[opendtv] Re: Execs see challenges bringing Net video to TV

  • From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:17:48 -0400

But one of the main debates here was whether whether there could possibly be enough bandwidth on the Internet to compete with broadcasting.


I think you will agree that there certainly is in some places in the world.

And anybody can rent a T3 to send a couple of compressed ATSC channels across the ocean, assuming no other licensing restrictions or whatever.

- Tom


John Willkie wrote:
Wow, I guess this digital stuff is just screwing with you all the time, huh?

I just love people who live with press releases and think no further.
What's the price of a Big Mac in Japan?  (isn't it close to $15?).

I know I didn't say anything about "the last mile".  I can't get fiber
service -- yet -- at my apartment in Tijuana.  I have to live with 1.8
mb/sec for $26.  But, they haven't seemed to charge me since February, nor
have they cut it off.

At the house I was largely raised in (to the extend I was raised) in San
Diego, there is fiber running through the AT&T manhole 200 feet from the
house.  If my mother wanted to go for AT&T u-verse (she decided not to last
week, it's <$90 a month for phone, internet and their TV service.  She
decided not to change due to the hassle of changing her email address.  Do
you think "customer retention" might be an aspect of the pricing of the KDDI
service?

Were she to opt for u-Verse, they would run fiber into her home, and they'd
put the demark in her home.

And, you have just extended this foolishness to another country.  SINCE to
get that signal to Japan, you have to start with an 8-VSB receiver, a 20
mb/second (worst case) synchronous pipeline, and a nice bill for the
transport.  Or, you have what I'd call an unwatchable service, or what Bob
Miller would call "acceptable."

Once again, do you know anybody who has 20 mb/second SPARE capacity -- after
all their other uses are taken into account -- on their Internet connection,
and which provides synchronous service?  I think not.

By the way, KDDI is government-owned.  We have a different model of
economics in the U.S.  (Being chipped away as we speak.)  You have no way of
knowing the "true cost" of that connection, nor how much of the cost is paid
by all citizens, including those without internet connections.  You do know
that in the U.S. the cost for Internet, cable TV and even commercial
broadcasting is not subsidized by the government, so people pay for what
they get, not for what their neighbors get.

I also suspect that the sun is always shining in Venezuela, even at night,
and Evo Morales has "non problema."



-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Tom Barry
Enviado el: Saturday, September 27, 2008 8:21 PM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Execs see challenges bringing Net video to TV

I guess we are going to be very jealous of broadband in some other countries then. KDDI in Japan is announcing 1 Gbps Internet service for about US $56.50 / mo starting next month. See Slashdot today:

<http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/09/27/1757211.shtml>

Though since it's only the last mile that's a problem maybe only folks in other countries will be able to stream American HD broadcasters over the Internet, and not us.

- Tom

John Willkie wrote:
John;

Fiber to homes just isn't on the cable companies screens.  Period.

They are trying concepts like SDV, and 850-mhz cable (as a trunk
replacement; not a full rewiring) due to the fact that just a few years
ago,
the early adopters were able to finish paying off their early 1990's
rebuilds.

They don't want to do that again if they don't have to.  SDV and similar
technologies make it so the trunks aren't the bottleneck.

The phone companies have a different perspective, since their copper
infrastructures don't permit them to throw video services more than a few
hundred feet from rather expensive central offices.

And, the super bowl is a different matter, since bert never referred to
live
video or sports (live and high-action eat up bits).

Then, there's the fact that cable firms see their business model as being
centered around being gatekeepers that can charge tolls.  Providing
unlimited bandwidth is a thing of the past; note Comcast's and
Time-Warner's
different responses to manage expectations and bandwidth utilization.

IP HDTV video will kill them.  FIOS and AT&T U-verse are different
matters.
Both are telcos, and they can actually recycle their copper, unless the
thieves get to it first.

John Willkie

-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de John Shutt
Enviado el: Saturday, September 27, 2008 5:04 PM
Para: OpenDTV
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Execs see challenges bringing Net video to TV

Kon,

I think you're missing the point.  Bert supposed:

"If the networks make all of their shows available online, say 30 minutes
after the show was aired, and if the ISPs' core nets can handle the
demand without too many glitches, pretty soon it makes one wonder why
the networks need to depend on broadcasters and MVPDs. All they need is
ISPs.

"Proper HDTV this way is already possible for those with Verizon FiOS,
and cable companies (acting as ISPs primarily) will no doubt catch up,
as they deploy fiber closer and closer to homes.

"The networks would then have the option of delivering TV programs free
or for PPV, real time stream or VOD, or download. Looks to me like the
ISPs have the most difficult job in all of this, to ramp up their
networks to support really massive, simultaneous demand."

There were 97.5 million viewers of last year's Super Bowl in the US.
Let's
be generous and say there were ten people watching per television.  Now,
Kon, can your company's infrastructure serve 10 million streams of even
4.5
Mbps AVC 720p video simultaneously?  If not, then it will never be a
substitute for mass broadcasting.  Which was my counterpoint.

Yes, some day the infrastructure will catch up and be able to do this.
But
by that time UHTV, perhaps in 3D or smell-o-vision, will be the gold
standard in entertainment, and require 100 Mbps per program.

John

----- Original Message ----- From: "Kon Wilms" <konfoo@xxxxxxxxx>

Well, you're missing the point. It's almost like there is this
mentality on this thread that you either have postage size Youtube
cr*p, or you have 18Mbit HD, and nothing in between. Therefore,
internet video will never be viable. That is complete nonsense.
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