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Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

124 points · 92 comments · pseudolus

  1. trollbridge · · focus · HN ↗
    Broadcast TV seems laughably irrelevant. It’s difficult to find official numbers, but under 1% of US households have no cable, satellite TV, home Internet, or a cell phone. The latter two are how people consume video and TV to a large degree today.

    In exchange, we have a great deal of spectrum tied up for terrestrial TV, much of which goes to running infomercials or else is surreptitiously leased for terrestrial data broadcasts. And the government gets to decide to regulate it so it becomes inherently politicised - like favouring certain owners.

    Realistically - this spectrum should simply be reassigned for IP based services, with perhaps some set aside for non profit / educational uses, some for commercial, etc.

    (Radio is pretty much the same boat but I can see a case to be made for keeping some analog FM radio broadcasts. The 6MHz per channel for TV is insane.)

    1. dyauspitr · · focus · HN ↗
      > but under 1% of US households have no cable, satellite TV, home Internet, or a cell phone.

      Why are you bundling all those things together? The only thing we care about here is cable or satellite TV for your argument.

      1. eigencoder · · focus · HN ↗
        Those are all the things that replace broadcast TV
        1. dyauspitr · · focus · HN ↗
          Well, cell phones and home Internet theoretically also replace cable and satellite TV but that’s not really what you see in real life.
          1. eigencoder · · focus · HN ↗
            My 70 year old grandpa just cancelled his satellite TV in favor of streaming :)
        2. mulmen · · focus · HN ↗
          They replace it for delivery. That's not what this is about. The change discussed here is about content creation. That content is already delivered through multiple channels.
      2. trollbridge · · focus · HN ↗
        Because someone with access to those things has no need for rabbit ears.

        Broadcast TV today is a stream of bytes. The same stream can be delivered via cable, satellite, a cell phone, or home Internet.

        1. mulmen · · focus · HN ↗
          This isn't about content delivery, it is about content creation. The rule change allows further centralization of editorial control of what your local reporters broadcast across all mediums.
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