Ed’s View – The Demise of Broadcasting

This provocative article from our Ed Milbourn will echo forward for a long time to come. While broadcasting is still a robust business the cracks in its business model are severe. Analog technology once dictated the business model for telecasting, but that is now remade beyond recognition with the advent of digital technology. What lays ahead for the use of broadcast spectrum? Let Ed Milbourn open your mind to an exciting and creative future. _ Dale Cripps

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Don't panic! This may be a very good thing for HDTV. Sometimes it takes a seminal, very disruptive event to cause a fundamental change in traditional business and/or political models to ensure survival. Failure to make those changes usually results in complete disaster. Successful change, however, usually results in the surviving entity being stronger, more vibrant and successful than before. History is replete with examples or this phenomenon, so I won't belabor this tome with any further philosophical discussions. Suffice saying, however, traditional OTA (over-the-air) television broadcast may be upon that seminal event - the 2009 digital transition date.

In spite of all of the publicity, the subsidized digital converter and economic attraction of "free" HDTV, an increasingly smaller percentage of viewers are...

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