[opendtv] Re: Martin: 15% of Stations Face Smaller DTV-Coverage Areas
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 08:01:08 -0400
In this Wilmington example especially, I say "nonsense."
Good choice of words Bert.
This is another classic case of the nonsense that you promulgate on
this list on a regular basis. Do you ever read the stuff you post; or
is it just a reading comprehension issue?
On 9/16 you posted a TV Technology article which stated:
http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/66538
Wilmington Lesson: Test the Boxes, People!!
...
But the day highlighted that by design, the DTV transition, will bring
winners and losers. NBC affiliate WECT moved to a new tower for DTV to
get better in-market coverage, and some out-of-market viewers in places
like Raleigh lost the signal. On the other hand, WILM, the CBS affiliate
owned by Raleigh DTV pioneer Capitol Broadcasting Co., switched from
low-power analog to full-power digital and should have much greater
coverage.
Let me see if I can make this a bit more clear.
Wilmington has four full power stations including affiliates of CBS,
NBC, ABC, Fox and PBS. The Raleigh/Durham market, which is about 119
miles away has 11 full power stations with all major network
affiliates.
WECT chose to improve their IN-MARKET coverage, which resulted in a
loss of OUT-OF-MARKET coverage. They lost some potential viewers in
the Raleigh/Durham - a market that HAS an NBC affiliate. WILM chose
to improve its coverage, going from low power analog to full power
digital. They clearly will now offer duplicated CBS programming in
adjacent markets.
So from this reality you come back with the following:
If NBC is unavailable OTA in a market, there's no "interference"
going on at all for a consumer to go fetch NBC from an adjacent
market. The only "interference" I can possibly imagine would be that
the consumer is interfering with the local MVPD's desire to kill
competing FOTA media.
It is obvious that there is no market-into-market competition
(interference) if a market is not served with the programming. This
is not the case for the discussion at hand. It IS the case for those
in Wilmington who may want to access networks that are carried by
Raleigh stations that are not available in Wilmington.
The MVPDS do not care about OTA competition. They do care about
regulations that prevent them from importing out-of-market stations
that might offer better carriage deals (retransmission consent
payments) than the in-market station they are required to carry.
Once again, I view all of this from the European angle. European TV
is built on a system of relatively low power translators, scattered
hither thither and yon. Households are expected to aim their
antennas at whatever translators best cover their location, and that
is often NOT the translators that are geographically the closest.
Apples and Oranges. The Europeans have national networks with limited
localized channels that are not protected on a market basis.
As far as I'm concerned, the same holds here, and that's what the
FCC is thankfully concerning themselves about.
Sorry Bert, but stations DO expect you to watch the in-market signal.
They cannot stop you from watching a Baltimore station in DC, but
they can and do control their markets on the MVPDs, which account for
85% to 95% of their audience.
Regards
Craig
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