High Definition television alert.

[techs]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co...rticle/2006/06/15/AR2006061502063.html

Verizon is announcing the deal, whose terms were not disclosed, ahead of a Federal Communications Commission meeting on Wednesday at which the agency is scheduled to vote on whether to oblige cable TV companies to carry all such "multicast" channels.

The agency rejected this as recently as last year, but FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin is a strong supporter of the idea and, with three Republicans now on the commission, he may have the votes to push it through.

Cable companies oppose such an obligation, arguing that they are required to carry only a local station's primary channel. If the FCC decision goes against them, they are expected to challenge it immediately in court.



When television stattions were given the extra bandwidth for Digital Television they were not required to use it for high definition. They could easily just split it up into 6 or 8 regular definition channels.
They haven't done this because the cable companies said they wouldn't pay any more money for the extra channels. Under the law the cable companies have to carry local broadcast channels, but only one channel, not the 6 or 8 the stations could choose to carry. Because there was no money in this for the local broadcasters they just went ahead and broadcast in high def.
Now the Republicans want to force the cable companies to carry (and pay for) all these addtional regular def. channels. Which is a great incentive NOT to broadcast in high def.

 

[dmcowen674]

This is awesome.

Starting to see more and more of the rich fighting the rich.

What this particular battle is Murdoch Vs AT&T/Verizon.

The only loser in all of it is not the American sheeple end users but the U.S. itself as it falls further and further behind the rest of the world in every Technology.

Way to go Rich Republicans :thumbsup:

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
This is awesome.

Starting to see more and more of the rich fighting the rich.

What this particular battle is Murdoch Vs AT&T/Verizon.

The only loser in all of it is not the American sheeple end users but the U.S. itself as it falls further and further behind the rest of the world in every Technology.

Way to go Rich Republicans :thumbsup:

Good! I can't wait till the Republicans destroy all television. The massive numbers of brain dead will decrease dramatically.

 

[Strk]

The only problem I see here is my inability to get Verizon FIOS.

 

[theeedude]

We need Democrats in power to restore sanity in Washington DC.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
This is awesome.

Starting to see more and more of the rich fighting the rich.

What this particular battle is Murdoch Vs AT&T/Verizon.

The only loser in all of it is not the American sheeple end users but the U.S. itself as it falls further and further behind the rest of the world in every Technology.

Way to go Rich Republicans :thumbsup:

Good! I can't wait till the Republicans destroy all television. The massive numbers of brain dead will decrease dramatically.

That would be good to make TV too expensive for a good majority of the Sheeple.

Unfortunately a good chunk of them would be turned to their local churches even more to be even more Republican brainwashed that TV was evil anyway.

 

[theeedude]

Anyone find it interesting that Republicans are cutting PBS funding, yet they want to force more PBS channels on cable? How much more cynical can they get?

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: senseamp
Anyone find it interesting that Republicans are cutting PBS funding, yet they want to force more PBS channels on cable? How much more cynical can they get?

They use PBS as a tool when they need to.

 

[ScudRunner]

Originally posted by: senseamp
We need Democrats in power to restore sanity in Washington DC.

Are you insane?

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: ScudRunner

Originally posted by: senseamp
We need Democrats in power to restore sanity in Washington DC.

Are you insane?

A better question is "are the Republicans insane?"
More and more the answer must be yes, based on their economic policies.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: techs

When television stattions were given the extra bandwidth for Digital Television they were not required to use it for high definition. They could easily just split it up into 6 or 8 regular definition channels.
They haven't done this because the cable companies said they wouldn't pay any more money for the extra channels. Under the law the cable companies have to carry local broadcast channels, but only one channel, not the 6 or 8 the stations could choose to carry. Because there was no money in this for the local broadcasters they just went ahead and broadcast in high def.
Now the Republicans want to force the cable companies to carry (and pay for) all these addtional regular def. channels. Which is a great incentive NOT to broadcast in high def.

Your fears are somwhat unfounded...

It's not necessarily a guarantee that local broadcasters will cease their HD broadcasts just because the cable cos are forced to carry all of their multicasts. Nor does it reduce the incentive to broadcast in HD.

They (broadcasters) have a lot of options in what they choose to send over the air. They also don't have to forego HD to multicast. You can do both at the same time. And since it all occurs in the same 6MHz of bandwidth regardless of what is broadcast, it's not unreasonable to apply must-carry to these extra stations.

From the broadcasters POV, most of their daytime broadcasting is in SD. This means that they are wasting bandwidth that could be used for generating extra revenue. One of my locals here has said that they plan to outright sell time on their multicast stations. (Infomercials and the like)

Realistically this will only impact the smallest markets (the one's that haven't yet started broadcasting in HD - Fairbanks Alaska for example...). Most markets have active HD at this time.

