Does Cable TV From Cell Towers Make Sense?

lardom

Cable companies enjoy a regional monopoly. I see a lack of competitve restraint. There is a need for new delivery systems and deregulation.
I'm asking if a cable TV signal could be transmitted by a similar method to cell phone technology. Does the bandwidth exist? Currently, cable companies use shielded coaxial cable which allows them to use the same frequency as aircraft communications.
My point here is not to rant. If I were to publish a blog I just want to make sure I know what I'm talking about.

mindrobots

I believe all of the public spectrum in the cell range is owned. To use current cellular technology (4G, LTE, etc.) you'd need to find spectrum which would mean getting in bed with a cellular company to pick up spectrum. I doubt most major cellular companies would go for a deal like that since they have competing TV offerings. A cellular provider could certainly offer TV type services across their cellular spectrum. Some sort of IP based TV service, I would imagine.

All of my TV services now come in across my Internet connection. I haven't had cable service in ages and I dropped my satellite early this year.

Mike Green

There's already video streaming. If you have a smartphone with 4G Internet service, you have fairly high quality access to YouTube, NetFlix, Hulu, etc. The problem is that there's not enough bandwidth available for you and a bunch of your neighbors to all watch different things without occasional (or frequent) pauses and other interruptions. There's also the problem of cost as the vendors all switch to "pay by the GB".

The shielded coaxial cable allows the cable companies to use all frequencies even though they may have other uses outside the cable. The signals are supposed to remain inside the cable.

The main competition for cable is another form of cable ... optical fiber Internet service to the home. The bandwidth is there and video streaming works well in that setting. The main issue (other than wiring up the world) is the content providers restricting who can carry their material ... looking for the highest bidder.

lardom

Quote by Mike Green;
The main competition for cable is another form of cable ... optical fiber Internet service to the home. The bandwidth is there and video streaming works well in that setting. The main issue (other than wiring up the world) is the content providers restricting who can carry their material ... looking for the highest bidder.

I see a couple of new issues here. Deregulation allowed upstart companies like "Sprint" to use the existing phone lines which was great for consumers. I'm assuming competing cable providers could be awarded a percentage of optic fiber 'real estate'. Secondly, I did not realize content providers had that kind of control.

Mike Green

Deregulation allowed upstart companies to lease the use of existing phone lines. Theoretically, competing cable providers could lease bandwidth on existing optical fiber, but all the additional overhead would likely make that impractical. It all depends on the contracts the optical fiber owners have with the municipalities involved. The municipalities own the streets and boulevards needed to run the fiber and the optical cable companies negotiate contracts with them. After all, the cable companies are providing the capital to lay the cable and build the distribution network. The municipalities are just providing the "right of way". The cable companies are entitled to earn enough to pay off their loans and make some profit as well.

The content providers own the rights to the content. They can negotiate whatever agreement they want with the cable companies. There have already been all sorts of "fights" between content providers and cable companies with content providers withdrawing or threatening to withdraw their content from a particular cable company to force higher fees or other favorable terms, usually just before some important event like a sporting event or new season.

tonyp12

OMGFAST did the opposite.
They bought bandwidth when they where called Clearband to be a wireless cable tv provider.
As TV viewing is going more interactive they switched model to be a internet provider after getting approval to boost signal strength.
The reviews are not that good and lag is pretty high.