Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Re: HDTV

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 12:58:47 -0500

-------- Original Message --------
From: "Paul Christensen" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: HDTV

> HDTV all the time.  The fight, then, between them and the cable companies is
> how many of these "new" channels the cable co's have to carry.  Whereas the
> broadcasters were once entitled only to get their one signal on the system,
> they're now claiming that the cable system has to carry *all* of channel
> streams they can fit into their allotted 6 MHz.  The cable systems see this
> as something of a landgrab, and are opposing it.

A federal "must-carry" mandate to include DTV transmissions in addition to the
pre-existing NTSC analog video transmission requires
a doubling of the cable operator's existing off-the-air broadcast bandwidth.  For example,
a cable operator in a market with six
local television broadcast stations (assuming must-carry) presently dedicates a total of
36 MHz of cable spectrum for off-air
broadcast transmissions.  Under a dual must-carry scenario (NTSC + DTV), the cable
operator would require 72 MHz of total spectrum.
This also assumes that the cable operator will be allowed to transparently "pass-through"
the additional 6 MHz DTV channel in its
entirely and will not be required to demodulate all six digitized video programs (in the
non-HDTV mode) and rebroadcast all six
programs in a NTSC format, each program requiring its own 6 MHz of spectrum.  That would
defeat the entire purpose of the DTV
deployment effort and simply cannot happen as half the operators' total bandwidth could
easily be consumed with just local broadcast
content.

Assuming the more realistic approach of a transparent pass-through, even the most
antiquated cable systems (e.g., 330 MHz
forward-only) can achieve success in passing a DTV transmission provided that the headend
and cable plant satisfies the current
technical performance requirements of 47CFR76.  In my market example, if must-carry is
simultaneously invoked for both 6 MHz analog
and DTV transmissions, the cable operator is forced to jettison six existing program
sources.  Even for the larger MSOs who have
recently upgraded to 750 MHz or 870 MHz forward bandwidth HFC systems and have achieved
full capacity, this is unreasonable.  For
the smaller systems who have not upgraded to the latest distribution technology, the
forced inclusion of the analog NTSC + DTV
transmission represents thirty-percent of the total usable bandwidth on a 330 MHz system
(330 MHz equates to approximately 40 analog
NTSC channels; not all 330MHz is usable).  In these smaller cables systems (e.g., under
550 MHz), dispensation for the cable
operator is a forgone conclusion.

-Paul

-------------------------------------------
Paul Christensen, Esq.
Paul B. Christensen, P.A.
3749 Southern Hills Drive
Jacksonville, Florida 32225
Office:     (904) 379-7802
Facsimile: (904) 379-7803
[email-masked]

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