[opendtv] Re: So Soon? Next-Gen Broadcast TV In Works | TVNewsCheck.com
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Mark A. Aitken" <maitken@xxxxxxxxxx>, opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:21:52 -0400
At 11:37 AM -0400 4/28/11, Mark A. Aitken wrote:
Frankly, I am not sure that the last transition was all that
traumatic. It is hard to say something was traumatic when 85% of
the population barely noticed.
Clearly more than 85% of the population were aware.
Yes, aware that they had to do nothing, except perhaps to pay for a
more expensive digital tier to feed that expensive new screen in the
family room.
It may have been traumatic for the broadcasters, but it is hard to
feel sorry about self inflicted wounds.
You should have lived it in the shoes of a Broadcaster who knew that
better options had been and were available...
Well, I was not in your shoes, but I certainly was walking along side
you and other broadcasters who were trying to get the FCC to let you
prove that there were better solutions.
I still remember the Congressional hearing/demo when you walked
around the room with the antenna to demonstrate the robust COFDM
broadcast, while the ATSC antenna was taped to a window sill behind a
curtain.
It is likely that had Broadcasting NOT converted to digital
(remember when DTV was about what Broadcasters were doing?) that
HDTV/wide-screen displays would have continued to dribble in growth
for a decade (or more) longer. It was the availability of HQ
content, largely driven through availability made possible by the
Network/Affiliate model (now somewhat more broken), that drove
consumer adoption.
Yes, the networks and affiliates did their part, but DVD was the
primary source of widescreen content for years. IMHO it was the
availability of HD sports that really drove adoption once HD got
rolling. And, unfortunately for broadcasters, much of the best stuff
was gobbled up by ESPN.
HDMI was not even around 15 years ago, but I think I get (and have
expounded) your point...make it easy!
Yup. The CE industry proved that consumers will add boxes to their
TVs if the value equation is compelling. Free View proved that people
would buy a STB for a compelling broadcast service.
Unfortunately, other than the improved picture, broadcasters in the
U.S. have done little to improve the value equation for FOTA
broadcasting.
Interoperable, scalable, extensible.
This time broadcasters need to plan for evolutionary change, and
create a business model that is compelling enough to get consumers
to support the standard.
Our view of the world has actually always been rather simple. Make
our product readily available (with minimum of fuss), ensure that it
is compelling (subjective for sure), and make it affordable (part of
that says "FREE" is a pretty good price point). From the article, I
extracted the following...
"We need more bit capacity, we need more reliable
service and we need the ability to seamlessly stitch together
markets with a quality service that would support virtually any
business model."
Delivering bits reliably to things that move is a great starting point.
The rest is really just Apps that allow people to make those bits useful.
Of course, the ability to offer compelling content is critical. Being
a middleman for media conglomerates is not likely to be a very
profitable business. Providing targeted advertising vehicles for
local markets and location based services could save the day. In the
end the transmission component is easy.
Getting broadcasters to embrace new business models is the tough part.
Regards
Craig
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