[opendtv] Re: Zenith/LG NOT announcing new STB's based upon 5'th gen chip
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 13:17:32 -0500
At 11:58 AM -0500 1/11/05, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
>As usual, you miss the point. DBS services *want* to
>be able to use OTA for the local HD content. If that
>option is made available, they will use it. What's
>the big deal? They already have to install a dish
>antenna. What's an extra UHF yagi going to cost
>them? (Or a simple loop antenna.)
This is NOT true. They are moving as fast as they can to eliminate
the need for the ATSC tuner and antenna. It would not even be there
were it not for SHIVA, which prevents them from carrying national
network feeds if you can receive the same station via an antenna. I
guess you missed the DirecTV announcement about the carriage of HD in
12 major cities this year, with expanding HD service as new
satellites are launched.
>I just can't understand why you keep throwing
>around this 85 percent figure, as if it were some
>sort of proof of great taste, or blue blood, or
>anything other than the strictly average desire of
>the strictly average working stiff. Who then
>predictably complains about the fact that the
>rates keep going up. Wow. What a surprise.
>
I keep throwing it around because it is a reflection of the reality
of TV services today.
OTA broadcasting will dry up and blow away, eventually, if
broadcasters do not figure out how to compete with ( and also
participate in) subscription services.
You keep bringing up Berlin and the UK.
The reason that DTV is working in these countries is that it offers a
competitive option to cable and DBS. That is NOT true of the
situation in the U.S.
By the way, there are now more than 160,000 subscribers to Top-Up
TV, the subscription service that is available when you buy a
Freeview receiver. This is not an all or nothing situation. U.S.
broadcasters can regain market share with a "Freeview like"
multichannel service, and they can still deliver premium subscription
service at the same time.
But US broadcasters cannot regain lost audience share with a limited
offering of networks targeted at the lowest common denominator,
bottom feeders.
Regards
Craig
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