On 4/24/2014 6:08 PM, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
On 04/24/14 05:28 pm, Lee B wrote:

- is there really a market for watching TV on a cell phone or tablet?
Plus, th
available antennas in some markets.
The only time I'd be interested would be when I'm sitting in the
basement with the power out during a storm, and I wanted to keep abreast
of the tv broadcast weather reporting.

But my biggest question is:

If people really do want to watch TV on their mobile devices, then why
on earth hasn't the makers of these devices (phones, tablets) responded
years ago by putting ATSC tuners in them SO YOU CAN WATCH LOCAL TV
DIRECTLY OTA WITHOUT USING ANY INTERNET / DATA BANDWITDH ?

It's more than the tuner. You also need a decent antenna - and you're
not going to be able to fit one inside a mobile device.

A number of years ago, I bought one of those walkman types of portable
TVs. Granted, I'd bought it "open box" which may have been a problem,
but I rarely got any decent reception on it, despite living close to the
local networks' combined candelabra tower. And it had a telescoping
antenna that was, I don't know, 8-10" long; I'm not sure that would be
too popular on a phone, although may on a table it wouldn't be too big.
(Actually, I wish I could buy one of those walkman tvs now. It would
come in handy during power outages when I wouldn't have wifi anyhow).

Aereo appears to be an interesting idea, but it only has the same
channels I can get anyhow (still close to that candelabra). If it
carried a few more channels like TNT, I'd be more interested.

TNT isn't an OTA channel, and I think it's only OTA broadcasts that
Aereo is relaying.

I doubt very much whether there is anything to stop you sending signals
from your antenna to a bunch of neighbors by coaxial cable (transmitting
would require a license for a frequency allocated to you), but the
problem seems to be that Aereo is charging for the service, and CBS,
NBC, etc., aren't getting a cut, as they do from the satellite and cable
companies.

Perce

Sorry, I should have clarified. I realize that TNT is not OTA. There are
a few non-OTA networks that I watch, TNT being one, and if I could
figure how to get those "missing" channels, I'd be more willing to get
rid of my cable and live with an OTA dvr or a service like Aereo which
has a dvr of sorts. Truthfully, I'd be happy if I could just watch those
few cable stations online for a small fee, but for now they only allow
online viewing if you can prove you subscribe to a participating
cable/sat company. Or maybe I'll just learn to live without them! In
any case it will be interesting to see how this case turns out, and if
Aereo wins, see if similar companies pop up.