FTA Future

[PSB]

Not if you have a Black and white TV only. Like I had when I lived in the UK!

£44 A BARGAIN for all the BBC programming and radio and the thousands of channels available FTA!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/licencefee/

 

[mdovell]

I think it has a interesting future within the reguards of the development of hdtv....

if cable goes ala cart it will get odder in the whole entertainment industry. In terms of an overal audience in the long term a station can get a larger one with fta rather than that of a traditional OTA station etc.

I think the promise can be with respects to that it's free and if it's more original programming. I think that the Uontv concept will be reborn (granted not the same owners)

 

[Tron]

I don't know much about how a TV channel operates but before you get put on a cable network wouldn't you have to be popular. Maybe this is a way to build a fan base.

I think I also read that foreign governments pay the cost to get some foreign language programs in USA. For their people living here. Is that true

Keep in mind that MOST FTA (in the USA) is NOT intended for consumer use, its uplinked for other broadcast professionals. Satellite is a way to get the program from one studio out to other studios, in the same way as fiberoptic cable is. The vast majority of what we watch is not uplinked for us, but for broadcasters. We're just eavesdropping

A big exception to this is the channels on IA-5, which are up there for Globecast customers, and the free radio on 119w, which is there for Dishnotwork customers. Also most religious channels are up there for the purpose of reaching a larger congregation.