Future of KU?

[Sat_addict]

Just curious I read in another post that most broadcast engineers dont like KU as a means of signal distribution, then i was reading a thread about more programming providers leaving c band. I am new to this game and am I curious am I getting started in a hobby that is on slow down turn. I do not mean this post to start a flame war I am just curious to hear from people who have been around the game for a while.

Thanks
Robert

There may be more of a demand for free television such as G10R when the FCC pulls the plug on terestrial analog TV in 2009. People who can not afford or don't want to afford pricey cable/premium satellite will be looking for alternatives. I read the government will be offering money ($40.00 I think) towards ATSC set top converter boxes for people who can not afford to buy them out right. However, ATSC DTV needs a good signal to avoid a dark screen or annoying macro blocking. NTSC is forgiving in that respect and at least provides a snowy channel in fringe areas. Instead of buying an ATSC box maybe people will consider an FTA unit and a dish. The dish will just replace the massive corner reflector Yagi they will need to receive a handfull of local UHF ATSC channels.


I know this NTSC to ATSC hipe is all about the FCC reclaiming the present TV VHF band for other stuff, but it will cause problems for people who don't pay for a service. It will almost force people to pay for TV, closing the margin between free and pay TV. I hope more networks such as RTN recognize this future trend and respond with more KU content.

 

[Tron]

Remember that the RTN channels we see on Ku are not meant for consumers to pick up. Those are being fed to downlinks in their respective markets, and the uplinker (Equity) is not interested in Ku "viewership", since these are not meant for us to see.

It is possible that a consumer-market interest in satellite TV offerings (besides the pizza dish guys, Dish and DirecTV) may be spawned by the loss of analog OTA, especially in areas far removed from larger metropolitan cities. Rural areas may be too far from the ATSC signal and that is a potential market for FTA aimed directly at the consumer.