edmond rodriguez on 15 Feb 2009 13:07:29 -0800


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Re: [PLUG] Internet Provider Wars, part New





----- Original Message ----
> From: William H. Magill <magill@mcgillsociety.org>
> To: Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>
> Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 12:19:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Internet Provider Wars, part New
> 
> 
> On Feb 14, 2009, at 12:31 PM, zuzu wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 5:25 PM, Michael C Finn
> > wrote:
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "jeff" 
> >> Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 3:23 PM
> >>
> >>
> >>> John Von Essen wrote:
> >>>> Just a side bar on the whole DTV thing. The people who did the TV  
> >>>> Ads
> >>>> (FCC?) on it really left out alot of info that the public doesn't  
> >>>> know.
> >>>
> >>> Yes, and it makes one wonder why.. perhaps some sort of agenda...?
> >>>
> >>> [follow the money - always]
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> 10-3 NBC Sports). When I told a friend about this (who previously  
> >>>> was
> >>>> against the whole DTV thing) he had no idea about these extra
> >>>> channels -
> >>>
> >>> I didn't know either.  Wasn't even going to order a box but just  
> >>> did.
> >>> I'm a sucker for Discovery/History/Animal Planet/Nat Geo though....
> >>
> >> I knew about the three WHYY digital channels although I can't get  
> >> them due
> >> to their weak signal until June, but I didn't know about 10-3; it  
> >> wasn't
> >> picked up on my TV Tuner that's in my HP Pavilion Elite D5000t.
> >>
> >> I'm going to have to add that manually now that I know about it.  
> >> So, what
> >> other additional channels are there that my station scan skipped  
> >> over?
> >
> > IIRC, _by law_ OTA stations need to have at least 2 channels to
> > showcase the benefits of digital television over analog.  Most of them
> > have 3, including 1 for weather (WX), and 1 HDTV primary channel.
> > Offhand, I know NJN only has 2 because they dropped the Annenberg
> > Channel when that went offline (via satellite source) in October 2008.
> 
> Hmmm ... I haven't followed any of the "new" DTV legislation/Rules
>   (since about 2003),  but back then the basic issue was NOT that the
> various stations were REQUIRED to have multiple channels, but rather
>   the fact that virtually all of them were in fact NOT willing to  
> provide the
> HD signal information (bandwidth) which they had petitioned the FCC
> for in the first  place and were splitting the bandwidth up into  
> multiple
> sub-channels completely contrary to the original intent of both  
> legislation
> and FCC rule-making.
> 
> It was a classic case of "we are NOT required" to provide real HD signal
> bandwidth so we can do anything we want with these new channels the
> FCC has given us.
> ... 1080i vs 1080p and all of those "viewers can't see it" arguments.
> This point of view was also championed  (rather insidiously) by the  
> various
> Hollywood Film folks who still see Digital- HD-TV as a major reason why
> their profits are down. (The idea that folks think their product is  
> overly
> expensive never enters their minds. It's all because of the "Pirates"  
> and
> all those folks who violate copyrights and make copies of "their  
> stuff.")
> 
> This whole DTV thing has been like OSI vs TCP/IP, however there is no  
> Open
> Source community for the Broadcasting Industry to counter the  
> Government's
> "visionaries" at the FCC.
> 
> (WHYY in Philadelphia was one of the leaders in proposing the concept
> that it is NOT necessary to broadcast a full HD signal, but to sell  
> usage of those
> sub-channels for other purposes.) [Note that this sub-channel business  
> has
> existed in the FM-radio broadcasting business, virtually since the  
> beginning.
> I was running medical sub-carrier broadcasts for WFIL-FM  back in the  
> 60s when
> Annenberg still owned all 3 WFIL stations - am/fm/tv.]
> 
> >
> >> Where can I find a list of them?  The media guide software doesn't  
> >> mention
> >> them just as they didn't mention 12-2 and 12-3; I added them  
> >> manually so
> >> that they will be present when a signal is strong.
> 
> As far as I know, they are not mentioned in any of the guides because  
> they are still
> considered "experimental" and the stations are NOT required to provide  
> anyone with
> any information about their existence or content.
> 
> 
> T.T.F.N.
> William H. Magill
> # Beige G3 [Rev A motherboard - 300 MHz 768 Meg] OS X 10.2.8
> # Flat-panel iMac (2.1) [800MHz - Super Drive - 768 Meg] OS X 10.4.11
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> magill@mcgillsociety.org
> magill@mac.com
> http://homepage.mac.com/magill/
> whmagill@gmail.com
> 
> 


An earlier reply was offlisted, but I guess this is going a little yet.  I'll be short.....

http://www.tvguide.com lists most if not all of the sub channels.   Do "whats on TV" then set your zip code, and in my case, I click on "Philadelphia area broadcast".    Maybe some more of the distant channels don't show up, but between antennaweb.org (at least the base channels) and TV guide, it's mostly there. 
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