[opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2016 02:15:00 +0000
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
As I noted previously, UHF stations did compete in larger markets prior
to the '80s, as the number of potential viewers was large enough to
make economic sense in an era when operating a TV station was very
expensive.
Okay. All I know is that even though I was moving around frequently in those
years, I never had occasion to live in a market with no UHF, or to be in a
market that only offered the three basic TV networks. So when you said that UHF
was either never used or only used for the major three networks in those years,
it did not jive at all with my experience. Sure, in small towns, you wouldn't
have the OTA stations. I noticed that too. Doesn't mean they couldn't have been
offered. With translators or CATV (the real CATV, with big antenna on top of
hill), even this could have been done, once UHF was added.
The fact that VHF was the only credible option, pre-1964 or so, i.e. before the
UHF tuner act, is *the* reason why more than 3 major networks were not
possible. That's it. It was no conspiracy by the networks, even if the networks
were perfectly happy with that state of affairs.
The big problem was content for independent stations. Movies were the
main attraction, although some stations offered off network reruns.
But that's already plenty of extra competition right there, when your only
choices are otherwise ABC/CBS/NBC. And again, more could have been done.
Cable simply gave that much more spectrum than even UHF could offer (especially
with the draconian rules caused by poor receiver selectivity at first). But
even more than that, cable's labor intensive nature, natural gatekeeper nature,
natural monopoly nature, created a perfect storm of circumstances that resulted
in economically mandatory subscription fees. Such a system could not survive on
ad revenues alone, simply because there was way too inefficient ECONOMICALLY.
They were labor intensive way more than OTA, plus they offered the perfect
opportunity to demand fees.
So, imagine my amazement when you called it the "superior medium."
Bert
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Other related posts:
- » [opendtv] Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Ron Economos
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore - Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Early UHF in DC and Baltimore- Craig Birkmaier