Lon Seidman posted today:
ATSC 3.0 DRM update: The ADTH 2nd Generation Tuner, that boldly states "Unconnected DRM..No Internet Required" has stopped tuning protected channels without an Internet connection.
Yes - you will soon need an Internet connection to watch over the air TV.
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nQ-yrLjerlk
By the way, I keep saying that if they do this it will be the death of broadcast TV. Almost nobody other than maybe some sports fans will really care that much if broadcast TV disappears, but even sports is starting to move to streaming services. I just saw an incredible video today about teachers lamenting that (among other things) the kids no longer care if they show a video in class, because they don't have the attention spans to watch an entire video. They don't even want to watch cartoons anymore, because they can't focus on anything longer than the length of a TikTok video.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTugyu2F0pc
(any discussion about that video should probably be in a different forum but I mention it here because of the statements about how little kids care about TV, with or without commercials).
So IMHO the broadcast industry is doomed, because adults don't want to go back to appointment television or watching commercials, and the kids have absolutely no interest in it if they have access to the internet or a phone. Not to mention that the shows seem to have become much less interesting (or maybe that's just me getting old and realizing that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of originality anymore). They think that by imposing DRM they will force consumers to consume content their way, when in reality an increasing number of consumers will probably just say "Who needs TV anyway?"
But then I have this growing suspicion that this is their actual goal. They want to see TV abandoned, so they can repurpose broadcast TV frequencies for other purposes, such as broadband delivery or some other form of digital data service. This in part stems from their belief that the FCC would never dare hold them to those silly old public interest requirements, that they are too well politically connected to be regulated or lose their licenses. And even if that is true today, that will not always be the case, but once they realize they have poisoned their own water supply it will be too late, technology will have moved on, and the will be sitting on billions of dollars of worthless assets. It will be a sad day when all the local TV stations go dark, but you can't operate a TV station if nobody's watching, it's just not economically viable.
ATSC 3.0 DRM update: The ADTH 2nd Generation Tuner, that boldly states "Unconnected DRM..No Internet Required" has stopped tuning protected channels without an Internet connection.
Yes - you will soon need an Internet connection to watch over the air TV.
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nQ-yrLjerlk
By the way, I keep saying that if they do this it will be the death of broadcast TV. Almost nobody other than maybe some sports fans will really care that much if broadcast TV disappears, but even sports is starting to move to streaming services. I just saw an incredible video today about teachers lamenting that (among other things) the kids no longer care if they show a video in class, because they don't have the attention spans to watch an entire video. They don't even want to watch cartoons anymore, because they can't focus on anything longer than the length of a TikTok video.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTugyu2F0pc
(any discussion about that video should probably be in a different forum but I mention it here because of the statements about how little kids care about TV, with or without commercials).
So IMHO the broadcast industry is doomed, because adults don't want to go back to appointment television or watching commercials, and the kids have absolutely no interest in it if they have access to the internet or a phone. Not to mention that the shows seem to have become much less interesting (or maybe that's just me getting old and realizing that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of originality anymore). They think that by imposing DRM they will force consumers to consume content their way, when in reality an increasing number of consumers will probably just say "Who needs TV anyway?"
But then I have this growing suspicion that this is their actual goal. They want to see TV abandoned, so they can repurpose broadcast TV frequencies for other purposes, such as broadband delivery or some other form of digital data service. This in part stems from their belief that the FCC would never dare hold them to those silly old public interest requirements, that they are too well politically connected to be regulated or lose their licenses. And even if that is true today, that will not always be the case, but once they realize they have poisoned their own water supply it will be too late, technology will have moved on, and the will be sitting on billions of dollars of worthless assets. It will be a sad day when all the local TV stations go dark, but you can't operate a TV station if nobody's watching, it's just not economically viable.
