waltinvt
08-16-04, 09:20 AM
How NBC is handleing their HD presentation of the Olympics with their affilliates and DBS viewers needs to be presented to Congress before they renew debate on the new SHVIRA bill.
If the truth of what many of the rural NBC affilliates did can be explained in a concise and truthful way, I think it will go a long way in convincing legislators exactly why rural satellite viewers need legislative protection.
Simply stated: For the most part, the satellite viewers with HD capability that had no other way to receive the NBC HD Olympic broadcast were the ones most denied that signal.
The qualification method was actually opposite that used by SHIVA to determine who can usually get distant nets. In other words, if you qualified for the distant NBC analog network (which is because you're in an area that can't receive the signal) then you DID NOT qualify for the NBC HD feed unless your local network gave explicit permission to NBC who in turn gave it to your DBS provider.
In other words, even though the local affilliate can't or will not provide you with the NBC HD feed, they had the power to say:
"If you want to watch the olympics, you will watch it in low defination or not at all".
NBC was careful to structure their HD broadcast so it didn't fall under current SHIVA regulations and then they chose to allow their independent affilliates the discrection of the final say.
That, combined with the many negative comments we're seeing on discussion lists about the actual NBC HD presention itself, is probably not going to do a lot to enhance or hasten the public move to HDTV.
Too bad, for every step HDNET and some of the PBS HD stations take to bring us into the HD age, situations like what NBC and Sony are doing with the Olympics sets us back two.
WaltinVt
If the truth of what many of the rural NBC affilliates did can be explained in a concise and truthful way, I think it will go a long way in convincing legislators exactly why rural satellite viewers need legislative protection.
Simply stated: For the most part, the satellite viewers with HD capability that had no other way to receive the NBC HD Olympic broadcast were the ones most denied that signal.
The qualification method was actually opposite that used by SHIVA to determine who can usually get distant nets. In other words, if you qualified for the distant NBC analog network (which is because you're in an area that can't receive the signal) then you DID NOT qualify for the NBC HD feed unless your local network gave explicit permission to NBC who in turn gave it to your DBS provider.
In other words, even though the local affilliate can't or will not provide you with the NBC HD feed, they had the power to say:
"If you want to watch the olympics, you will watch it in low defination or not at all".
NBC was careful to structure their HD broadcast so it didn't fall under current SHIVA regulations and then they chose to allow their independent affilliates the discrection of the final say.
That, combined with the many negative comments we're seeing on discussion lists about the actual NBC HD presention itself, is probably not going to do a lot to enhance or hasten the public move to HDTV.
Too bad, for every step HDNET and some of the PBS HD stations take to bring us into the HD age, situations like what NBC and Sony are doing with the Olympics sets us back two.
WaltinVt