Comments frrm Direct Tv's new president

[hugh]

this from Direct TV folks speaking at an investment conference and was in WSJ.com

president was talking about the merger

"The savings will come from reducing subscriber-acquisition costs by standardizing set-top boxes and increasing production. The merger is also expected to reduce monthly churn among subscribers by offering more services like local channels, interactive features, high definition and a bundled video data service..."

didn't mention which STB they would standardize on though!

What was also interesting was they said that
EchoStar has 667 channels (400 Local), and DirecTV has 719 channels (450 local) and if combined they would free up 503 duplicative channels after the merger and use them for additional services.

That's a lot of free channels!

[Researcher]

Jeez with 503 channels extra slots they might be able to add a few HD channels.

[Ranger Gord]

One concern that both companies have is whether or not the FCC will demand "Must Carry" of the local multicasting services when digital is in full swing. This would up the ante by 2 or 3 times as many transponders needed for locals

[troublemaker]

Ranger Gord,
What's a multicasting service?

[Ranger Gord]

On 2002-01-18 08:16, troublemaker wrote:
Ranger Gord,
What's a multicasting service?

A non HD digital signal takes up less room than a NTSC OTA. As a result, 3 or 4 of these signals can be sent on 1 NTSC channel.

For example, those receiving WXYZ-DT OTA see 3 channels when HDTV is not being broadcast. They see Detroit traffic cams on 1 and Doppler weather on another. When they broadcast in HD, the other services are not available

What Rupert Murdoch & others plan to do is to run more than 1 revenue generating service on each channel. In the case of NBC they could run NBC, Pax & Telemundo all on 1 channel.

HD fans realize that the financial incentive is then for less HD not more.

[troublemaker]

Thanks for the insight.

So let me extend that thought

So presumably though that 1 NTSC that can carry 3 or 4 Digital channels but wouldn't still count as 3 or 4 channels on my receiver.

So when I do the math, if Murdoch or anyone for that matter has say 400 or 500 NTSC channels and crams 3 or 4 digital channels on each then pretty soon you have over a 1000 channels which if you had to carry all three networks in each market could happen.

I'd have to buy new equipment that goes from Channel 1 to 9,999!

It seems to me then that at some point it would be a quantity vs. quality issue. Seems to me I could seem maybe that rather than all HD or not, the slots might be filled up with a portion of each which presumably would be determined by the television ratings.

DOes that make any sense or am I out in left field?

My question

[Ranger Gord]

On 2002-01-19 14:40, troublemaker wrote:
So presumably though that 1 NTSC that can carry 3 or 4 Digital channels but wouldn't still count as 3 or 4 channels on my receiver.

Most OTA digital receivers map multicasting as subset of channel.

For example WXYZ-DT is channel 41, WXYZ is channel 7. Many US stations will move digital signals to old analog channel when the analog signal is shut down. 2 main reasons: lower channel numbers require less power for same footprint, + take advantage of previous marketing - ABC Detroit is Channel 7, how many know it as channel 41?

Most receivers than map digital to analog number. For example WXYZ-DT HD shows up as Channel 7 on receiver. When it is in non HD mode, the channels are mapped as 7-1, 7-2, 7-3

So when I do the math, if Murdoch or anyone for that matter has say 400 or 500 NTSC channels and crams 3 or 4 digital channels on each then pretty soon you have over a 1000 channels which if you had to carry all three networks in each market could happen.

Yes if FCC require multicasts to be carried as part of "Must Carry" big problem for non merged Dish & DirecTv

I'd have to buy new equipment that goes from Channel 1 to 9,999!

The next generation of OTA digital STB's are targeted for retail US$200 price point (about $450 cdn if our dollar keeps on truckin)

It seems to me then that at some point it would be a quantity vs. quality issue. Seems to me I could seem maybe that rather than all HD or not, the slots might be filled up with a portion of each which presumably would be determined by the television ratings.

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