[opendtv] Re: FCC's spectrum plan gives broadcasters food for thought
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2010 09:01:25 -0400
At 7:01 PM -0400 7/3/10, Albert Manfredi wrote:
I would also not be a happy camper if the same type of special
interests and complacent users forced every roadway to become a toll
road, Craig. You will note that the WWW did not evolve into this
walled garden nirvana that you are promoting for entertainment and
information.
Nirvanna hell. This is just another case of special interests using
the politicians to resist the natural evolution of the marketplace. I
do not know why you think I am advocating for what is happening.
The idea that the federal government can take my tax dollars to
bribe FOTA broadcasters into oblivion is truly repulsive. Especially
the way they are doing it, involving only those who they are trying
to buy off, so they can hand this public property off to even more
walled off special interests. The public should be informed.
The idea that the Federal Government can exploit almost every public
resource that we have to sustain their personal wealth and power is
truly repulsive. I am not more happy about auctioning broadcast
spectrum for broadband than yourself. The sad reality here is the
politicians can suck more money out of our pockets by letting the
telcos pay through the nose for the spectrum, which in turn means
that we all pay more for broadband. It is like taking out a huge
loan, giving the proceeds to the government to waste TODAY, then
making the public pay the loan back.
Unfortunately, the portion of the public that needs to be informed
about this abuse is the same same portion of the public that
encourages the politicians to take money from the producers and give
it to them.
Or to put it slightly different, these are not the people buying
iPhones, Droids and Blackberry's with unlimited data plans.
There is only one way to undermine this... the
people must stop watching, and that ain;t gonna
happen.
I don't know ... the same could have been said about smoking.
The worldwide average for percentage of populations that smoke is
22%, and the U.S. is at 21%. That's a much higher percentage than the
10% who still rely on FOTA TV. But that's not the important point
here. It is the nearly 90% of homes in the U.S. that are paying for
MVPD serviced that are the "smokers." They are the ones who would
need to stop watching in order to bring the current system down.
Illogical, Craig. UNLESS the special interests you listen to are
lying when they claim that FOTA households are dropping.
Not at all Bert.
My daughter and here fiancee just dropped cable. Too expensive. They
are now relying on DVDs and Hulu. They are NOT using the FOTA TV
service.
What we NEVER hear is a statistic bout the number of U.S. homes where
the occupants simply say no to TV in any form...
You can't have it both ways. If it's true that 90 percent of US
households are addicted, and the number is increasing, I'd say the
price of the drug should go higher. As long as FOTA exists, and that
choice has increased OTA with the digital conversion, people have an
out. If they aren't taking that out (and I'm not convinced, by the
way), then the price of the walled garden access can go higher.
You are missing my point. As the price goes higher it enables more
affordable alternatives. And this is what will kill cable.
You do have an out, in Gainesville. Take it. My brother-in-law, who
recently moved to Florida and lives between Orlando and Daytona
Beach, has *no* viable OTA options. He's 40 miles from the one Ocala
station, and 60+ miles from Daytona Beach. And nothing at all any
closer. Amazing.
I find this quite difficult to believe as the transmitters serving
these markets are located between Orlando and Daytona Beach, which
are only 47 miles apart.
Regards
Craig
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