 

[fallensight]

Actually, HD will be the lay of the land in the very near future. The gov takes back rights to all non HD bandwidth in the next couple years and all tv gets broadcast in only HD. If you dont have cable or a dish, you would need to buy a reciever for any TV you have that isnt set up for HD

 

[EatSpam]

Eh, I could care less about Hidef. A pile of sh!t in hidef is still a pile of sh!t. When there's something on TV worth watching, then I might care.

 

[Skanderberg]

This would be good for small business owners in cities with multicasting. With more local channels competing for local advertising dollars, the cost for commercial time should go down (or at least not go up as fast). Multicasting would also increase the diversity of programming which would allow local business owners to target specific market segments more effectively.

This is not an attack no HD. There is demand for HD so companies will support the format whether or not laws like this are passed. This just creates more options for local markets and decreass the semi-monopoly that cable companies hold in many cities.

The only real losers here are the cable companies.

 

[raz3000]

Originally posted by: fallensight
Actually, HD will be the lay of the land in the very near future. The gov takes back rights to all non HD bandwidth in the next couple years and all tv gets broadcast in only HD. If you dont have cable or a dish, you would need to buy a reciever for any TV you have that isnt set up for HD

Sadly, that's not true. TV stations would be required to give up all ANALOG channels, but they could still switch their reg-def analog to reg-def digital channels. The bandwidth difference is immense between digital high-def and regular-def. (what you get on digital cable), so reg-def will still be around.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
This is awesome.

Starting to see more and more of the rich fighting the rich.

What this particular battle is Murdoch Vs AT&T/Verizon.

The only loser in all of it is not the American sheeple end users but the U.S. itself as it falls further and further behind the rest of the world in every Technology.

Way to go Rich Republicans :thumbsup:

Good! I can't wait till the Republicans destroy all television. The massive numbers of brain dead will decrease dramatically.

That's ok, as long as i have my interweb, i'm happy *hugs laptop*

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
This is awesome.

Starting to see more and more of the rich fighting the rich.

What this particular battle is Murdoch Vs AT&T/Verizon.

The only loser in all of it is not the American sheeple end users but the U.S. itself as it falls further and further behind the rest of the world in every Technology.

Way to go Rich Republicans :thumbsup:

Good! I can't wait till the Republicans destroy all television. The massive numbers of brain dead will decrease dramatically.

That's ok, as long as i have my interweb, i'm happy *hugs laptop*

I download all of my TV shows anyway...🙂

 

[newParadigm]

Originally posted by: Strk
The only problem I see here is my inability to get Verizon FIOS.

Verizon just ran fibre up my street last week, An appointment to install FIOS is being setup as I type this message.

 

[joshw10]

I wonder how I will watch Hidef when already many of my cable channels are unwatchable due to the picture

But they are a Monopoly so my complaints do go unheard, I have to pay or have no TV

Big contracts to thwart competition It's the Republican way

 

[NanoStuff]

If High-Def via cable becomes compromised, that's just more reason to expand FTTH networks. I wouldn't mind at all if it means promoting 100Mbps internet.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: joshw10
I wonder how I will watch Hidef when already many of my cable channels are unwatchable due to the picture

But they are a Monopoly so my complaints do go unheard, I have to pay or have no TV

Big contracts to thwart competition It's the capitalist way

Fixed.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: Skanderberg
This would be good for small business owners in cities with multicasting. With more local channels competing for local advertising dollars, the cost for commercial time should go down (or at least not go up as fast). Multicasting would also increase the diversity of programming which would allow local business owners to target specific market segments more effectively.

The only real losers here are the cable companies.

and consumers.

Cheaper commercials means MORE commercials, making TV even more worthless.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: Skanderberg
This would be good for small business owners in cities with multicasting. With more local channels competing for local advertising dollars, the cost for commercial time should go down (or at least not go up as fast). Multicasting would also increase the diversity of programming which would allow local business owners to target specific market segments more effectively.

The only real losers here are the cable companies.

and consumers.

Cheaper commercials means MORE commercials, making TV even more worthless.

Wrong... Locals affiliates are only allowed so much time for ads.

 

[Jaskalas]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
If High-Def via cable becomes compromised, that's just more reason to expand FTTH networks. I wouldn't mind at all if it means promoting 100Mbps internet.

Don't you know? The Republicans also killed the internet.

 

[piasabird]

I have not seen any kind of legislation in the past 30 years that has improved TV in any way. Typically the cable industry does whatever it wants.