Sinclair Mind Set

[Kevin Arnold]

Here's a letter to the editor of TV Insight from a Sinclair VP. These people are making whine out of sour grapes:


Editor: I read with great interest and pleasure your essay on the current DTV morass and what you see as a way out. My colleagues and I at Sinclair have been advocates of many of these ideas for several years. As you well know, Sinclair was publicly lambasted for even suggesting a multichannel application for DTV by none other than Sen. John McCain at one of his DTV hearings several years ago.

Clearly, over-the-air reception using simple antennas is a paramount necessary for the long-term success of DTV as a broadcast business. You clearly made that point. However, I am afraid that you have placed your trust in the wrong place. It is not certain, nor even likely, that the 8-VSB transmission standard will ever be fixed by increasing the complexity and cost of the receiver. Nor is it likely it will ever be able to provide for simple indoor-antenna reception or portable or mobile reception at reasonable data rates. All of these are extremely important applications if broadcasting—that is, free over-the-air broadcasting—is going to survive, let alone prosper in the digital age.

The FCC plan to require 8-VSB chip sets in new TV sets is the equivalent of a death warrant for over-the-air TV because chips that can receive 8-VSB signals via simple antennas do not exist and may never exist. Broadcasters will be doomed to shutting off their stations and submitting to an ever-demanding cable and satellite industry for distribution. Where is our industry leadership? Where is our industry vision and strategic planning? Is it lost in Washington?

Nat Ostroff, vice president, new technology, Sinclair Television Group, Baltimore


Here's the source: http://www.tvinsite.com/broadcastingcable/index.asp?layout=story_stocks&articleid=CA238193&display=sectionStory&verticalid=311&industry=Voices&pubdate=08/12/2002&STT=000&industryid  =1033