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FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

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  • FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

    FCC Broadband Plan Threatens Millions of TV Viewers
    Minimum of 210 full power TV stations could go dark

    Forty percent of full power local television stations in the U.S. could have to vacate their current TV channel assignment under the FCC's National Broadband Plan, and a minimum of 210 of those stations could go off the air permanently, according to an NAB analysis released today.

    The NAB analysis found that 672 of the nation's 1735 full-power TV stations must be "cleared" from channels 31-51 to accommodate the FCC's goal of reclaiming an additional 120 MHz of spectrum from broadcasters. During the analog-to-digital TV transition two years ago, only 174 stations had to be cleared from channels 52-69 and forced to move to a new channel.
    Read the entire article at this link:
    http://www.nab.org/documents/newsRoo...se.asp?id=2579
    (Free content - no paywall)

    You might also want to get more information from:
    http://www.thefutureoftv.org

    Take action to support keeping the airwaves free:
    http://www.thefutureoftv.org/action.asp

    If this type of legislation passes it could have dire results for people in Hawaii choosing to go with the FREE over the air broadcast TV option.

    Recently several of Hawaii's OTA channels have started using their secondary channel feeds to deliver additional free content.

    Even if you are a cable subscriber, you should support the effort to keep the TV airwaves free for our local TV channels.
    I'm still here. Are you?

  • #2
    Re: FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

    Originally posted by mel View Post
    If this type of legislation passes it could have dire results for people in Hawaii choosing to go with the FREE over the air broadcast TV option.
    I don't know why that would be. We have few stations and are well isolated from neighboring states.

    I'm not so sure we should be calling them "TV" signals any more. With DTV, they're just dedicated data carriers. Perhaps we should re-think what our wireless broadband should be and include some bandwidth for free, UDP transmissions. Integrate the TV signals into the broadband.

    TV stations would benefit from not having to support an expensive high-powered transmitter site, and better signal coverage by a distributed low-power system. The incoming wireless providers would have to carry the TV stations much like cable has to carry the local stations.

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    • #3
      Re: FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

      Originally posted by mel View Post
      Even if you are a cable subscriber, you should support the effort to keep the TV airwaves free for our local TV channels.
      What does a requirement to change broadcasting frequencies have to do with keeping Hawaii TV airwaves free? What does it have to with introducing sub-channels? And since I haven't seen any OTA TV in over 25 years, what does it have to do with me? None of this makes any sense to me.
      Greg

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      • #4
        Re: FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

        I guess I rather have Free TV than having to pay for them, and I don't mean just the unit itself, but the broadcasting service also.
        Beijing 8-08-08 to 8-24-08

        Tiananmen Square 4-15-89 to 6-04-89

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

          Originally posted by Random View Post
          I guess I rather have Free TV than having to pay for them, and I don't mean just the unit itself, but the broadcasting service also.
          And that is what this is all about. Preserving FREE TV like how it has been for many decades. The local broadcast stations (and their corporate owners) have plans to expand what they offer through the channels they are now allocated to. To do that they need to at least preserve the frequencies assigned for use to TV stations and not get them reallocated to more data and cell phone carriers from which users have to PAY for access.
          I'm still here. Are you?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

            I want to know how crowded is our wireless frequency ranges.

            Sounds like there is a need to reform the wireless infrastructure in the US ... taking into account the terrain that could interfere or diminish signals ... but I have to say leaving out Free TV broadcasting is a very BAD idea.
            Beijing 8-08-08 to 8-24-08

            Tiananmen Square 4-15-89 to 6-04-89

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

              Originally posted by GeckoGeek View Post
              I don't know why that would be. We have few stations and are well isolated from neighboring states.

              I'm not so sure we should be calling them "TV" signals any more. With DTV, they're just dedicated data carriers. Perhaps we should re-think what our wireless broadband should be and include some bandwidth for free, UDP transmissions. Integrate the TV signals into the broadband.

              TV stations would benefit from not having to support an expensive high-powered transmitter site, and better signal coverage by a distributed low-power system. The incoming wireless providers would have to carry the TV stations much like cable has to carry the local stations.
              While this sounds like a good idea, one has to question if someone could "piggyback" the free transmission with hidden data or virus/spyware.
              Beijing 8-08-08 to 8-24-08

              Tiananmen Square 4-15-89 to 6-04-89

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: FCC Wants to Take Away OTA Channels

                Originally posted by Random View Post
                While this sounds like a good idea, one has to question if someone could "piggyback" the free transmission with hidden data or virus/spyware.
                What's to prevent that from happening now?

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