[LINK] US digital tv switch going ahead -- sort of

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 12 February 2009 13:56, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

> It might help if you wonder in terms of
> a)Terrestrial, Satellite, Cable.
> b)3G,Terrestrial Digital TV/Radio, CDMA, GSM, Terestrial Analog TV/Radio and 
> other uses of the Radio Spectrum
> c)Private, Subscription, Pay by View and "free to air (commercial and government)"
> 
> And to note that while 3G wireless broadband is taking off, some are still
> dreamin' of optical fibres throughout this wide brown land.

I was wondering why the average citizen would fork out money for any form of pay TV (whatever the delivery mechanism) when its direct competitors, here free-to-air analogue & high-definition digital TV, are readily available and cost nothing.  The video shop isn't a direct competitor, but it's a significant factor.

Things like the 3G, CDMA, & GSM networks and any form of radio are not competitive IMO, despite the cosy Telstra ad showing dad & the children happily camping in the wilderness and watching TV on their mobile 'phone.

However the 'net is somewhere in the middle even now whereever there's a 512 Kbit/s ADSL service available, and it will become more competitive if speeds go up and costs go down.  (Break up Telstra!!)

David