[opendtv] Re: (No Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:30:37 -0400

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 10:46:51 -0400

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

> Bert: NTSC IS the PRIMARY revenue stream for
> broadcasters; this will continue to be true until
> NTSC is turned off.

Not sure why you find it necessary to state the obvious.

> DTV is just an expense for broadcasters; fortunately,
> it is a small expense relative to the profits that
> are derived from NTSC broadcasts...

You're missing something: *no* revenues, let alone
profits, can be derived from DTT as long as DTT
viewership isn't counted in the Nielsen ratings. None.
Even if 100 percent of OTA viewers had already
transitioned.

> I just cannot understand why you cannot see that the
> NAB and its members are going to do everything in
> their CONSIDERABLE power to prevent the return of the
> NTSC spectrum. How many times have they turned back
> efforts to accelerate the transition?

I just don't understand why you think the NAB would do
anything different. Of course this is what they will
try. And they will use all sorts of FUD and strange
arguments, such as those you posted on here today. The
NAB will do what it thinks it must to minimize any risk
for its members. They are just one side of the issue.

Imagine how bizarre it is to link the OTA transition
to digital to whether cable and DBS viewers receive the
program stream as digital or analog signal pattern.
These are infantile arguments that are almost totally
irrelavent. The *only* thing that matters is whether
the *program stream* transmitted over DTT will be
available to 85 percent of viewers. That means, if
Without A Trace is airing over DTT, will 85 percent
of viewers be able to watch the show? How the RF
energy is sent over any given medium has nothing to do
with it. But OBVIOUSLY, the NAB will use whatever
tactics it thinks will delay the inevitable.

I mean, let's quit the BS. Why is it okay to watch
Without A Trace as a sub-SDTV quality program over DBS,
just because DBS "is digital," vs watching it as an
NTSC conversion over analog cable? These are silly
arguments. And why should any of this dissuade viewers
from buying HDTVs? That's nonsense. Most DBS viewers
and most cable users will end up watching over an NTSC
set regardless, until they buy their HDTV sets. It
makes absolutely no difference where the conversion
to NTSC is made, whether in a local STB or the head-end
of the cable system.

So the NAB stalls, using these arguments to confuse
the technically challenged. It's their right to do so.
But you don't have to buy into these arguments. All
you to do is to understand where they're coming from.

In Berlin, which in the past you touted as being such
a success, they solved this problem by switching off
analog. People went to buy STBs only when this switch
off occurred. The same will work here. The obstacles
are NOT the regulatory issues you keep claiming, but
rather the guts of Congressmen.

Bert
 
 
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