[opendtv] Re: Spectrum is too valuable

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2015 08:09:20 -0500

On Nov 3, 2015, at 9:43 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Craig wrote:

Obviously the cabled MVPDs have plenty of capacity to deliver both
linear TV and broadband.

Not true, and that's the whole point. Spectrum is "too valuable" to be wasted
on linear-broadcast streams, as you have said many times yourself, and this
applies to the cabled networks too.

I'm not even sure I ever said that spectrum is too valuable to be wasted on
linear broadcast streams. Obviously I did not say that about cable.

Much depends on how you measure value.

If you are a Washington politician, you see dollar signs. Broadcasters are
getting a free ride, while the telcos will pay billions for spectrum; to the
politician this is just another form of indirect taxation that they do not get
blamed for.

On the other hand, broadcasters are incredibly valuable to the politicians, so
the issue becomes how to keep FOTA broadcasting alive while reclaiming spectrum
to sell. And it's not just broadcast spectrum.

As someone involved with military communications, you are well aware that the
military is a major abuser of spectrum. There are many communications systems
in both the military and public sector that are outdated and could be replaced
with new systems that work better and use spectrum more efficiently. But it
costs money to replace them, which creates negative dollar signs in the eyes of
the politicians.

Cable systems create their own spectrum, and technology evolution had allowed
them to significantly increase both the frequencies they can use and the
efficiency of services operating in that spectrum. Cox Cable now offers 100
Mbps broadband in the same channels that could only support 5-10 Mbps a few
years ago. There are many options to reclaim bandwidth moving forward,
including reducing the number of linear streaming channels, and eliminating
analog service.

When you make this "too valuable" claim, it is to justify grabbing
publically-owned spectrum, used for FOTA TV, and handing it to private
companies. (Like cordoning off public beaches and handing the real estate to
hotel chains.)

Sad but true.

So okay, there is some logic to this, but exactly the same rationale applies
to the cabled walled gardens themselves. If all of the spectrum now dedicated
to broadcast MPEG-2 TS linear streams, in a cable company's local PON, were
reassigned to DOCSIS service, how many extra homes could be fed with 20 Mb/s
downstream traffic, without changing the structure of that PON? That's the
issue.

They seem to be handling this quite well. It's a balancing act, as they
generate significant revenues from each of the services running in their
spectrum.

Just call your local broadband providers and see what they can offer today. Cox
is running ads here claiming that they are 10 to 100 times faster than DSL.


Regards
Craig

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