[opendtv] Re: Letter to TV Technology

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:23:23 -0400

At 3:25 PM -0400 10/10/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
John Shutt wrote:

 I know you live in your own little world, but please understand
 we were discussing what would have happened in 2001, not what
 would happen today.

Nothing would have happened differently in 2001, John. That's the sad
truth.

Not necessarily true.

We have been over this many times. It was never in the broadcasters'
best interests to advertize that they had a really superb OTA system
going. So when they had the opportunity, and needed it, they (the NAB)
put no pressure on the FCC.

The Sinclair petition was made by an innovative broadcaster trying to break the NAB/FCC stranglehold over the industry.

Let's assume that you are right and that "the industry" really wanted to do as little as possible, so as to stretch out the life of NTSC and the related regulatory advantages. Sinclair understood what was going on at the time, and that it would take years to develop a suitable work around for the ATSC problems. Please note Bert, that while the generic ATSC receiver is now a fairly reliable device, it does not include any innovations, such as the ability to support SFNs, Mobile/Pedestrian/Hand held receivers, or modern codecs like H.264. Yes, there are proposals on the table Bert, but no products that we can buy with these features.

Sinclair, and the other broadcasters who backed the proposal to use COFDM, wanted to try something new and innovative; but they knew that they could not do this successfully with ATSC technology circa 2000. They also knew that there were manufacturers ready to build COFDM receivers that WOULD support their business plans in 2000.

So it is at least possible that they might have broken ranks with the NAB and dragged a number of broadcasters into the future, offering something more competitive than NTSC simulcasts.


The FCC correctly said, in 2001, that the reception problems were going
to be resolved before too long. We saw proof of that in March 2002.

They said no such thing. They said that a change would be disruptive to the transition.


Again, it was not to broadcasters' advantage to start gearing up this
new medium. Better to continue, year after year, pretending that nothing
had changed since 1999.

And again, this is a case of preventing a revolt among broadcasters who wanted to innovate, by limiting the ability of any upstarts to change the terms of the game. You are correct that nothing has changed since 1999. ATSC tuners may work better, but are no more in demand today then they were in 1999. Instead, we are forced to buy them, even if we have no intention of using them.


I happen to use OTA, John. My little world does not merely put up with
this nuisance OTA plant for ulterior motives.

Your "special" Bert.

Regards
Craig


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