CONGRESSIONAL CONCERNS ABOUT DATACASTING CALLED MISPLACED AT CES
LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters offering data services are “very comfortable” that they can have good data business without running afoul of congressional pressure for HDTV, Matt Jacobson, exec. vp of iBlast, told CES convention here. Geocast Vp John Abel went further, saying hearing by House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) to pressure broadcasters on HDTV was “baloney.” Abel, former NAB exec. vp responsible for HDTV, also said still- undisclosed DTV test results “tilt in favor of staying the course” for using VSB-based standard.
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Broadcasters can use available capacity for data when stations aren’t carrying HDTV, and “opportunistic” capacity -- at least 3-5 Mbps -- for data even when HDTV is airing, Jacobson said. Stewart Park, Granite Bcstg. vp-digital and one of organizers of datacast consortium, agreed station could “deliver good HDTV pictures and still have capacity available” for several Mbps of data.
Broadcasters shouldn’t have to worry about HDTV, Abel said, because there’s “nothing in the ‘96 Telecom Act requiring HDTV or forbidding data.” He said there also was nothing in FCC rules that would block data, and Commission orders actually encouraged it. Tauzin hearing unfairly “cast a pall over DTV and datacasting,” Abel said, causing broadcasters to be afraid now to even mention data. However, Park said “there is law and there is politics, and they're not always the same.” He said HDTV pressure in Washington was based on “a number of misperceptions,” but said Bcstrs. Digital Co-op of 17 station groups, including Granite, was trying to make sure it “understands not only the specifics of the law, but the political will.”
Abel’s comments on relative success of VSB modulation in MSTV-sponsored testing mirrored those of several other knowledgeable broadcast officials at CES, including some who said they had seen still-unreleased data. Officials said VSB did better than COFDM with outdoor antenna, about as well with only indoor antenna, and generally was as robust as competing system. They said that, given FCC expressions that COFDM had to be significantly better to justify switching at this late date (CD Jan 8 p1), results almost certainly meant VSB would remain standard.
Key issue still is signal strength, Abel said, and even COFDM won’t work indoors if signal strength isn’t adequate. “If we had our druthers, we may have preferred COFDM from the get-go,” Abel said, “but the results are that VSB works. This transition has taken a lot longer that anyone thought it would, but let’s just get on with it.” Granite’s Park said VSB-COFDM debate “slowed everything down,” and issue was “still murky,” but he was hopeful VSB performance would improve. Despite that, he said, Granite would test mobile reception of COFDM in San Francisco area because mobile TV reception was “an interesting market. It gets us excited.”
Datacasting may be necessary to make DTV transition economically viable and faster, speakers said at CES. Abel said datacasters “are the only ones who have a business model that has even a remote possibility of working,” and “it’s even difficult on the data side.” Saiprassa Naimpally, COO of Panasonic Labs, said there were other possible ancillary services that could help, including delivering audio services: “Audio has really been ignored a little bit in DTV.” Iblast’s Jacobson said data streams could be used for variety of audio and video services, as well as pure data, including video-on-demand and subscription music.
Despite that, Bcstrs. Digital Co-op stations are moving slowly on data, Park said: “We believe it is premature to spend a lot of money to build infrastructure that might not be right for future data services. We consider ourselves the owners of valuable property with a sign on it saying ‘will build to suit.'” Unlike stations that are rushing to sign digital datacasting deals, Park said Co-op members believed it was “far less risky to be late to the party than to do it wrong.”
Meanwhile, others were touting future of interactive TV as new business model for broadcasters. Among expected “driver” applications, speakers said, are sports and news information on demand, interactive children’s TV, instant messaging via TV. Fox TV Group Vp-Interactive Eric Shanks said his company had been experimenting with interactive TV overseas and its most successful launch to date was start of interactive TV gambling service in U.K. several weeks ago: “Of course, there are a couple of hurdles for that in the U.S.”
Despite optimism, WebTV Vp Shari Glusker said interactive TV wasn’t slam dunk. She said interactive TV companies needed to find “creative ways” for broadcasters and advertisers to generate new revenue stream from interactive TV: “Otherwise, this will be back-burnered.” Glusker said WebTV’s biggest “lesson learned” from slower-than-expected rollout was that dial-up return link was “a less than fabulous experience. Frankly, it sucks.” She said interactive TV wouldn’t be fully successful until there was broadband return link, and WebTV “has a product right around the corner” with broadband connections.