[opendtv] Re: Spectrum is too valuable

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2015 02:02:48 +0000

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

In which case the cable company must upgrade the service. As is the
case with Ron, the upgrades have been coming faster than the demand.

Yes, Craig, and of course, that's always been my answer to you. "The Internet"
is ready for "the masses" moving to TV streaming pretty much as soon as people
are likely to buy the necessary equipment. The main obstacle would be edge
server capacity, not last mile bandwidth. At least, in urban and suburban areas.

I think the growth of TV Everywhere may be more significant than
the SVOD services

Desperate attempt at walling up the Internet. Not very popular.

Yes Bert, we know that all material can be delivered over the
Internet. Even complete MVPD bundles.

Which bundles, over a neutral Internet, would have to compete among OTT sites.
Unlike in the old days, when they were pretty much identical across MVPDs,
because they physically could not compete.

That being said, the only OTT streaming having a negative
impact on MVPD channels is VOD access to library content

OTT streaming creates cord shavers and cord cutters, and therefore has a bigger
impact than you claim.

It is easy to grasp Bert. This spectrum still delivers the bits
that 80 million homes watch every day,

But not in the way the majority want to consume those bits. Once the medium is
capable of delivering two-way service, any broadcast content *not* consumed by
100% of users becomes wasted bandwidth. In this interim period, 1/3 of
households that consume TV content on demand are using a tiny fraction of this
huge broadcast bandwidth, to record on legacy PVRs (which they rent by the
month). And the remaining 2/3 of on demand users are only taking up the
spectrum they actually need. The huge amount of broadcast spectrum entering
their homes is completely wasted, in their PON.

And more than that, the 47% who still watch linear, out of habit or inability
to figure out better options, are also only using a tiny sliver of that huge
broadcast capacity. This is the reality, once the medium in question has become
two-way.

Same applies to wireless, but most people can understand the waste in that
case, without need to belabor the point. Once you have invested in creating
two-way service over a chunk of RF spectrum, e.g. LTE cellular, it becomes
foolish to dedicate 80% of the LTE plant to broadcast. If there's some
particularly popular content, you might dedicate maybe 1% of the capacity to
broadcast, and only for the duration of that content. Same applies to cable.
The broadcast remains out of momentum, and fear of letting go of the old
walled-in model from 35 years ago. It's not capacity well used, anymore.

It is possible that one or more of the network .com sites started
streaming programs with FLASH before 2008, but I cannot confirm
this.

Some used Windows Media rather than Flash. IIRC, CBS used Windows Media when I
started using this service, and ABC used Flash. And initially, ABC's Flash
content did not go full screen.

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.

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. opendtv
  3. Archive
  4. 11-2015