[opendtv] Re: Toward digital TV
- From: Bob Miller <bob@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:28:42 -0500
Well one broadcaster, Sinclair I believe, there may have been more
were/was offering to replace 8-VSB receivers with COFDM receivers for free.
Someday we will switch modulations again. A lot of receivers will be
made obsolete. The longer we wait the more of them there are. Should do
it before those millions of junk converter boxes get distributed IMO.
Bob Miller
Allen Le Roy Limberg wrote:
>Broadcasters were insisting that the few legacy 8VSB DTV receivers not be
>rendered unusable.
>
>Al Limberg
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Bob Miller" <bob@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 2:40 PM
>Subject: [opendtv] Re: Toward digital TV
>
>
>
>
>>You did nothing wrong but be alone. Without must carry most OTHER
>>broadcasters would have been as intensely interested in the digital
>>modulation issue as Sinclair was or even more so and earlier. As a group
>>broadcasters would have fought a lot harder for and known a lot more
>>about DVB-T by late 1999. By the hearings in 2000, if that were so,
>>Sinclair would have had a gallery of broadcast supporters at the
>>hearings demanding DVB-T and banging their shoes on the table and I
>>can't believe that the test of 2000 would have been allowed to proceed
>>as they did. By now broadcasters would be demanding much higher fees
>>from cable and satellite than the timid fees demanded by retransmission
>>consent if broadcasters were even offering their content to cable and
>>satellite at all.
>>
>>Correct initial test results, a second round of testing and much greater
>>support and involvement of more broadcasters in the test procedures
>>would have guaranteed at least further discussion. At the least DVB-T
>>would have been allowed as Sinclair asked for. More than three
>>broadcasters would have had the guts to vote for DVB-T in the face of
>>Congressional intimidation.If it had been allowed I believe we would
>>have a completely different DTV landscape in the US today with a hundred
>>different OTA receivers on the market and multiple successful, possibly
>>wildly successful USDTV ventures all of which would have been offering
>>free DVB-T receivers for the last almost six years.
>>
>>In the UK they have sold over seven million receivers so far with a
>>million in the last quarter alone and I would suggest they will sell
>>close to two million this quarter. What if they had been giving them
>>away free with subscription based services as well like I suggest would
>>have happened in the US? What if they had been doing it since early
>>2001? After all USDTV can subsidize 8-VSB receivers at $19.95.
>>
>>The nine million receivers that will have been sold in the UK by the end
>>of the year, my estimate, would be equivalent to 63 million in the US.
>>Add on a few extra years we would have had, add on the possibility that
>>there would have been a number of USDTV ventures giving away free
>>receivers and that number could be far higher like 100 million. The
>>digital transition would be virtually over and OTA would be kicking ass
>>in the US.
>>
>>Freeview is outselling SKY four to one. Wouldn't it be nice if OTA was
>>offering real competition to cable and satellite in the US instead of
>>whatever it is broadcasters do with them?
>>
>>And now you say it is starting to get exciting? New ideas are being
>>thought because maybe there is a solution for 8-VSB? Could have happened
>>years ago. Could still happen if all the hopes for 8-VSB over the next
>>few years were shown to be true and exceeded by DVB-T today. I don't
>>think Congress knows this. They would only know if broadcasters as a
>>group said enough is enough and laid out the facts and said that they as
>>a group were willing to do what it takes to do a switch and that this
>>would speed up the transition not slow it down.
>>
>>Can you imagine the frenzy among all the manufacturers of DVB-T
>>equipment if this were to happen?.
>>
>>None of this is meant as a criticism of you or Sinclair.
>>
>>Bob Miller
>>
>>Mark Aitken wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>I/we am/are (a) Broadcaster(s). I/we am/are NOT married to must carry
>>>(Sinclair believes in the power of retransmission consent). There is
>>>8VSB in the US. There is NOT DVB-T for Broadcasters. There was a time
>>>I/we asked for DVB-T. We did not get what we asked for. Do you think
>>>if we asked again (in a very nice/pleasant way) we might get it? What
>>>did we do wrong?
>>>
>>>Bob Miller wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>If broadcasters were not married to must carry there would be no 8-VSB
>>>>modulation in the US and we WOULD have adopted DVB-T.
>>>>
>>>>None of these issues would be discussed at all.
>>>>
>>>>Bob Miller
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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