Should at&t sell DIRECT?

[Juan]

Flash back day . . .
With Competition it sure would be nice if Directv and Dish would go back to the old models from 2004 and try to be the Dirt Cheap provider.
So cheap that everyone wanted it as Cable was double in price and they had the better quality picture.
Lately is seems cable is just a few dollars more that Directv or Dish once you factor in the internet and the picture is about the same.

Getting Directv or Dish is not that exciting like in the year 2004

Checkout the orby thread

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[slice1900]

When this new technology hits sometime in 2020 you will see NFL games in 4k

What is Next Gen TV and when will it launch?

I wouldn't count on it. ATSC 3.0 supports 4K, but there is no requirement to use it. The way they are going to roll it out is via channel sharing, so say two stations in a market decide to share so they can do ATSC 3.0 so one of their channels stays ATSC 1.0 and carries ALL content from both stations, while the other goes ATSC 3.0 and also carries all their content. There isn't going to be room for two 4K main channels.

Even ignoring that, look at what stations have been doing continually expanding the number of subchannels they carry. Do you really think they will use up all that bandwidth on 4K, when they could instead carry a big pile of subchannels - some in HD? ATSC 3.0 also permits encrypted channels, so long as there are some free channels too (not sure of the exact restrictions) but a station could broadcast a pay channel like HBO, offer PPV events, whatever they want. They don't make a single penny in additional revenue by broadcasting in 4K, so why should they? They will make additional revenue by carrying more subchannels by selling ad time (which is why they keep adding subchannels) or by selling "pay TV" (remains to be seen if this will be a thing or just a capability of ATSC 3.0 no one uses)

Anyway, even if your local station broadcasts in 4K you will NEVER see it on Directv. Not on satellite at least. You'd need an upgraded LCC that supports ATSC 3.0, or maybe the IP version of Directv will someday stream locals in 4K.

 

[Soccernut]

I wouldn't count on it. ATSC 3.0 supports 4K, but there is no requirement to use it. The way they are going to roll it out is via channel sharing, so say two stations in a market decide to share so they can do ATSC 3.0 so one of their channels stays ATSC 1.0 and carries ALL content from both stations, while the other goes ATSC 3.0 and also carries all their content. There isn't going to be room for two 4K main channels.

Even ignoring that, look at what stations have been doing continually expanding the number of subchannels they carry. Do you really think they will use up all that bandwidth on 4K, when they could instead carry a big pile of subchannels - some in HD? ATSC 3.0 also permits encrypted channels, so long as there are some free channels too (not sure of the exact restrictions) but a station could broadcast a pay channel like HBO, offer PPV events, whatever they want. They don't make a single penny in additional revenue by broadcasting in 4K, so why should they? They will make additional revenue by carrying more subchannels by selling ad time (which is why they keep adding subchannels) or by selling "pay TV" (remains to be seen if this will be a thing or just a capability of ATSC 3.0 no one uses)

Anyway, even if your local station broadcasts in 4K you will NEVER see it on Directv. Not on satellite at least. You'd need an upgraded LCC that supports ATSC 3.0, or maybe the IP version of Directv will someday stream locals in 4K.

I respect your opinion on this but I find it hard to believe that the big over the air broadcasters ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX are not going with 4K on their elite programing not only NFL but also series, etc. if they had the capability to do so. To sell ad time at a profit they need to show something people 'want' to watch and I believe in the near future that will be 4K content, even PPV and premium channel will need to be 4K to attract viewers that eventually will have huge wall size display in their homes.

 

[slice1900]

I respect your opinion on this but I find it hard to believe that the big over the air broadcasters ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX are not going with 4K on their elite programing not only NFL but also series, etc. if they had the capability to do so. To sell ad time at a profit they need to show something people 'want' to watch and I believe in the near future that will be 4K content, even PPV and premium channel will need to be 4K to attract viewers that eventually will have huge wall size display in their homes.

What the networks want to do and what the affiliates want to do aren't always the same thing. The networks only control their O&O affiliates, not the ones owned by Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray etc.

One possible option we could see are stations downscaling a network's 4K downlink to 1080p, so we might still end up with improved PQ even if it isn't all the way to 4K. There's just no way of telling, and the people who are making those decisions haven't made any commitments one way or another. Sinclair is very focused on getting ATSC 3.0 rolled out (something they want to encourage because they hold a lot of patents so if everyone goes 3.0 they collect a lot of licensing fees) so they probably busy working out channel sharing arrangements in the market where they don't already control two transmitters (like they do in mine) They never mention 4K, except to list it as among the capabilities of ATSC 3.0.

My worry isn't whether 4K will come or not, but what will happen to HD PQ in the meantime, when they are basically cutting everything's bandwidth in half to fit on the ATSC 1.0 side of the channel sharing arrangement. For the stations Directv picks up OTA, unless they upgrade to an ATSC 3.0 tuner, they are going to pick up some REALLY terrible PQ. Maybe AT&T will make the investment to get every local delivered via fiber and obsolete OTA pickup, but we'll have to wait and see. It will also be bad for the people who rely on OTA, hopefully ATSC 3.0 tuners will get cheap before that becomes too much of an issue.

 

[Soccernut]

What the networks want to do and what the affiliates want to do aren't always the same thing. The networks only control their O&O affiliates, not the ones owned by Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray etc.

One possible option we could see are stations downscaling a network's 4K downlink to 1080p, so we might still end up with improved PQ even if it isn't all the way to 4K. There's just no way of telling, and the people who are making those decisions haven't made any commitments one way or another. Sinclair is very focused on getting ATSC 3.0 rolled out (something they want to encourage because they hold a lot of patents so if everyone goes 3.0 they collect a lot of licensing fees) so they probably busy working out channel sharing arrangements in the market where they don't already control two transmitters (like they do in mine) They never mention 4K, except to list it as among the capabilities of ATSC 3.0.

My worry isn't whether 4K will come or not, but what will happen to HD PQ in the meantime, when they are basically cutting everything's bandwidth in half to fit on the ATSC 1.0 side of the channel sharing arrangement. For the stations Directv picks up OTA, unless they upgrade to an ATSC 3.0 tuner, they are going to pick up some REALLY terrible PQ. Maybe AT&T will make the investment to get every local delivered via fiber and obsolete OTA pickup, but we'll have to wait and see. It will also be bad for the people who rely on OTA, hopefully ATSC 3.0 tuners will get cheap before that becomes too much of an issue.

Got you.