G_Poobah
join:2004-01-17
Schenectady, NY
| reply to GOLFnSUN
Re: Faster internet but same prices for cable TV
Which goes to show you once again that it's greed, not what the customer wants driving the change.
This is FIOS. There is now officially ZERO technical reason they could not sell you a single channel at a time. ZERO reason at all. It's digital, it's not even SENT over the wire unless it's ordered. There's no chance of 'theft of service', etc. So what's their justification for forcing someone who wants to see the Discovery Channel having to buy ESPN2? Greed, plain and simple.
Though I generally despise the government, I would love to see the companies put in front of the nation, and be forced to defend their practices. They no longer have any technical reason to say they can't provide ala-carte pricing/packaging. They are providing 15 channels for 12.95. Why can't I choose the 15 channels I want for 15.95? Really, even with 160+ channels, there have been tons of studies that show people only watch 15-20 channels. The only reason they bundle them all is simply greed.
--
Grand Poobah |
|
BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
 ·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| said by G_Poobah  :Which goes to show you once again that it's greed, not what the customer wants driving the change. This is FIOS. There is now officially ZERO technical reason they could not sell you a single channel at a time. ZERO reason at all. It's digital, it's not even SENT over the wire unless it's ordered. There's no chance of 'theft of service', etc. So what's their justification for forcing someone who wants to see the Discovery Channel having to buy ESPN2? Greed, plain and simple. Though I generally despise the government, I would love to see the companies put in front of the nation, and be forced to defend their practices. They no longer have any technical reason to say they can't provide ala-carte pricing/packaging. They are providing 15 channels for 12.95. Why can't I choose the 15 channels I want for 15.95? Really, even with 160+ channels, there have been tons of studies that show people only watch 15-20 channels. The only reason they bundle them all is simply greed. The tv portion is NOT IPTV. It is always present. The PPV is like IPTV and on demand.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" |
|
G_Poobah
join:2004-01-17
Schenectady, NY
| umm, not IPTV? I'd be very very interested to know how you can send an analog signal over fiber.
Yes, it IS IPTV all the way (IGMP to be specific). There's no 'analog' signal on fiber. Video on Demand is RTSP or some proprietary cisco crap. In fact, if you want analog, they have to install a DAC converter in your house. FIOS TV is a multicast IGMP signal, and the headend box is configured to decode the appropriate signals to display on your TV, depending on your group membership. Channel selection is ALL configured at the central site, which broadcasts the keys for your personal box so you can decode a channel. Again, ZERO technical reason you can't belong to a single channel group.
--
Grand Poobah |
|
Topmounter
Sent By Grocery Clerks
join:2001-02-20
Evergreen, CO | reply to G_Poobah
I feel your pain G_Poobah...
I didn't need rear seats in the last car that I purchased, but they still charged me for them.
I wonder why!!!  |
|
mishaq
Premium
join:2004-01-24
Richardson, TX
clubs:
1 edit | reply to G_Poobah
It's called CATV HFC Emulation. They use a wavelength of fiber and dedicate it to the TV section, and from there simply transform it from Fiber to Coax.
»FiOS CAPEX, why not IPTV, VoIP, Data and No ONT
Any respectable cable co in 2005 uses fiber in some part of their backhaul, all verizon is doing is bringing that backhaul to your doorstep  |
|
BillTager
join:2000-09-20
Charlotte, NC | It's not greed. It's called economics.
--
Formerly DSLWho |
|
Topmounter
Sent By Grocery Clerks
join:2001-02-20
Evergreen, CO
·Cox HSI
| reply to mishaq
umm, not IPTV? I'd be very very interested to know how you can send an analog signal over fiber.
LOL, you are too quick for me mischaej
Historically, most of the video distributed by CableCos and others over fiber has been as QAM MPTS's over 6 MHz analog channels, just because it is the much ballyhooed, mythical elixir called "fiber", does NOT mean it is by default "digital".
It has been only relatively recently that video SPTS's have started to be distributed as IP over a switched data network (usually GigE fiber).
--
"If PCs are hard, then Macs are flaccid" -bb |
|
Seandhi
Seeing From a New Level
Premium
join:2003-04-19
Humble, TX
1 edit | reply to G_Poobah
n/m |
|
NOCMan
Verizon Fios User
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Flower Mound, TX | reply to mishaq
Still the "Analog" portion is about 20 channels.. anything more and you require a STB.
--
»www.silentbrouhaha.com |
|
wmcbrine
Touched by His Noodly Appendage
join:2002-12-30
Laurel, MD
| reply to G_Poobah
said by G_Poobah :umm, not IPTV? I'd be very very interested to know how you can send an analog signal over fiber. The same way as you send any other signal. There's nothing intrinsically digital about fiber. It's just modulated light in place of modulated electricity.
Experience is misleading in this case, since everything light-based that the average person has encountered has been digital -- CDs, DVDs, optical digital audio, sometimes networking. But it doesn't have to be that way. Recall the analog video of the original 12" laser discs.
