[opendtv] Re: FCC LPTV, Class A CP Proposed Grants Could Impact PSIP

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2010 10:52:47 -0500

At 11:16 PM -0800 12/23/10, Ron Economos wrote:

It already happened here in the Bay Area. KAXT-CA
was analog 22. When they switched to digital on 42,
they used virtual channel 22 as per the PSIP rules.

But KRCB was also using virtual channel 22. Folks
that could receive both stations reported all kinds
of receiver behavior including inaccessible sub-channels.

KAXT couldn't use virtual channel 42 because KTNC is
using that. So they asked the FCC to use virtual
channel 1 (which is where they are today).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAXT-CA



Another ATSC invention in search of a real problem.
Virtual channel numbers are an absurd throwback to the golden age of TV. Most MVPD systems don't use the same channel numbers that the broadcast stations use. And MANY TV stations use branding for the "virtual" cable channel number rather than the OTA channel number. 

Adding another virtualization layer only made a bad situation worse.
Looks like a problem that could be solved by a proper TV search engine and software in the TV to make it easy to tune to any channel or source without changing inputs and other display settings - I note that many new TVs have modes that are optimized for different sources. It would be trivially easy to create a GUI that allows every source and channel to be optimized; these setting would then be retained when changing sources, most likely via a favorites menu. 

Regards
Craig


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