Dear Fellow Broadcaster,
Five million. That is the equivalent number of digital television receivers that would be in consumer homes if the U.S. had kept pace with Britain. Instead, less than 48,000 DTV receivers have been delivered to U.S. retailers (from August 1998 to November 2000) according to trade industry reports.
It is for this reason that I urge you to attend the:
"All Industry DTV Summit"
January 11, 2001
8:30am-3:00pm
International Trade Center
Ronald Reagan Building
1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC.
To register contact the NAB at 202.429.5367
The intention of this all industry meeting is to inform any and all broadcasters of the latest developments in the DTV standards dispute. The combined boards of directors of both the NAB and MSTV plan to meet and vote on January 15th on what steps to take, if any, regarding the dispute and the public's disinterest in adopting DTV.
As all of you know, the status quo is woefully inadequate. The pitiful roll-out in the U.S. is in stark contrast to that of the other three countries that have already launched DTV. Sweden, with a population of less than nine million - - 267 million less than the U.S. - - has as many DTV receivers in consumer hands (40,000 as of November 1st) as the U.S. and it launched DTV months after we did. More disturbing for American broadcasters is the realization that Spain (population: 40 million), which launched DTV six months ago, already went over the 100,000 mark and is well on its way to reaching 150,000 by year-end. Digital television leader, the U.K. (population: 56 million), broke the one million plateau last month.
The "All Industry DTV Summit" may prove to be a seminal point in our attempts to jump-start the DTV roll-out. A well-placed minority of broadcasters in our industry are hoping your voices are not heard so that they can railroad a measure through the NAB/MSTV board meetings to take no action, to seek no alternatives and to instead continue with the same DTV standard that has failed our industry, thus far. We think our industry can do better.
As the technology world becomes digital, we have become stalled in an analog past. Moreover, the rest of the world has continued to adopt DVB-T, the proven, global standard for digital television. There are nearly three dozen countries representing over two billion people that have already adopted DVB-T. This month, Hong Kong and Russia selected DVB-T. China is expected to follow the lead of Hong Kong in the near future.
No country has adopted the ATSC standard since 1998 and no country is known to be seriously considering ATSC. All five countries that have adopted ATSC are conducting various levels of government and/or industry review. Broadcasters in Taiwan and South Korea (home of the 8VSB patent-holder, L.G. Electronics) have requested their governments adopt DVB-T. Canada and the U.S. are conducting reviews and Argentina has announced it will formally rescind adoption of ATSC.
Without global scales of economies, U.S. consumers will continue to pay the highest prices in the world for DTV equipment and that will only further slow the public's adoption of DTV.
The U.S. failure has been measured by the millions of consumers who have voted against DTV with their feet by walking out of retail outlets empty-handed, or by settling for significantly less-expensive alternatives such as analog TV sets. In fact, 25 million analog televisions will have been sold this year.
No clear thinking broadcaster can be satisfied with the status quo. The handful of companies which benefit financially from exclusive reliance on ATSC preach a "stay the course" sermon with full knowledge the system is flawed. They care less about the plight of over-the-air broadcasting. Why should they? They make their profits from 8VSB patents, 8VSB chip production, newspaper sales, chummy satellite subscription deals or from their huge radio business. TV broadcasters ought not to let those companies decide the future of our television business.
If the ATSC supporters believe they truly have the better system in the ATSC standard, then they have nothing to fear in allowing their fellow broadcasters to use either DTV standard. However, their fears are well-founded and they know it.
I strongly urge you to have someone represent your company at the All Industry DTV Summit. Your voice does count. This is one meeting you should not miss.
The industry made a colossal mistake when it misjudged the cable threat. Don't make the same mistake regarding our nation's failed DTV standard.
Regards,
Mark E. Hyman
VP for Corporate Relations
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
410.568.1565
410.568.1555 - Facsimile
[email protected]
