[kwlug-disc] OT: Broadcast TV in trouble?

[Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account)]

> On Dec 11, 2015, at 11:33 PM, B.S. <bs27975 at yahoo.ca> wrote:
> When pick and pay comes in, I expect there will be quite a few more bankruptcies. Stations that managed to get must carry status may not be able to survive when things are unbundled and they lose their must carry status.

This can only be a good thing. There are MANY stations that have no business being stations because their target is so small. Broadcasting is expensive and its audience is shrinking. Youtube channels (and all the other video streaming services) are infinitely cheaper, have revenue streams from ads built-in, can gather exact viewership metrics… It’s the future.

> IIRC, when I came across blurbs about pick and pay and the new minimum mandated skinny package, I noted that neither CBC nor CTV's news channels were included in it. Which seems ridiculous. Most will want such, making such a skinny package too skinny to be meaningful - negating the whole point of having a skinny package in the first place.

a la carte is the only sane way forward. As much as I love the idea of broadcast TV and have enjoyed experimenting with antennas and baluns and MythTV and ATSC drivers… The barrier to watching a broadcast station is now not much lower than access to a web stream. All these bundling ideas end up bad in the end because you can’t please everyone with your bundle choices.

-A.