[opendtv] Re: Free TV URL list
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2014 00:00:06 +0000
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> I thought antennas used 75 ohm twin lead...
Mutually exclusive. Twin lead is 300 ohm, hardly used anymore. Coax for TV
antennas or cable is 75 ohm. RG-59 coax USED to be the common antenna downlead
or cable coax, but these days it is RG-6.
> Broadcasters do deliver bits, but at best, these bits may contain only
> a few program streams, over which the viewer has no control - you'll
> need a DVR to do something as trivial as pausing the program to go to
> the bathroom.
No question that a two-way medium is more flexible when it comes to VOD, Craig,
but let's not go off on some tangential discussion. The fact remains that to an
OTA TV user, the most important role played by the combination of local
broadcast stations is to deliver content from the TV networks. So in the
context of TV content delivery, this role was replaced by the ISP, when TV is
viewed over the Internet.
THE SAME applies to MVPDs. Their most important role is also delivery of
content from the TV networks and other TV content sources. (I know they also
collaborate to produce some content.) MVPDs had to create a labor-intensive
infrastructure to do this job, so they collect the fees for that expensive
system. And since they make money from network TV content, this created a
spiral of greed, where everyone wants to get paid more. With Internet TV, ISPs
take over the MVPD distribution job, along with a whole host of other
communications services for other industries unrelated to TV.
Obviously, you can artificially invent reasons to keep the previous middlemen
intact, in the new solution, which adds layers of unessential players. We could
have been forced to pay for stables and stable hands, as well as car mechanics,
after cars replaced horses. Or a few of those stables and stable hands could
morph into garages and mechanics.
> The real value of the station is that it brings a bit of the revenue
> from entertainment to local markets, and it provides a vehicle for
> local advertisers to reach local customers.
You're not seriously suggesting that FOTA users buy TV sets and antennas
PRIMARILY to watch ads, or are you? To the consumer, the ads are merely a means
to an end. The end is to watch TV network content. The ads are the form of
payment. This is the value proposition for consumers.
> A MVPD bill has always had multiple components:
> 1. Infrastructure cost
> 2. A Customer service organization including billing
> 3. Pass through charges for premium channels and subscriber fees
> 4. Local franchise fees, and local, state and federal taxes.
>
> Items 3 & 4 are the primary reason the MVPD model is not going away any
> time soon.
The basic problem with your analysis is, you do not take into account that the
Internet broadband link can do a whole lot more than just deliver TV content.
Your analysis ignores the economies of scale the broadband link SHOULD BE
offering the consumer. You think that the costs of that previous TV-only medium
should be picked up and layered entirely on top of the new delivery technology.
Your 4 bullets:
1. The ISP worries about infrastructure costs.
2. The ISP bills the customer for infrastructure use.
3. Pass-through charges for premium content may be managed by *any* OTT site
4. Fees, taxes, etc. can be applied to OTT sites or directly the networks' own
sites.
So, the cost structure for this new role of TV content through Internet SHOULD
BE entirely different from what MVPDs did previously. The FOTA model can
translate *directly* to FOTI, most likely benefitting the TV networks. The
pay-TV model can be managed by OTT sites, without all the infrastructure costs
that are currently folded, explicitly or less obviously, into your MVPD bill.
> Can you provide an example of an ISP that deals with the networks for
> Internet services. The MVPDs have many relationships with the congloms,
> but I do not think they host any network Internet services.
Which is exactly why Internet TV users shouldn't be burdened with MVPD fees!! I
can use the networks' own sites, presumably contracted out by the networks to
whoever they prefer, or I can use OTT sites or other portals.
Bert
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