"...E*and D* and cable don't have the bandwith ..."
I have something like 29 HD channels with Dish today, with others (like Food HD, which I very much look forward to) coming by year's end.
"...extinction..."
The only OTA I watch today is HD- ER, DH, WW. When those seasons start up again, I'll watch again. OK, maybe WW reruns. If the locals dropped HD, they'd lose huge portions of their market in the coming years. Their main attraction, IMHO, is that they provide most prime time shows and major soaps in HD. As the digital transition progresses, more people will see their favorites in HD. Some won't care, but most will, and they won't be happy with down-rezzed shows. Multi-casting has it's benefits, but mostly for off hours and small stations without major network affiliation. The OTA broadcasters NEED HD to stay in business and be competitive.
"... eventually OTA will be MPEG-4 too...."
Probably not in our lifetime. There's so much upset over replacing TVs today with digital tuners, it would be "too hard" to change the standards yet again, and render every TV obsolete- again. Twice in one lifetime? For a source that most people rarely watch, relying upon sat/cable/fiber/IPTV instead? People would scream over that, even if it in fact made little difference to them in their viewing habits. Especially since their new ATSC HDTV costs way more bucks than their old cheapie NTSC ones did.
I have something like 29 HD channels with Dish today, with others (like Food HD, which I very much look forward to) coming by year's end.
"...extinction..."
The only OTA I watch today is HD- ER, DH, WW. When those seasons start up again, I'll watch again. OK, maybe WW reruns. If the locals dropped HD, they'd lose huge portions of their market in the coming years. Their main attraction, IMHO, is that they provide most prime time shows and major soaps in HD. As the digital transition progresses, more people will see their favorites in HD. Some won't care, but most will, and they won't be happy with down-rezzed shows. Multi-casting has it's benefits, but mostly for off hours and small stations without major network affiliation. The OTA broadcasters NEED HD to stay in business and be competitive.
"... eventually OTA will be MPEG-4 too...."
Probably not in our lifetime. There's so much upset over replacing TVs today with digital tuners, it would be "too hard" to change the standards yet again, and render every TV obsolete- again. Twice in one lifetime? For a source that most people rarely watch, relying upon sat/cable/fiber/IPTV instead? People would scream over that, even if it in fact made little difference to them in their viewing habits. Especially since their new ATSC HDTV costs way more bucks than their old cheapie NTSC ones did.
