Talkback
by Staff -- Multichannel News, 11/30/2008 7:00:00 PM
U.S. Politics Have Made DTV a Dilemma
It would help if [Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.] paid attention to just what a crime the digital TV transition really is (“Vermont Senator Wants Low-Cost Cable,” Multichannel.com, Nov. 18). In other countries, where politics did not play such a cruel role, digital TV is causing the rebirth of over-the-air TV.
What did the our broadcasters, the FCC, Congress and the [Consumer Electronics Association] do wrong? They let the CEA dictate the worst digital-TV modulation in the world. Not only could the citizens of Vermont have easy reception of digital-T,V and lots of it, but they could have had it for the last 10 years. It still could be fixed, but Congress would have to wake up which is very unlikely, seeing what they have done with almost every government department and most of our assets lately.
Robert T. Miller New York
Redoing the MathOn Basic Sub Counts
Although this article does make a slight mention of Mediacom adding digital customers, it fails to point out that basic customers are not the way of the future (“Midsized MSOs Beat the Odds,” Nov. 16). Adding basic customers is not a sign of strength, in fact it is a sign of long-term vulnerability. The Big 5 MSOs are decreasing their basic subscriber counts — not because they are losing market share, but because they are converting basic subscribers to digital services (of course, they are also facing competition and a weak economy).
Digital customers are able to subscribe to enhanced features, therefore digital ARPU is higher than analog ARPU. As a result, digital subscription is on the rise. Perhaps an article discussing digital subscriptions would be more pertinent, especially considering MSOs' change to digital services in the face of the upcoming DTV transition.
Ben Kolada AnalystNew Paradigm Research GroupChicago
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