Is the sky falling?

[old_geezer]

Maybe I am being chicken little but with broadcast television being moved to all digital I am very concerned that free television (ad supported) as we know it will be coming to an end. I don't have cable or satelite. I just receive the local stations and once they are all digital then I wouldn't be surprised if some of the programing would be encrypted and the veiwer would have to pay to watch. If that happens, then I would expect more program content to be encrypted until the only thing in the clear would be the ads and even broadcast television (still with commercials) would be subscription based. Any thoughts?

On another subject (maybe I should start a new thread) the MPAA wouldn't like this one. If people were to form a co-op for sharing DVDs and I am talking about the original disks not copies there is nothing the MPAA could do about it with the present laws. An enterprising person might even set up a web sight for managing such an effort. It could be a membership based system where the price of membership is a list of the DVDs you would be willing to trade for ones that you had not yet seen. This would not work for music but for movies, which most people watch only once, it could be very effective. Granted the physical disk would have to be tranfered but the postage would be less than renting and the satisfaction of sticking it to the MPAA would be immense.

[LocalH]

Relax. There will still be free, OTA television even after the NTSC shutdown. You might have to buy a decoder to use a standard television, but the intended plan is for a number of sets to include digital tuners before the cutoff (right now, the only sets that are required to do so are large sets). Even today, you can receive local HD broadcasts with nothing more than an antenna and an ATSC decoder, and there is no subscription cost.

Of course, this does raise the bar a bit. But, it's possible that the price of decoders will come down before 2009. When you can get one for less than $50, then it won't be a problem. I also foresee that some stores will offer 'bundle' deals that are cheaper than integrated digital sets, where you get a cheap analog set and a cheap ATSC decoder. Plus, it's already possible to rip ATSC streams and do with them as you wish. Most of the time this is done with HD signals, but there's nothing stopping you from capturing SD streams as well. If you get a copy-protection-free card today (such as the pcHDTV), then even if the broadcast flag ends up being enforced, then you'll already have the hardware you need to work directly with the video contained in the broadcast.

There is currently no mechanism for adding encryption to OTA signals, the only copy control is the aforementioned broadcast flag. According to the FCC, all stations must broadcast at least one standard ATSC stream, receivable by any number of ATSC receivers. It's possible that stations might offer encrypted content in either MPEG-2 or another codec, but they must broadcast at least one standard ATSC stream, which will always be in the clear.

[shevegen]

1) See it from this side. Being unable to watch TV raises your intelligence. At least something can be said about hard core computer users that have no possibility to watch normal TV. (Hey, this is not my quote, i read this in the news recently :D )
TV mostly sucks anyway ;)

2) TV serves as content to bring to YOU advertisement. Its not only real old fashion advertisement but also hidden agendas.
I would find it VERY UNLIKELY that this business model will cease to exist.

With people its rather simple - if the costs are too high, its likely that something will fail (unless it has superior designs and enough hype, like some apple products...)