[opendtv] Re: FCC rules for cable after the OTA TV digital transition
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:09:36 -0400
Frank Eory wrote:
> It seems that this order simply prolongs the
> completion of cable's DTV transition, which seems
> rather odd, considering the FCC's supposed interest
> in completing the broadcaster's DTV transition as
> quickly as is practical.
The govt has a reason to want to complete the OTA transition ASAP,
because they need to reduce the spectrum used by TV. In principle, they
have no reason to rush the cable transition.
> The either/or option of maintaining an analog tier
> or going all-digital only when all subs have the
> necessary equipment is also puzzling. Does the order
> require MSOs to foot the bill for all those STBs if
> he is anxious to eliminate analog sooner rather than
> later?
I find this very disingenuous. Cable created this problem all by
themselves, by separating themselves from the DTV transition and
insisting on their own proprietary STBs and digital signal standards,
and dragging their feet on the plug and play agreement. That was not the
FCC's doing.
So now that cable subscribers have not had to follow any sort of
transition schedule, the FCC is simply telling cable systems that they
can continue doing what they have been doing, rather than leave that 60
percent of analog cable customers in the dark.
This order is no big deal. Cable systems have already been selling a
digital tier anyway, and have already expanded to include UHF
frequencies for their own reasons. So that continuing to simulcast, as
in practice they've been doing, should be a no-brainer, and minimal
expense.
If cable systems didn't discourage use of CableCard and third party
STBs, they wouldn't have to foot the entire bill for their digital
conversion. Cable could have been on a schedule much more in line with
that of OTA users, urging their subscribers to go off and upgrade their
own systems on their own nickel, starting back in 1998. If their
"business model" didn't support such a scheme, then I'd say it's their
"business model" that created the problem.
Bert
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