[opendtv] Re: News: LTE Tempts With Advanced Services

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2012 09:28:03 -0400

At 3:59 PM -0500 6/7/12, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Yup. Either way, though, at most the complaint about using 3G/4G is based on cost with the current data plans. It's absolutely NOT a technical issue that MUST be solved with broadcasters dismantling the ATSC sticks are replacing these with dense mesh LTE networks.

It never has been a technical issue. It IS an economic issue.

The telcos are NEVER likely to use the spectrum they have paid billions for, to deliver (free) ad supported LTE broadcasts. They are struggling to add bandwidth fast enough to meet the demand for PAID bits.

Likewise, the addition of an ATSC MHP receiver to mobile devices is not a technical issue (other than battery life). It IS an economic issue.

The only way broadcasters are going to get back into the game is if they adopt the SAME standard that is already being deployed in new smart phones and tablets - i.e. LTE. And once they have done this, the playing field will be open for them to try something that has been missing from the broadcast business for decades...

INNOVATION.

Clearly, if the existing business model for broadcast TV is failing, and it is, the ability to deliver bits tot he mobile platforms people are using provides the opportunity for innovators to save the broadcast business, and find a usefu (profitable) niche delivering bits to the masses.


 What drain is there on the battery when it is plugged into a charger
 and downloading bits you have subscribed to overnight?

You mean, at home, where it's no problem to download this stuff from the Internet (or from ATSC)? No problem!! No need for any new LTE infrastructure. The easiest is, plug your smart phone into your broadband link, and download whatever you want, if you must have it on local storage. You know, like podcasts. Big deal.

Can't download from ATSC unless you spend a bunch of time and money. Does anyone out there have a cheap box that receives ATSC broadcasts, decodes the MPEG-2 streams and re-encodes them using h.264 at a resolution appropriate for a mobile device, and then automatically loads the files onto you mobile device?

I didn't think so.

But with LTE broadcast, all that would be needed is an app to find and schedule the download.

Yes, some content can be downloaded from portals via the wired Internet in your home. But increasingly, you must either pay for it, or prove that you are an MVPD subscriber (i.e you ALREADY paid for it).

I might add that to download to a smart phone or tablet, you must wither use one of the walled gardens (like iTunes or Amazon) that Bert detests, an app written specifically for a service like Hulu, OR download it to you PC, then import it to you mobile device.

Regards
Craig






In fact in this home overnight download scenario, even ATSC works fine.

 So in the end, you agree...

 ;-)

 It's going to happen one way or the other. The only question is whether
 broadcasters wake up and smell the opportunity, or ride down the ship
 with only the tips of a few big sticks remaining above an ocean of bits
 controlled by others.

I'm just laying out the way it's gonna happen. It is now technically feasible for TV to be offered over the Internet, both the wired and wireless options. Both of these networks already exist, and broadcasters and TV networks are already using them.

If OTA broadcasters want to switch over to unicast, or to IP multicast for those "live" events, they can already do so, by working with the existing ISPs and wireless ISPs. IP multicast remains pretty much an ISP-dependent thing. Individual ISP networks decide whether to do this or not.

If broadcasters want to create their own 2-way LTE spectrum utility, they will be encountering the same issues, and the same costs, as the existing wireless ISPs.

If broadcasters come to depend entirely on this wired and wireless 2-way infrastructure, whether it's their own spectrum utility or whether it's the telco nets, then I'm quite positive that the raison d'etre for most OTA broadcasters will disappear.

Bert



----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

Other related posts: