Broadcast television is likely to undergo yet another major change similar to what was seen as it transitioned from analog to digital about a year ago. Cellular providers are arguing for yet even more bandwidth, and this time they want TV broadcasters to give up spectrum yet again. Cellular providers argue that digital TV transmissions are preventing them from using adjacent frequencies that could be made available for mobile data devices, commonly referred to as cell phones. AT&T, Sprint, et al, say that TV broadcasts from single locations upon tall towers radiate spurious signals that can mess with cellular transmissions on nearby frequencies. They want TV broadcasters to switch to low power antennas that are scattered throughout the coverage area of the various TV stations. The FCC earlier had given tacit approval to such a scheme, but because of serious technical difficulties associated with such a plan, along with much higher cost, such a plan was, for the most part, not employed when TV switched from analog to digital. However, cellular providers now have their undies in a knit because they are finding they they are promising much more than they can actually deliver with the situation as it currently stands.
If broadcast TV is forced to undergo yet another transition, this time it could have quite an impact upon that industry. Viewers have been through this once already, and will probably react unfavorably is they have to go through it yet again. Multiple transmission sites will create a lot of problems for both the stations as well as viewers. Signals that arrive at a TV receiving antenna from multiple directions, which would be the case in most scenarios where a number of separate transmitters are being used, will cause multipath interference, resulting in "ghosting" of images, echo effects, even loss of signal when out-of-phase signals collide. In many markets, dependent in great part upon the lay of the land, the expected quality of digital broadcast can be severely eroded, and there will not be much that can be done about it. Broadcasters can make some signal adjustments at the various broadcasting antenna sites that they would be using, but those adjustments would basically be of a "one size fits all" type that could fix problems for some viewers while leaving others still dealing with a mess. An awful lot of consumers have sunk a lot of money into new digital televisions, and they want and expect to get the quality images that they have paid to be able to receive. Many viewers re going to be plenty upset if this change comes to pass, and cable and satellite TV companies are already salivating and licking their lips in anticipation. Steve ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