And even if it were digital, that wouldn't necessarily imply IPTV, either. Digital Cable and OTA ATSC are digital, but not IP-based. |
|
jasonj758
join:2003-12-08
Ashburn, VA
| reply to G_Poobah
Of course their motivation is greed...They are a company that solely exists to make money for their shareholders...The only good to come of putting them in front of the nation to 'defend their practices' would be the Econ101 class they would give us all. |
|
jasonj758
join:2003-12-08
Ashburn, VA
| reply to BillTager
Damn, beat me to it...:)
wmcbrine is spot on about the experience being mis-leading..I jumped to the same conclusion when I heard FTTP was coming my direction. Good reading re: FTTP / VPON / IPTV
»www.fibers.org/articles/fs/8/5/3/1 |
|
Xela19115
join:2000-10-06
Richboro, PA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to G_Poobah
Actually you very wrong. Verizon FIOS TV is not IPTV. It's an RF overlay. In essence what Verizon is doing is they extending the node all the way to the customer home. The OTN node they install for FIOS converts digital TV feed to RF. Reason for that is that Verizon wants to reuse the existing coax cable inside the house and they can use existing cable set-tops from Motorola (like DCT-2500, DCT-6200 and DCT-6412) without too much modifications. It's a relatively simple and elegant and less expensive solution than end-to-end IPTV.
The fiber that comes to the house can carry multiple multiplexed wavelengths. One for video, one for data and one for VoIP. Just like the cable companies do. |
|
reflex9
join:2004-02-09
| reply to jasonj758
said by jasonj758 :Of course their motivation is greed...They are a company that solely exists to make money for their shareholders You do know that this is a mainly American point of view? That elsewhere in the world companies have other obligations too besides being greedy? |
|
GOLFnSUN
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| said by reflex9 :said by jasonj758 :Of course their motivation is greed...They are a company that solely exists to make money for their shareholders You do know that this is a mainly American point of view? That elsewhere in the world companies have other obligations too besides being greedy? HA HA HA HA!!! You are out of touch with reality. All the corporations in the world(at least the 1st world in EU, Russia, Asia) act the same way.
--
My Web Page
Join Red Room Forum |
|
stonecolddsl
Linux Junkie
join:2004-01-07
Sarasota, FL
 ·Rapid Systems, Inc.
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to G_Poobah
G_Poobah,
Youre missing a point. Verizon does not always gets to decided where stuff goes.
Example ABC/Disney in there rebroadcast agreement with verizon will tell verizon which of there channels will go into which package. Now there is a negation room there but it the channels they selves that demand to be put into packages and which tier they get stuck into. |
|
cwoody222
join:2005-05-24
| Exactly. Because the broadcast companies know that regular people would probably never elect (at a cost-per-channel basis) to have some of their smaller, targeted channels like ABC Family, for example.
However, if a person just automatically gets that channel pumped into their home they may happen to watch some shows.
It's not all the cable providers' fault. |
|
ninety-seven
@verizon.net
| reply to G_Poobah
You haven't got a clue have you?
If everyone could eliminate the chanels they didn't want and save money then they would. This means that the prices would eventually go up for all, or at least most, of the channels. Reason: The channel provider would all of a sudden see less money coming in and would be forced to either go out of business or raise their rates.
Clearly selling SOME channels individually or in small groups makes sense, but that practice would not work over the majority of the channels that are offered.
And when you think about it, you should be glad it doesn't. |
|
cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| reply to G_Poobah
said by G_Poobah :Which goes to show you once again that it's greed, not what the customer wants driving the change. This is FIOS. There is now officially ZERO technical reason they could not sell you a single channel at a time. ZERO reason at all. It's digital, it's not even SENT over the wire unless it's ordered. There's no chance of 'theft of service', etc. So what's their justification for forcing someone who wants to see the Discovery Channel having to buy ESPN2? Greed, plain and simple. Cable, satellite, etc providers have long had the technical capacity to offer a la carte pricing for individual channels. However they don't have the legal right to do so. The owners of the networks, be it Viacom, Time Warner, etc bundle the packages together as a group. Your provider doesn't pay $.10 for Comedy Central, $.25 for USA, etc, they pay $1 to Viacom (or whoever owns those channels). Sure Dish or Comcast could insist in individual pricing, but that would cause many less popular channels price to skyrocket because they would no longer have enough subscribers to cover the costs of the channels. Face it, you will be stuck with bundled channels as long as content providers own multiple channels. Realize that you are going to have to pay for channels that you may not be interested in. The sooner you realize it, the sooner you can get over it.
And all the channels, with the exception of the VOD channels, are sent across the line all the time. It's not an IPTV system where the channel is only transmitted if you are watching it.
--
"What gives them the right to come in and do this?" she said. - Lady complaining that she was getting FIOS in her backyard. |
|
marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
1 edit | reply to G_Poobah
*point already made by others* |
|
