Re: UK: incompatible change to Freeview is coming

"Mark Crispin" <MRC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:alpine.WNT.0.99.0704291550590.3980@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 29 Apr 2007, mattk wrote:
There already is HDTV available in Europe, just not 'over the air', and
to
be honest I don't personally see much point in trying to do so
considering
that there is far more bandwidth available on both satellite and cable.

Sounds like sour grapes to me. "We can't get OTA HDTV, so there isn't
much point to it."


I think it's more a question of market economics; in the UK any would be
broadcaster has to compete for bandwidth commercially, yet there isn't
enough consumer demand to make one HD channel generate more revenue/profit
than operating several SD channels.

Perhaps that situation may change, however I'm not sure that it will,
possibly the Government could interfere in the market and allocate bandwidth
for specific HD services, alternatively there are some hints that some
broadcasters see HD as a way of locking out the competition, i.e. them
buying up and broadcasting an HD service means that someone else can't erode
their market share by broadcasting competing channels on that bandwidth.

Bandwidth on satellite and cable is much more readily available and has
lower infrastructure costs, therefore is much cheaper and a more likely
place (from a commercial point of view) to stick an HD service onto.

I don't know if in the US, OTA broadcasters operate their terrestrial
service as a fully commercial entity and the best/most profitable use of the
bandwidth etc or a more shrewd way of ensuring that the bandwidth is locked
up for them to use, ensuring that additional competition isn't introduced.

That may be the case in the UK, where you have only a handful of channels
even in your capital city, and pretty much the same content nationwide.
The USA has a great many more independent channels (we also aren't made to
pay a fee for the privilege of owning a TV), and even the network channels
frequently have independent/local programming.

The encryption isn't the case in the UK, or a number of other European
states either where (unlike the US) most if not all of the network
stations
are available free to air via satellite as well as OTA,

Very easy to do in the little countries where there are only a handful of
distinct TV stations.

Harder to do in a country with over 1000 TV stations; one where even the
network stations carry a considerable amount of local origin and
independent programming.


Sure, which is why there is a difference in the way that broadcasters
operate in the countries and perhaps why HD in some parts of Europe is more
likely to be delivered via cable or satellite than the US where you probably
have to use terrestrial to some extent to deliver local stations in HD
because it would be impractical to do so via satellite, furthermore you've
got the advantage of a more extensive cable network than the UK.

The broadcasting landscape is simply somewhat different; what works for you
guys isn't necessarily the best way forward in the UK.

therefore satellite
could be seen as a more logical place to put free to air HD networks,
rather
than building it out into an expensive terrestrial network.

So why doesn't the UK shut down terrestrial broadcasting entirely? You
can't expect us to believe that the sole purpose of terrestrial
broadcasting is to supply kitchen TVs with programming.

Sounds like you are making excuses.


Part of the Government push in the UK behind switching to digital TV seems
to be to do just that; reduce the amount of spectrum used by existing
terrestrial TV broadcasters which can then be released for other operators
and used to introduce competing channels/services over the air.

Existing operators were given one half of a channel (i.e. 4MHz) to replace
each 8MHz analogue channel they had previously used; therefore making HD
somewhat unlikely from the outset.

To make matters worse (from an HD point of view) the Conservative Government
in the UK had already done this in the 80s with low and high band VHF
channels which were sold for other services to use (we now use exclusively
UHF for terrestrial TV although a small amount of high band VHF is being
used to deliver digital radio) and the ultimate goal of their introduction
of digital TV in the mid 90s was to release yet more UHF spectrum to be sold
off to other operators.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.


.

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