[opendtv] Re: News: FCC's Martin Floats Leased Multicast Must-Carry Proposal
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:53:08 -0500
At 11:53 AM -0500 2/27/07, John Shutt wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
What is relatively certain is that 85% of U.S. homes are not going
to know that anything has happened on 2/18/09. although they may
know that they are paying for Free TV.
It was the FCC's intention all along that Cable and DBS be the
"digital to analog" converter for the majority of viewers. The FCC
never intended every single household to buy a digital ready
television or STB prior to analog cutoff.
Yup!
However, cable subscribers are not paying for Free TV. They are
paying for the digital to analog conversion, the maintenance of an
outdoor antenna, and the means to deliver that Free TV to their home.
This was a compelling argument a few years ago, before the
(commercial) broadcasters got a very important group of advertisers,
with offices in Washington, to give them the tools they needed to
rebuild their content and distribution oligopoly.
Since 1992, when Congress re-regulated the cable industry, rates have
been going up at three times the inflation rate.
Five companies have taken control of the content that is watched by
90% of ALL homes.
When DBS came along they imposed even tougher (SHIVA) regulations on
them to protect local broadcasters and enable them to be paid for
their signals.
And now that they have control of the audience again, the
conglomerates have turned the local affiliates loose to demand
monthly subscriber fees for their " Red Meat" programming.
When you place a "Free" 800 telephone call from your home, you
still pay a monthly fee to maintain land line service to your home.
And a portion of every cable and DBS bill recovers the cost of the
distribution infrastructure. But the portion that the multichannel
operators collect for the content oligopoly and local broadcasters is
the reason that rates have been rising for the past decade, and now
makes up a substantial portion of that monthly bill - unfortunately,
it is nearly impossible to find out how much money is passing through
their hands to pay for "Free TV."
What I can't figure out is how "you guys" screwed up and didn't get
in on this deal. Surely, the PBS multiplex is worth at least fifty
cents per subscriber per month...
Regards
Craig
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