seantorbett.com

This year’s NAB had a bit more energy among television broadcasters than the NAB show last year and almost all of it was around the mobile DTV plans and testing currently going on. Despite the interest in mobile DTV and the NAB claiming ~105,000 registered attendees, the North and Central halls were only mildly busy. Attendance, as judged by “elbow room” has significantly waned year after year and it is easier to navigate the halls and major vendor booths. Broadcasting & Cable agrees with me on this.

The South upper and lower halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, by way of contrast, were significantly more energetic, crowded and younger! Since the South halls were occupied by film production/support companies and smaller “new media” (read: Internet related or centric) businesses this comes as little surprise to me. Two notable companies that abstained from attending NAB this year were Avid and Apple. Apple really didn’t have a need to attend this trade show, but Avid’s considerable customer base for their product, outside of film, is the broadcast community and their absence does not portent good business sense or, more importantly, sales for the future and their stock price seems to reflect that.

During the show I did notice more DTV transmitters on the floor than last year. Read more »

No “film at 11″ drama here; yes, it works and it works surprisingly well for a $60 piece of electronics ($20 after the $40 coupon is applied).

For those that don’t know, this Insignia brand NS-DXA1 DTV converter box is one of a few available devices which are part of the US government’s effort to make it possible for people to view over-the-air DTV broadcasts on older, analog-only televisions when the analog transmitters (about 1,700 of them nationwide) are required to cease operations on February 17th, 2009. The coupon program’s plan is to provide a way for those on fixed incomes, or the inability to replace their existing set with one that has a digital OTA tuner in it, to continue to view their favorite local broadcast stations. Read more »

To be succinct, I simply don’t (and won’t) buy as much as I did before. For the past few years I didn’t think too hard about buying the week’s more popular DVD release of the latest blockbuster (or near blockbuster). This is why my DVD collection sprang to over 400 titles! I didn’t always buy full retail on “new release Tuesday” if I found bargains of popular movies that had been on DVD for a few months already and retailers were anxious to thin their inventory, but the collection grew and represents quite a sizable chunk of change. Read more »

For those that don’t know, COMDEX was a computer centric convention that ran in Las Vegas from 1979 to 2003 before lagging attendance from competing conventions and the convergence of consumer electronic devices ultimately made it uninteresting and killed it off.

Back in November of 2007 Avid, currently facing too much competition from Final Cut software and currently trading at its lowest point since early 2003, declared it would not have its usual ginormous booth at the convention, but would still have a presence there conducting meetings with customers in an attempt to regain their “focus”.  Their disappointing financials and not-so-optimistic view of their 2008 expectations undoubtedly had something to do with this decision. Read more »

Traditional, over-the-air TV broadcasters are pretty screwed. Time and technology are rapidly shooting past and only now are they collectively looking for ways to recapture a lost audience. Only now are they, as a majority and as part of a coordinated effort, actively promoting the DTV transition, by way of shutting off the analog transmitters under the government’s plan, that is scheduled to occur February 17th, 2009.

Ashamedly, even though they have had digital transmitters operational for several years because of the government digital transition mandate, most broadcasters have flat out refused to promote that fact to their viewers outside of the addition of the new call letters on an hourly legal ID. Many broadcasters were hoping for and using the NAB to lobby for yet another delay in the analog shutoff.
In much the same way the Emperor felt superior in his new clothes, broadcasters felt secure in their lobbying arm, the NAB, and their sizable ad revenue which they wore like a protective cloak of invulnerability. If it were not for the SHVIA act, retransmission consent, must-carry and syndicated exclusivity laws that essentially force local market broadcasters onto a regional cable head-end’s television set, it is extremely likely that television broadcasters would now be a much leaner business - as radio has become. As it stands, even these legal protections are unable to completely stem the hemorrhaging of viewers to alternative entertainment outlets. Read more »

Not many people get inside Sutro Tower, so I consider myself pretty fortunate. My current employer doesn’t have transmit facilities or other interests at Sutro, so I was escorted through the gate and into the facility by a contract engineer, John Buckham, that our SF station has who also maintains a radio station there for another employer of his.

This was a unique opportunity for a few reasons; since I don’t work there, getting access is impossible unless you know someone and can get something arranged. This is a historically interesting site and it is a unique tower engineering design that has currently weathered 25 years of use. Read more »

Today I had a brief reminiscing with some fellow engineers about having to deal with the local news crews at former jobs and told a few tales of the regular stampede of useless, re-hashed content, multiple yet pointless liveshots and how they were more funny than informative.

I believe that local news bloopers are one of the big reasons why YouTube has become so popular. So much of what they do is fit only for passive, hilarious examples of short-term amusement.

I have collected a few so you can see for yourself:

All across the nation there are TV stations headed toward the analog shutdown mandated by congress on February 17th, 2009. At which point, only the station’s high power digital transmitter will be authorized to stay on the air along with the Class ‘A’ and low-power TV stations and their low-power translators (for the moment).

So, until that happy day arrives and the engineers can toss a hand grenade in the analog transmitter cabinet and run out the building laughing we need to keep these antiques running. This is one such story… Read more »

I’m a dedicated Capitalist. I work for money. Money pays my mortgages and rent, keeps my fridge full, and house warm in the winter. Obviously, money is important and I want to earn as much of it as I can before I decide I’ve had enough of this “work” thing.

That said, there are times when a company can own so much of one thing that its profiteering interests eliminate enough (or all) competition and they not only set the price I pay but the rules and restriction I and others play by. Depending on the industry this can be a financial pain (like the old Standard Oil monopoly and current Cable monopolies) or it can be downright Orwellian scary (like AT&T). I don’t mind rules and restrictions when I use someone else’s service or property, but when that restriction infringes, even slightly, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights (especially the First and Second amendments), then my ears perk up, my brow furrows and I get ready for a fight. Read more »

They don’t watch TV. Mostly. Get it?

OK, I’ll repeat myself. Broadcaster’s (and many cable networks) are not relevant to young people most of the time. This is not news any longer, however it bears repeating, because thick-headed, narrow field-of-view TV execs, GMs and news directors keep fooling themselves into believing they are just one cool news story or graphic sparkle or well-timed-but-intrusive-as-hell snipe away from getting them back. People want to be entertained. Kids like the sensationalistic garbage that MTV and Fox crank out, but more often than not there really isn’t anything compelling for young people to watch on television so the Internet and the nearly infinite sites available to kill time trump the local TV station’s programming and newscasts every time. Read more »