OTA TV in Jeopardy in America

[spunker88]

In order to give all Americans access to the internet a plan is being looked at that could possibly get rid of OTA TV as we know it in America. Even if they did want to make some sort of nation-wide wireless internet network, why would the whole UHF spectrum. Also there is already a whole network of 3G internet out there by mobile providers. Why not just piggyback on existing technology?

I think now is the worst time to mess with OTA TV. After spending taxpayer money and time converting the whole country to digital and giving out free DTV converter boxes, it would all be useless. OTA TV has become a dying form of media, but in my opinion DTV conversion brought interest back into OTA TV. People can now get HD quality programming for free. Its also useful for emergencies. I can remember bad storms that have hit my area where I relied on OTA TV even though I have cable.

They talk about how little money is to be made in broadcast TV, but we have just gone through a recession and at the same time TV stations had to deal with transitioning from analog to digital, running 2 transmitters for a number of years, and the high costs of buying new equipment. But the OTA industry is still intact.

Read More:
http://www.nab.org/advocacy/issue.asp?id=2025&issueid=1003

Here is the NAB PSA Video:
http://www.clickorlando.com/video/22037130/index.html

[H Hayes PA]

I think now is the worst time to mess with OTA TV. After spending taxpayer money and time converting the whole country to digital and giving out free DTV converter boxes, it would all be useless.
Spunker 88
You're talking about the government here, so the timing on this would make perfect sense.

[Mike-CT]

I've never watched as much OTA TV until I hooked up my outdoor antennas to my DTV and found out how great the picture quality was. If it's on Uverse and available on OTA TV, I switch to OTA. The quality is better. I would think OTA would be seeing some sort of revival. At least I hope so.

But leave it to the government to screw it all up royally.

[cd637299]

I understand that this idea has been shot down.

IF it ever were true, (1) considering the state of TV in general* today, I doubt I'd shed a tear; (2) what would happen with all the transmitting towers? Could I possibly convert a tower in the lower FL Keys into a DX receiving tower, to catch foreign FM/TV? :D

* IMO, Newton Minow was 49 years ahead of his time......[For those who aren't familiar with him, Google is your amigo....]

cd

[spunker88]

I understand that this idea has been shot down.

IF it ever were true, (1) considering the state of TV in general* today, I doubt I'd shed a tear; (2) what would happen with all the transmitting towers? Could I possibly convert a tower in the lower FL Keys into a DX receiving tower, to catch foreign FM/TV? :D

* IMO, Newton Minow was 49 years ahead of his time......[For those who aren't familiar with him, Google is your amigo....]

cd

I saw a PSA on it the other day and I did some research and thats why I decided to make this post was because of the PSA.

I imagine the transmitting towers would be reused for whatever technology is implemented on the TV frequencies.

A dream of mine is to have a radio/tv tower just for DXing. Ive seen some translator towers pulling off pretty distant reception of the parent station, the added height makes things line of sight sometimes. Imagine how much it would help DXing being up a radio tower.