[opendtv] Re: Kennard and Powell to the rescue

  • From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 23:36:28 -0800

You said that the DTV transition will drive people to cable and satellite.
Simply, to the extent that will happen, I believe we are beyond the peak.  

The whining these days is about older folks and folks in rural areas who
have ignored months of warnings and tests and only now are getting up to
speed.

THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO have decided, by and large, that they only need over
the air television and who waited too long to get the first tranche of
government subsidy of $40 on STBs.  Few to none are candidates for cable or
satellite, unless the government pays for it.

I have quite a few friends and acquaintances who are not in the television
field.  They've been asking me for years what they should do about the DTV
transition.  My first question is: are you a cable TV susbscriber?  If they
are, I tell them they can connect an HDTV set to their cable and watch HDTV
from local tv stations without paying anything more, or the cable company
will manage their transition to digital by providing an analog signal or a
converter box for them.  I also say that if they want, they can put up an
antenna and ditch cable, but they will have to buy a digital set.  In the
last year or so, I have added that they can also get two $40-off coupons
from the government for converter boxes.

None of this is nostalgia about how good analog was.  I think it's best to
point towards the future.  You seem to have a different posture, and engage
in different types of discussions with people on this subject.

ANALOG TV SUCKS.  It has sucked for many decades.  I won't regret it's
passing.  Digital TV has issues.  Bring them on; they will be solved.  There
has been little in the way of analog TV improvement since comb filters came
about in the mid-1970s.

John Willkie



-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Cliff Benham
Enviado el: Friday, January 09, 2009 6:06 PM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Kennard and Powell to the rescue

John Willkie wrote:
> You are full of crap.  People who don't want to pay full price for a
> one-time purchase of an $80 box aren't going to pay $50 per month forever
> for cahle or satellite.  
>
> You have lost any sense of balance on this issue.
>   
No, I think you didn't read what I wrote.
 
 
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