[opendtv] Re: News: Farmers Plant Doubts About DTV Plan
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:51:50 -0500
Whoa! This article makes no sense.
If farmers have become dependent on the DTT weather
multicast, doesn't it mean they are receiving the DTT
broadcasts already? What would they care if NTSC goes
off the air sooner rather than later?
If they haven't made the switch to DTT, or if they get
their TV via DBS or cable, they aren't seeing those OTA
weather multicasts anyway. They are probably getting an
equivalent service from the weather channel if they use
DBS or cable, but again, why worry about OTA NTSC going
off the air?
Shutting down analog TV will not prevent any farmer
from receiving DTT weather multicasts in any way. If
anything, the opposite is true.
I can understand one gripe, but the article doesn't
even mention it. If a farmer lives on the fringes of
a large urban market, it's possible that he would be
forced into DTT only because 85 percent of his
neighboring city slickers have cable or DBS. Other than
that simple scenario, in which the weather multicasts
don't figure in any way, I just don't see the problem.
Bert
-----------------------------------=20
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA481089.html?display=3DBreaking=
+News&referral=3DSUPP
Farmers Plant Doubts About DTV Plan
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/17/2004 2:13:00 PM
Corn and soybean growers have now weighed in at the Federal
Communications Commission against the so-called Ferree plan
for speeding the digital transition.
That plan would insure that 85% of TV households in any market
could receive a TV signal before, and after, the FCC started
reclaiming analog spectrum, but that signal would not have to
be digital. Instead, it could be a digital signal converted to
analog and delivered over cable. With that wiggle room, the FCC
says the analog spectrum can be returned by 2009. Without it,
FCC Chairman Michael Powell has said, it could take decades.
Critics point out that the plan takes much of the digital out
of the digital conversion. Those receiving a "digital"
broadcast converted in analog would not be getting the benefit
of a better picture, or access to high-definition, or any
multicast digital services.
In a meeting with Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, the American
Corn Growers Association and the Soybean Producers of America,
joined by some unions and others, argued that the impact of a
hard date for cut-off of analog service will adversely impact
rural communities with less access to cable. They also argue
that the switch to digital must include a multicast must-carry
requirement to insure that farmers get access to crucial
weather information services.
They cited as one of those services NBC's just-launched
multicast digital weather network, which can deliver
continuously updated local weather info.
This isn't the first time the corn growers have weighed in on
the digital transition. Two years ago, the association came out
against a digital-tuner mandate, though at the time its
executives weren't sure why. This time, they have no such doubt.
For farmers, a weather broadcasts is far more than a guide to
the day's attire or recreational plans. It is a key piece of
business information that affects all their livelihoods. The
topic of farm broadcasting in the digital age is likely to be a
hot one at this week's National Association of Farm
Broadcasters Convention in=20
=20
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