offers
cable broadband any competition. Even if home consumers are losing
interest in land line phones the cable broadband/TV double play offers
something satellite TV can't compete with, so we need multiple cable
companies and FIOS. But I think FIOS only passes about %22 percent of
USA homes so far, not including mine.
- Tom
>
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