Ofcom and the Giant Digital Dividend

I've been reading around Ofcom's proposals to grab as much cash as
possible from the sale of bandwidth following the digital switchover,
both their own publications and views expressed on various groups and
forums.

What amazes me is that Ofcom's consultation process should start AFTER
they've already formulated their proposals. This seems arse-about-face
to me. Surely you should garner opinions before striking out on a
route that will strangle the development of HD broadcasting in the UK
for years to come.

Ofcom quote results of market research, saying that HDTV is a marginal
interest compared with more elaborate mobile services. It makes me
wonder how far the researchers managed to stagger away from the
Blueberry-flavoured waters of their corporate headquarters.

UK sales of HDTV sets have soared recently, partly on the back of
people expecting more content to become available in high definition
format. I think that all of us who have parted with our hard-earned
cash to buy an HD TV were looking forward to feasting our eyes on some
free public service broadcasts.

Maybe Ofcom wanted to provoke a reaction, to stimulate the debate
(though I very much doubt it). Sadly, the formal process of responding
to their proposals is now completed. This does not mean that all
avenues are closed however. I'm in favour of lobbying MPs and
contacting Ofcom direct (details on their website).

To read more on this subject, visit my blog at http://hdtvexpert.blogspot.com
or visit http://www.hdtvexpert.co.uk

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've been reading around Ofcom's proposals to grab as much cash as
possible from the sale of bandwidth following the digital switchover,
both their own publications and views expressed on various groups and
forums.

What amazes me is that Ofcom's consultation process should start AFTER
they've already formulated their proposals. This seems arse-about-face
to me. Surely you should garner opinions before striking out on a
route that will strangle the development of HD broadcasting in the UK
for years to come.




Super-casino anyone? This from a Sec of State married to an Italian mafia
lawyer and can't remember whether she signed a teeny-weeny £300K mortgage at
her breakfast table.

Historians may well look back and view the 2000s as the most corrupt and
inept period in British media history.

wrote in message
oups.com
I've been reading around Ofcom's proposals to grab as much cash as
possible from the sale of bandwidth following the digital switchover,
both their own publications and views expressed on various groups and
forums.

What amazes me is that Ofcom's consultation process should start AFTER
they've already formulated their proposals. This seems arse-about-face
to me. Surely you should garner opinions before striking out on a
route that will strangle the development of HD broadcasting in the UK
for years to come.

Consultation processes *always* start after the decisions have been made,
haven't you noticed? (Not just government ones, but also ones about who gets
made redundant.)

--
Max Demian

wrote:

snip


I think it is better that the broadcasters aren't donated the Digital
Dividend spectrum, because if they do donate it then the broadcasters will
be less likely to adopt DVB-T2 (because that'll require people to install
new aerials, which the public service broadcasters would probably want to
avoid in case people choose to spend the money on getting satellite instead,
or whatever).

IMO, DVB-T2 (which should double the DVB-T multiplex capacity) is the only
way that Freeview will get a reasonable number of HDTV channels, so I would
have thought you'd be in favour of this?


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

wrote:

...
Ofcom quote results of market research, saying that HDTV is a marginal
interest compared with more elaborate mobile services. ...

It seems to me that many of the UHF preamps and DVB receivers currently
on the market are not too clever at handling strong signals on adjacent
channels. So what's going to happen when a UHF mobile broadcasts in the
same room as a DVB receiver?

--
Dave Farrance

In message , Light of Aria
writes


Super-casino anyone? This from a Sec of State married to an Italian
mafia lawyer and can't remember whether she signed a teeny-weeny £300K
mortgage at her breakfast table.

Historians may well look back and view the 2000s as the most corrupt
and inept period in British media history.


No, that would be 1979-1997.
--
Ian

The message
from Ian contains these words:

In message , Light of Aria
writes


Super-casino anyone? This from a Sec of State married to an Italian
mafia lawyer and can't remember whether she signed a teeny-weeny £300K
mortgage at her breakfast table.

Historians may well look back and view the 2000s as the most corrupt
and inept period in British media history.


No, that would be 1979-1997.

No doubt about that. That's when the 'bar was lowered' and the UK
attained 'Third World Status'. It's been downhill ever since then. The
gradient might have eased off a little since then but the 'Robber
Barons' still have too tight a grip on the 'dumbed down' meedja for any
radical reforms to be given the consideration required to get this
country out of the hole it's landed itself in. :-(

--
Regards, John.

Please remove the "ohggcyht" before replying.
The address has been munged to reject Spam-bots.

"Johnny B Good" wrote in message
.. .
The message
from Ian contains these words:

In message , Light of Aria
writes


Super-casino anyone? This from a Sec of State married to an Italian
mafia lawyer and can't remember whether she signed a teeny-weeny £300K
mortgage at her breakfast table.

Historians may well look back and view the 2000s as the most corrupt
and inept period in British media history.


No, that would be 1979-1997.

No doubt about that. That's when the 'bar was lowered' and the UK
attained 'Third World Status'. It's been downhill ever since then. The
gradient might have eased off a little since then but the 'Robber
Barons' still have too tight a grip on the 'dumbed down' meedja for any
radical reforms to be given the consideration required to get this
country out of the hole it's landed itself in. :-(

--
Regards, John.

Please remove the "ohggcyht" before replying.
The address has been munged to reject Spam-bots.


The Robber Barons always did have control of the medjia all along, be it the
establishment serving elitist BBC or the rich aristocracy owning the ITV
cash cow.

Anyway, there is point in my racking myself over what happened 3 decades ago
under Thatcher when there are incompetent ****-ups being spawned today under
our noses.

On Mar 29, 3:51 pm, Dave Farrance
wrote:
wrote:
...
Ofcom quote results of market research, saying that HDTV is a marginal
interest compared with more elaborate mobile services. ...

It seems to me that many of the UHF preamps and DVB receivers currently
on the market are not too clever at handling strong signals on adjacent
channels. So what's going to happen when a UHF mobile broadcasts in the
same room as a DVB receiver?

That is exactly one of the BBC's concerns about the possible 'non
broadcast' use of the UHF spectrum.

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Mar 29, 3:51 pm, Dave Farrance
wrote:
wrote:
...
Ofcom quote results of market research, saying that HDTV is a marginal
interest compared with more elaborate mobile services. ...

It seems to me that many of the UHF preamps and DVB receivers currently
on the market are not too clever at handling strong signals on adjacent
channels. So what's going to happen when a UHF mobile broadcasts in the
same room as a DVB receiver?

That is exactly one of the BBC's concerns about the possible 'non
broadcast' use of the UHF spectrum.

I would think that the very common installation consisting of a wideband
masthead amp and a wideband aerial would be very susceptible to interference
from a passing UHF transmitter on a vehicle or whatever.

Bill