So they are going to DTV…yeah yeah…does not matter to me as my local Cable company already provides a converter box (and my Plasma TV is already set for digital). BUT…freaking wow…we are going to give people from the tax base a free converter for their TV? Is this really worth our tax dollars to be sure that people can watch ER?
How is someone who is waiting for the welfare check and food stamps to come going to watch soaps and game shows all day?
The government is going to make billions selling the bandwidth occupied by analog transmission. It’s not coming from the tax base.
The government is going to make billions selling the bandwidth occupied by analog transmission. It’s not coming from the tax base.
How is the Govt going to make money selling bandwidth? Last I heard, in my area Comcast is going to make billions by jacking my cable TV costs (and Internet). While I am not at all complaining about paying for the service of TV and Internet I get - why is it we need a program for people to get a free converter box?
The government is going to make billions selling the bandwidth occupied by analog transmission. It’s not coming from the tax base.
How is the Govt going to make money selling bandwidth? Last I heard, in my area Comcast is going to make billions by jacking my cable TV costs (and Internet). While I am not at all complaining about paying for the service of TV and Internet I get - why is it we need a program for people to get a free converter box?
The 700mhz spectrum occupied by UHF analog television is being auctioned off. Part of the proceeds of the auction will be used to pay for the converter boxes. The bids are over $20 billion, so the converter boxes are really a non-issue.
Blame comcast for raising rates as they aren’t paying for converter boxes or anything really related to this. They are just taking advantage of situation, as they have no real costs associated with it.
So now the question is…where is that money going. And at what point did the FCC turn into a “for profit” system?
So now the question is…where is that money going. And at what point did the FCC turn into a “for profit” system?
Hell if I know. All I know is the converter boxes was a concession made to make the sale of the bandwidth possible. Chances are the government is being screwed anyways. The bandwidth is probably going to make a lot more money for the telcos than the money taken in by the auction.
Interesting. It seemed like it was just yesterday that the governmenr let the networks boradcast without paying for the transmissions in order to helpd a struggling technology.
; ^ )
What would be neat is to know that once this digital change is made…will TV be more like Sat Radio and not be bound by the rules of the FCC? The rules are archaic and the Carlin “seven bad words” just dont count on XM…
The government just gave away your airwaves for a song. Barry is the math wizz so I’ll let him do the calculations but if the networks charge $5 million per minute for Superbowl ads and the government just sold our airwaves to them for $20 billion they are going to be in the black pretty fast…no 30 year mortgage to pay off that debt! more like 30 days.
the government just sold our airwaves to them for $20 billion
No, the government is selling the airwaves that television stations *currently *occupy to other users. I’m not sure, but I don’t think television stations are paying for the bands they’re being moved to. For them, it’s just a frequency shift, as far as airwaves are concerned.
I dont get it…so the Govt “owns” bandwidth of signals in the air…but not the same signals if they are transmited from space (such as XM)? Isnt that sorta like the Govt selling light?
“If it shines, tax it!”
My understanding is that the networks currently lease analog airwave frequencies from the FCC and these frequencies are shared by the emergency services and are becoming very crowded. In order to free up capacity the FCC cut a deal with the networks to move them to digital frequencies which they could purchase at auction. The $20 is coming from that auction of digital frequencies.
I could be woring…its happened once or twice in the past, but thats what I’ve been reading.
There is a limited spectrum for broadcasting. Maybe it is becoming far less limited with technological advances but let’s go with a limited spectrum. In order for there to be any type of order in broadcasting, broadcasters must have access to a piece of the spectrum, otherwise everyone would be stepping all over everyone else’s broadcasts. I am not sure by which mechanism the feds claimed the right to regulate the airwaves (commerce clause maybe?) but they did. So, the feds charge, in essence, a licensing fee to broadcasters to use a piece of the limited spectrum. I believe they also license the satellite broadcasting spectrums as well. The reason the satellite broadcasts are not regulated is because you have to pay to unscramble them or at least purposely do so. They are not publicly available. Sort of like paying to see a XXX movie versus showing one on the demo TV screens at Best Buy.
How can I get a free converter box? I signed up to receive a $40 coupon (provided by the gov’t.) towards the purchase of a converter. Am I able to get one completely free?
How can I get a free converter box? I signed up to receive a $40 coupon (provided by the gov’t.) towards the purchase of a converter. Am I able to get one completely free?
The cheapest box I have seen is $60…but maybe someone has them for less? Think it was the Zenith box. I have two coupons on order.
Part of the proceeds of the auction will be used to pay for the converter boxes
WHY?!?!?! Just put the money towards paying our debt. If you can’t afford a TV, you don’t get to watch. You should spend your time job hunting rather than watch “The entitlement (I mean price) is right”.
And THAT’S why the cost of this program is, in effect, borne by the taxpayer. It’s the lost opportunity of using the sale proceeds funding the converter box program for something worthwhile like, say… paying down part of the debt. Of course, even if they didn’t do this program, you don’t REALLY believe they’d use the money to pay down the national debt do you? I mean, surely there are more studies on how cow flatulence affects the ozone layer that need to be funded.
Chip,
There still seems to be an extraordianry amount interest and money tied up in TV. Seems odd to me though. When I sample family and friends few people watch much TV at all. More than a few have pulled the plug completely. I know that I have reached the point of questioning the $30/month I am spending on my cable service, cause the TV rarely is on. We actually use non-commercial radio service that comes with the TV more - they have great theme/style channels. When working at home I have the jazz channel on all day. That’s the only reason that we keep it, but there are “free” web services that offer more or less the same thing, so perhaps it’s time for the cable to go.
So who IS watching TV?
Well, the 18-35 demo isn’t watching so much TV, it’s the 25-54 women. And they’re not watching network, they’re watching cable. And they’re in bed by 11:06.
And it’s your local affilitates that are getting it up the butt. They had to shell out for the brand new digital transmitter that they’ve had to run at the same time as an analog transmitter until the switchover. (And you thought YOUR power bill was high.) At a time when the networks aren’t paying the affiliates anymore, and they’ve had to put up with crappy network programming to have content and keep their affiliation.
When people tell me they don’t watch TV, I know they’re talking about the networks, except for FOX because pretty much 1/4 of America really is watching American Idol. These same people are not about to give up the weather Channel.