[opendtv] Re: The Guardian: TV should switch to internet, pe
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2015 11:26:34 -0400
On Oct 20, 2015, at 11:13 AM, Daniel Grimes <dan.grimes@xxxxxxxx
<mailto:dan.grimes@xxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Clearly, significantly increasing the amount of unlicensed spectrum for us to
use would be a real benefit to us, the public, along with use for mobile
data. Unfortunately, the former spectrum use wouldn't bring in the money to
the federal government or provide any kick back that our representation is
paid by corporations to offer such an opportunity, the opportunity to use
this spectrum for profitability. The truth is, "the people" are not making
these decisions, but only a few are--those, who for some reason, are a group
that seem to quickly divorce themselves as being one of "the people" as soon
as they take office as a "representative." I guess the money is just too
enticing to do it right.
Sad but true.
In my mind, it is not so clear that "the use of the spectrum for TV
broadcasting is unnecessary;", unless of course, you are meaning the current
spectrum allocation. If a video service is necessary at all, it is necessary
to be on the airwaves, and even the shorter wavelengths. I think there is a
real benefit to condensing and moving some FOTA to VHF, freeing up spectrum,
but I also believe that removal, even from UHF, is short sighted.
Fortunately, we aren't there yet.
i agree that maintaining a FOTA broadcast system is in the national interest.
Fortunately, I don’t think there is any possibility of the service going away
any time soon. The main reason I say this is that political interests trump the
public interest, and the politicians love FOTA TV, especially since it provides
affordable access to reach the growing underclass that is "willing to do the
jobs that Americans won’t.”
I expect the FCC to reach its goal of clearing channels above 30 this time, and
that we will likely see another repacking into the VHF spectrum within a decade.
This raises an interesting question. It was necessary to give broadcasters UHF
spectrum because of the propagation characteristics of the VHF band. The
signals from the big sticks simple carried too far, requiring the checkerboard
spectrum assignments that exist today. So the question is, how can the VHF
spectrum be used with modern modulation techniques and lower power to provide a
TV service that serves every market?
This might be something Bert can tackle, although I’d love to see what Mark
Aitken has to say about it.
Regards
Craig
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