I (too) have "limited basic" (Comcast) only because it is a $5 cost with the broadband service. For $5/mo it is worth it to me. If it was $15-20, it would be gone and I would spend the few extra bucks to take my antenna feed and "reconnect" it to the internal RF distribution (which was done originally for OTA!).
National content has it's value. What would I pay for it? Not really too sure. Nothing (first response) given that I have it "for free" with the local content.
What would I pay for local? Not really too sure either except that I AM willing to drop the $5/mo for the ease and a bit better pictures. Nothing is a better answer given that I have it "for free" OTA.
Ask me about HDTV! ZERO! It is free, and for me, the only place it is worth watching it is in the "home theater". I already have the antenna (I am told it is 20 years old! All I did was add a new balun and pre-amp), and as a bonus, I can watch Washington (which I never do because I like local news!) PBS for free added on top of local (it matters not if I watch local or Washington or Annapolis..it is the same).
Everyone has their own figures to put on it. Expendable income plays a big role. I know folks that have full cable ($120+/mo) and DBS (another $80+) and watch not much more than me. What is the value equation? For me, local in the morning and dinner time (focused on traffic and weather and who did what to whom...), HD primetime sometimes (most every night for 1-2 hours...partly a family experience), and then DVD's (netflix) filling out the rest of my viewing time (good deal for us[$]...rather than always the movies[$$$]...which we DO go to on special occasions).
/_*"What's in YOUR wallet?" *_/Mark Tom Barry wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote: > The unfortunate reality is that most subscribers are not like yourself > and would rather pay the $5 per month for local stations to avoid the > hassle of putting up an antenna.I'm one of those paying maybe an extra $4 / mo. after broadband discount and that's even after putting up a rotor antenna. I kept Cox cable for the more solid and convenient reception. But recently it also has Fox HD which is not even available OTA yet.But it would be interesting to really break out what subscribers are willing to pay %5-10-15 per month for. Is it really access to local broadcasts or is it access to network content. Assume for the experiment they were priced separately and national network content could legally and conveniently be delivered somehow.What would people pay per month for the national network content? (say top 5 + PBS).And if they had access to that, how much more would they pay for the local content?Obviously there is some value in both. Anybody have a way to put some figures on this?- TomAt 1:23 PM -0500 2/28/07, Barry Brown wrote:On Feb 28, 2007, at 10:56 AM, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:Not only are second and third sets fed off an antenna quite common, but folks who use DBS and OTA together are also quite common. The end resultis that actual TV households that make use of OTA are at least doublethose that are using OTA exclusively. The number goes from 15 percent tothe high 30 percent range, which is not at all a negligible number.I've got to throw in my $.02 here. I'm in one of those households that is combining DBS and DT-OTA. I think helping subs to easily and cheaply achieve this combination should be almost SOP for DBS companies, as long as the exclusivity agreements prevent national distribution of network programming. Otherwise, the DBS spectrum is flooded with large time segments of duplicate programming, which will become significantly worse as we progress toward an all digital system. Not an efficient system of program distribution.Agreed that it is not efficient, however it is the direction that DirecTV and Dish are moving today.What is at stake is about $50 - 100 million per month in fees that the DBS companies are now collecting (or will be soon) for local broadcasters. Most of the money goes to the broadcasters, but the DBS companies get a small share and interest on the cash flow.The unfortunate reality is that most subscribers are not like yourself and would rather pay the $5 per month for local stations to avoid the hassle of putting up an antenna.Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
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