[opendtv] Re: Digital TV Finds It Hard to be Free

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 16:34:22 -0400

DISMO wrote:

> 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.

I agree, but it seems that only Germany found it possible
to do as you describe. So far anyway. So to be fair, it's
not just as FCC problem.

> 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.

Except that satellite is a subscription service,
umbillical (i.e. subscribers are dependent on one
provider), and is harder to receive than OTA. It also
leaves out local stations, as you pointed out, not that
this is too much of an issue with most viewers.

> 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.

Which sounds like an atrocious solution to me. So, thank
goodness the FCC didn't kill OTA.

It's a bit like mandating satellite radio on everyone.
It's not for no reason that Sirius has gone in the red
some $1+B so far (according to a Post article I read
about 2 weeks ago). That kind of FCC I wouldn't want.

Just because a service gets a large increase in
subscribers when it starts from absolute 0 does not
translate to long term success. We'll see if "85
percent" of radio users migrate to satellite radio.
Any bets?

Bert
 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

Other related posts: