Re: License fee?

Doug Smith wrote:
On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:20:01 -0800, Charles Tomaras wrote:
I think OTA's popularity in the UK and Europe is partially due to a much
smaller more densely populated geographic area which allows for OTA
transmissions to reach more people with less expense. The large and
varied geography of the US has made all kinds of broadcast and RF
related technologies more difficult to consolidate and advance. It's one
of the reasons cell phone technology has lagged in the US. The bigger
the beast the harder to tame.

I guess I'd have to disagree with that - I would argue that while there are certainly large areas where reliable OTA reception is not possible, the population of those areas is negligible.

If it was strictly due to weak signals, wouldn't the rate of cable (/
satellite) uptake -- *in the cities*, where the OTA towers are -- be more or less comparable to that in the UK?

I am of the impression the popularity of OTA reception in Continental Europe is even lower than in the U.S..

It is not due to weak signal. In the US we have a lousy modulation that has major problems just where LOTS of people live in big cities. With MegaWatts of power you still cannot receive DTV in most apartments in Manhattan or any part of New York City even though you are only a mile or less from the transmitters. The average power of UK DTV transmitters is around 3 kW. I think they may have five transmitter sites at 20 kW of power. In the US we are at 10 to 100's of times higher and still have major problems even locally. Distance and low signal strength is not the problem. The problem is the modulation being used.

Cable uptake in the UK is 13%. OTA DTV with Freeview is around 74% of homes with NO subsidy in the UK. And the UK started this really in 2004. The US started in 1998. And people have been FREELY buying those receivers for years in the UK. In the UK they are ONLY offering SD so far and are still super successful at 74% while in the US we have been offered HD for ten years with little to nothing happening.

In the US we have a frantic last minute subsidized purchase of minimalist government designed SD receivers which are selling only because of a deadline next month or June. In the UK they have been buying them because they work and the offering was good from the beginning.

France is at 51% of homes and only started in 2005.
Germany which is more cabled than the US has completed its digital TV transition but 3.9 million households are OTA DTV only.

You can now buy cell phones and other portable devices to receive regular OTA DTV in Europe since you can receive DVB-T mobile.

Bob Miller
.

Relevant Pages

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