[opendtv] Re: Digital TV Finds It Hard to be Free
- From: DISMO@xxxxxxx
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 04:33:27 EDT
In a message dated 10/14/2004 11:29:58 PM Pacific Standard Time,
johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
Here's two alternatives: no on-air dtv facilities one night, everybody
transmitting analog. Wake up the next morning and no analog facilities, all
digital operating using the same transmitters. (very ugly results at home
and station.)
At the other extreme: no digital TV.
Agreed, both unpleasant results. A sharp cutoff would leave many folks
without reception, and "no DTV" would make the whole enterprise an exercise in
futility.
What's happened is that the FCC mandated the changeover, but refused to take
a strong leadership role, instead hoping that "market forces" would determine
technical standards (18 possible formats!) and eventually make it relatively
painless for consumers to ease into the 21st century.
Lack of leadership from the top resulted in lots of foot-dragging by cable
companies and an overwhelming sense of entitlement on the part of broadcasters.
The longer they are allowed to hang onto both their analog and digital
spectrum the more they will feel like they are theirs to keep.
The FCC should have gotten all involved on a graduated schedule with
reasonable but nonnegotiable goals to reach - equipment makers, production
companies,
local broadcasters, networks, cable providers, satellite services. Instead of
steady progress it's been piecemeal at best, with every "deadline" imposed by
Washington pushed back by months or years. The 2006 cutoff date is now 2009,
and that will undoubtedly be extended. McCain's proposal to subsidize ATSC-NTSC
converter boxes for those dependent on over-the-air broadcasts was the most
reasonable suggestion to speed up the return analog licenses to the FCC for
auction. At some point the broadcasters have to let go.
What might have made the most sense, given local broadcasters' estimated $2
million per station cost of going digital, would have been to exempt them from
any DTV requirements at all. DTV is a perfect format for satellite - it takes
only a few to cover all of North America. That would have left local stations
firmly in the past, like AM radio stations are now, and would have created a
two-tier system of parallel broadcasting - HD satellite for the elite, and
cable/local TV for the plebeians.
That's a real "market solution" and is exactly what's happening with
satellite radio. Traditional AM/FM broadcasting is being left behind, despite
too-late-to-help technical developments like HD Radio and 5.1 capability. As
the US
9th Circuit Court noted in ruling for the legality of file-sharing services
like Morpheus and StreamCast, "new technologies disrupt mature markets." (Not
an
exact quote) Begining-of-the-end-for-the-dinosaurs sort of thing.
Including local broadcasters in the DTV transition was a decision based on
the 1950s model, not one based on the reality of how most people (85%) receive
TV transmissions today. Other than local news/sports/weather, very little
programming worth watching originates locally. Some very reliable studies have
pointed out local news/sports/weather as the only reason anyone watches local
TV.
Increasingly, people get that information elsewhere, especially from the
Internet. The 1600 local stations that got the free 6MHz could have kept their
analog licenses forever, kept beaming into ever-diminishing markets - they will
anyway, until the revenue stream dries up - and the FCC could have auctioned
off
the digital spectrum instead. That might have offset some of the record
national deficit.
As for where to go from here, or how to make it happen faster or better, send
your suggestions to our servants in Washington. The ideas floated on this
forum are at least as valid as any of those discussed in congress or at the FCC.
BW
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