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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.