loose express card

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Mark Rozitis

In Canada right now the big CRTC (FCC) hearings are going on in Ottawa regarding fee for carriage, the conventional over the air broadcasters want a percentage of the fees from the cable subscribers and are saying that ad's don't come close to paying the bills any more.

Mark,
This is a real double edged sword. The cable operators won't pay and the broadcasters won't have viewers without cable. Some of the stations here in town estimate at least 70% of their audience is on cable. One has even suggested they may shut down their transmitter and just feed the cables.
Broadcasting on the internet is still going to be a problem with throughput. There just isn't enough bandwidth to handle that much data to that many customers. With the current economy, we are seeing a shift back to over the air. Cable rates have skyrocketed in the past few years with a monthly bill approaching or exceeding $100 US. Many cable providers are trying to add in billables by tacking on internet and phone to the same cable. The lunacy of this is when your cable goes out, so does the phone, the internet and your link with local news.
What might be a possibility is that the transmitter becomes a source of data for your DVR/video server. It just broadcasts a data stream all day which you then select a service from. As drives and solid state storage come down in price, anything is possible. Who would have thought 10 years ago that a terabyte drive would be available for under two hundred dollars. We are retiring video servers that have 18 GB drives because you can't find any new ones.
The multiple jobs by one individual comes in part from the economy and part from our viewers. We have found that viewers have become more tolerant of technical problems, bad video, poor camera work and downright disgusting editing. Since the viewers don't seem to care neither does management. I know it is hard to be good at everything but "I can do that" will get you more jobs than the other guy. It's hard but that is the life we have chosen. When I tell people I normally start at 6AM but am really on call 24/7 they look at me like I am from a different planet. Why would I put up with that kind of work environment? I could wonder about their job in the same way. I can't make everything bright and wonderful but I will continue doing the best I can and making a difference when an opportunity arises.