This has been possible for years. There are a variety of ATSC tuner dongles for tablets. We'll see where this goes... Regards Craig > On Aug 26, 2014, at 7:19 PM, "Manfredi, Albert E" > <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > I think this is sort of humorous: "Oh yeah, Supreme Court? Put this in your > pipe and smoke it!" > > Take the Aereo design, give individuals their own tiny TV antenna and > ATSC-to-WiFi converter, not dime-sized but palm-sized this time, offer the > package for a one-time purchasing fee, between $50 and $100 for a so-called > "T-pod,", and you're done. > > The part I want to know more about is the ATSC receiver. No mention of using > ATSC-MH, which makes this all the more interesting. > > The fact that this receiver/converter/PVR is a one-time purchase, by > individual owners, SHOULD make this uncontroversial. Although it too violates > some of the excuses we heard wrt Aereo. Specifically, this is still streaming > live TV to Internet appliances, so for those who insist that you need a > "license" to allow this, they might still complain. It will be interesting to > watch. My guess is, this time around, even the Supreme Court won't be able to > object (using the argument "how is this different from cable TV?"). > > They mention streaming to tablets, and having to install an "app" in the > tablet. No mention of streaming to other IP appliances, such as PCs. > > Tangentially, have broadcasters stopped using ATSC-MH? I noticed that one of > our broadcasters here has gone back to their original set of multicasts, > which they had cut back to offer the MH signals. And also, perhaps in > response to the impending auction threat, I just noticed that our Univision > affiliate just added another two subchannels, for a total of four program > streams now, three of which are in English. So as of this morning, I'm > getting 52 TV program streams OTA. Not half bad. > > Bert > > ----------------------------------------- > http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/No-fees-no-wires-just-TV-on-a-tablet-startup-5708348.php > > No fees, no wires, just TV on a tablet, startup promises > Benny Evangelista > Updated 8:18 am, Sunday, August 24, 2014 > > Bay Area television viewers may soon have one more reason to cut the cord > with cable and satellite companies thanks to a service that brings free > over-the-air TV to tablet computers. > > It's called Tablet TV, which doesn't require Wi-Fi, a cellular connection or > a subscription fee. All that customers need is an iPad or Android tablet and > one of the startup's antenna devices costing less than $100. > > And it's backed by Granite Broadcasting, owner of independent San Francisco > station KOFY. At a time when viewers have more choices than ever - from > Netflix to YouTube to 500-plus cable channels - Granite sees Tablet TV as a > way to lure viewers back to broadcast television, without the need for a > television at all. > > "This puts the broadcasters back into the driver's seat," said Peter Markham, > chairman and CEO of Granite Broadcasting. "Now we're going to a one-to-one > relationship with the viewer, which the broadcast industry has never had." > > Tablet TV is a 2-year-old joint venture between Granite, a New York company > that operates stations in six markets, and Motive Television, a London > technology company focused on the TV industry. > > In the U.S., Tablet TV would be a throwback to the days before cable and > satellite became dominant, when everyone relied on rooftop antennas or > set-top rabbit ears to tune in. > > If Tablet TV can prove that the technology is reliable, easy to use and > cheaper than subscription TV, it could lead to "a little bit of a renaissance > in over-the-air television," said analyst Brett Sappington of the Dallas > research firm Parks Associates. > > Since February, Granite and Motive engineers have conducted a closed test at > KOFY. But the venture plans a more widespread beta test starting in early > September, with the service set to begin on Black Friday, the traditional > day-after-Thanksgiving kickoff of holiday shopping. > > Betting on S.F. > > If all goes well in the Bay Area, Tablet TV will take its show to other > cities. > > "Our theory is if we can make it work in San Francisco and people like it, > the rest of the country will be easier, because people here are connoisseurs > of media and technology," Motive CEO Leonard Fertig said. "We are placing our > bet with San Francisco with this thing." > > The gamble comes at a time when cable and satellite providers worry about the > rising trend of cord cutting, a term used when people watch video on the > Internet instead of subscribing to traditional, and costlier, pay TV > services. > > About 7.6 million U.S. households have cut the cord, a 44 percent increase > from 2010, according to a recent report by research firm Experian Marketing > Services. > > In an even more worrisome trend for pay TV services, Experian said 67 percent > of younger adults watch streamed or downloaded video during a typical week. > Many younger adults bypass pay TV services and go right to online sources > like Netflix and Hulu. > > The explosion in tablet use is part of the shift. Parks Associates said about > 61 percent of all U.S. homes with high-speed Internet own at least one > tablet, and found that the weekly video viewing time on tablets has increased > from an average of a half hour in 2012 to 1.3 hours this year. > > Tablet TV hopes to capitalize on that trend with a device Motive calls a > T-Pod - a palm-size digital TV antenna, tuner and digital recorder. The > company hasn't settled on a price, but Fertig said Tablet TV expects to sell > T-Pods for between $50 to $100. > > The rechargeable T-Pods can capture over-the-air digital TV signals and > retransmit them to tablets using their own Wi-Fi signal. They work both > indoors and outdoors, but must be within 100 feet of the tablet. The > companion tablet app decodes the signal and shows the programs. The app > includes a program guide and chat service, and users change channels with a > simple swipe. > > The programming isn't limited to KOFY's platter of reruns and syndicated > shows - the antenna-tuner is designed to pull in any digital TV signal within > range, including those from the local affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and > PBS. > > 58 Bay Area channels > > During a recent demonstration at San Francisco International Airport, Fertig > found 58 over-the-air TV signals, including the various secondary channels > broadcast by stations like KQED and KNTV. In larger markets, he said, there > are as many as 120 available channels. > > And Tablet TV wants to compete with pay TV providers in another way - the > T-Pod is also a DVR, able to record programs using its built-in flash drive > and the tablet's available memory. The company has plans to eventually offer > storage in the cloud. > > Fertig said Tablet TV plans to offer video on demand three months after its > service begins. That service needs a local TV station to transmit the signal > - here it would be Granite's KOFY. > > Tablet TV might have a hard time breaking the entrenched hold of cable and > satellite providers, which the majority of U.S. households rely on even for > over-the-air signals. "Once you get cable, why would you go looking for > over-the-air channels?" Brett Sappington of Parks Associates said. > > But Fertig argued that pay TV's specialized networks offer only about 15 > percent of what viewers watch. > > The most popular shows - "NBC Sunday Night Football" and CBS' "The Big Bang > Theory" topped the Nielsen ratings last season - and local news are on > broadcast stations. > > "We're not saying turn off your cable," Fertig said. "But what people are > really buying is that 15 percent" of programming. > > Tablet TV's main competitor will remain big-screen, living room HDTVs. The > Parks Associates study found that U.S. households still watch an average of > 20 hours a week on their TVs. > > A secondary option > > But Tablet TV positions itself as a secondary option for backyards, bedrooms > or commuter trains, and Sappington said that portability could help the > service find an audience. > > Live mobile TV is already a hit in countries outside the U.S. where cable TV > is not as entrenched, and in Asian markets, mobile phones have integrated > over-the-air TV tuners, he said. > > And a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that shut down New York startup Aereo, > which retransmitted over-the-air TV broadcasts online, showed "there really > was an appetite for broadcast TV among consumers," Sappington said. > > The court found that Aereo violated copyright laws. Tablet TV, however, is > backed by an industry that owns broadcast rights and will probably embrace a > service that lets them capture more viewers and advertising dollars, > Sappington said. > > Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: > bevangelista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Twitter: ChronicleBenny > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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.