Broadcasting Double Signals

Alan Stovall writes: "The New York Times has a story on broadcasting television (radio etc) signals over the same frequency as satellite services hence doubling the available spectrum. This could have an incredible impact on the broadcast medium." It could, but as the article details, the incumbents are busy quashing it.

Comments

This will not work well

[Argyle]

The terrestrial broadcast will interefere with the satellite transmissions. I happen to have a large earth station with three 9 meter, a 7 meter, and a half dozen TVRO dishes. We get terrestrial interference all the time from a variety of sources. Northpoint's plan will cause nothing but trouble.

Professional broadcasters go to great lengths to ensure that they are not interfering with the frequencies of others. Coordination of these frequencies is difficult and time consuming.

Intentionally broadcasting on the same frequency is simply idiotic. Northpoint is looking for the easy way to get some spectrum and they are attempting to muscle their way into some free space.

If people want bandwidth they should look at the TV broadcasters. Currently they are each allocated TWO channels due to this insane HDTV fiasco. Settle the HDTV issues and you will have plenty of bandwidth to spare.
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The patents

[SMITHEE]

As yet, no one seems to have commented on another Slashdot hotbutton issue here: patenting the obvious. Northpoint claims to have a bunch of relevant patents. The main patent seems to be basically for the "business method" of using directional antennas while hopefully keeping the transmitter power low enough that interference is negligible. If so, that is worse than the "one-click shopping" patents.

TV/Radio via Internet

[mini me]

Why not just forget doing all this and give the TV/Radio bands up for wireless internet? Then the TV and radio stations can use the internet to broadcast thier content. This would enable us to get tv and radio from anywhere in the world and not being confined to our distance from the station or what stations our cable/satalite provider offers. Another benifit of this would be that it would allow anyone to start thier own station with little more than a camera, computer and net access. This could lead to bringing us quality programming (not likely, but it's a nice theory and it's not like it can be worse than what is already on tv and the radio!)

I still long for the day when I can tune into any station in the world from my car over the internet or watch a television broadcast from the other side of the world. Oh and while we're at it, why do we have to see all these stupid on screen displays such as in the case of sports the scores in the corner of the screen. Why I can't I bring that info. up on demand instead of being forced to watch it throughout the entire show?

I'm sure there are some techincal limitations as it stands right now, but if we freed up these bands would wireless broadband be possible? I sure hope so.

Re:TV Stations rapid response to new bandwidth

[localroger]

makes you wonder how we ever made it to color TV, doesn't it?

Actually, that's pretty simple. The color signal took no more bandwidth and was 100% compatible with the old B&W receivers. Broadcasters needed no extra bandwidth to add a signal which would not drive away their old customers, but which would attract the new customers who sprung for color TV sets.

By contrast, HDTV requires a totally new infrastructure of camera, recording, editing, and broadcasting equipment which is not compatible with the 300,000,000 or so existing TV sets. Bear in mind that amplifiers and editing equipment built for B&W will generally work with color, but nothing built for standard TV will work with HDTV. And HDTV only works for standard signals if it is essentially "dual mode," much more of a leap than the added expense of designing color circuitry into what was originally a B&W design.

There is also a much larger infrastructure of this more incompatible equipment than there was during the adoption of color. Someone has to toss out the first dollar and so far neither the producers, broadcasters, nor public have been willing to take the risk that they will be caught holding the next generation's version of a Beta VCR.