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Although it leverages existing architecture, many of the ATSC 3.0 standard’s capabilities are new. Unlike past broadcasting technology, the standard not only pr

by water9 3y ago

Although it leverages existing architecture, many of the ATSC 3.0 standard’s capabilities are new. Unlike past broadcasting technology, the standard not only provides content on-demand but ensures the content is delivered rapidly. Its unique design allows broadcasters to send data to several users concurrently through a single signal. To transmit 1 GB of data to 1 million consumers with ATSC 3.0, broadcasters only need one-millionth of the capacity required by broadband. https://www.harmonicinc.com/insights/blog/understanding-atsc-3-0-and-next-generation-broadcast-tv https://www.harmonicinc.com/insights/blog/understanding-atsc...

ajross 3y ago
Sure, but "content on-demand delivered rapidly" isn't compatible with "transmitting to 1 million consumers", is it? Either you broadcast one show at a time (something you can do right now and no one wants) or you split bandwidth to a bunch of streamers (and compete badly with cable). And in any case the latter is already in the market! HBO and Comcast, working together, will happily send you the just-released Westeros episode to watch simultaneously with 10M other users for like $15 a month. And it works. ATSC needs to be significantly cheaper than fifteen dollars to even be worth talking about. And let's be honest: it isn't and won't be.
- water9 3y ago
  I think it’s better to think of satellite (dish/DIRECTV) more than Comcast. You can imagine you have one satellite broadcasting an encrypted signal to an entire nation but only those who have a subscription are given the keys to decrypt streams of the channels they subscribe to. So then, by just changing a few parameters with a low speed connection between the box, they can enable different transmissions to come through or more precisely tune to different channels or sub channels, containing different content, like different ads in the same airwaves spectrum
  - ajross 3y ago
    As a technical comparison, sure. But I'm talking about economics and market positioning. The problem ATSC3 purports to solve (on-demand access to real time content for very large numbers of consumers) is already working in the market at reasonable prices, with very high uptake. That's not an innovative situation. They aren't doing anything new that you can't get already. The only way to win in that kind of market is to do it on price. And streaming is already pretty cheap.
    - water9 3y ago
      I'm definitely not trying to make the case the government always does things efficiently or sensicalLY

by water9 3y ago

ajross 3y ago

Sure, but "content on-demand delivered rapidly" isn't compatible with "transmitting to 1 million consumers", is it? Either you broadcast one show at a time (something you can do right now and no one wants) or you split bandwidth to a bunch of streamers (and compete badly with cable). And in any case the latter is already in the market! HBO and Comcast, working together, will happily send you the just-released Westeros episode to watch simultaneously with 10M other users for like $15 a month. And it works. ATSC needs to be significantly cheaper than fifteen dollars to even be worth talking about. And let's be honest: it isn't and won't be.

water9 3y ago
I think it’s better to think of satellite (dish/DIRECTV) more than Comcast. You can imagine you have one satellite broadcasting an encrypted signal to an entire nation but only those who have a subscription are given the keys to decrypt streams of the channels they subscribe to. So then, by just changing a few parameters with a low speed connection between the box, they can enable different transmissions to come through or more precisely tune to different channels or sub channels, containing different content, like different ads in the same airwaves spectrum
- ajross 3y ago
  As a technical comparison, sure. But I'm talking about economics and market positioning. The problem ATSC3 purports to solve (on-demand access to real time content for very large numbers of consumers) is already working in the market at reasonable prices, with very high uptake. That's not an innovative situation. They aren't doing anything new that you can't get already. The only way to win in that kind of market is to do it on price. And streaming is already pretty cheap.
  - water9 3y ago
    I'm definitely not trying to make the case the government always does things efficiently or sensicalLY