Last month, a consultant engineer hired by the National Association of Broadcasters filed comments with the FCC in opposition to the proposed merger of the Sirius and XM satellite radio networks. These comments stressed the unique transmission and reception infrastructure of each satellite system and pronounced them inherently incompatible. The consultant, Dennis Wallace, asserts (among other things) that the variation in the orbital paths of XM and Sirius satellites, combined with a host of differences involving how the networks encode and compress their digital signals for broadcast, makes each company’s distribution infrastructure nearly impossible to consolidate without “significant disruption” to satellite radio service more generally.
This assertion is belied by two fundamental facts. The first is that XM and Sirius do not serve their subscribers primarily via satellite; instead they use a network of ground-based repeater-transmitters. In most cases, XM/Sirius listeners are not listening to signals directly from space, but instead to a signal bounced from the ground to space and back down again, then rebroadcast from gear bolted to some rented space on a cell phone tower nearby. It doesn’t matter what the difference in XM and Sirius satellites’ orbital paths are – so long as one satellite can “see” the United States (and XM’s constellation is in geostationary orbit), the repeaters will be served, and hence the listeners. Continue reading “Good Cop/Bad Cop: The NAB and Satellite Radio”
Category: Digital Radio
HD Datacasting Begins In Earnest
Clear Channel recently announced it’s started broadcasting traffic data information on 48 HD Radio-equipped stations around the country. It’s the first use of a digital radio signal for the delivery of content wholly separate from main program audio; the “Total Traffic Network” is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Channel. It’s unclear how this service will compete with Clear Channel’s datacasting partnership with Microsoft, which also seeks to provide traffic information. Continue reading “HD Datacasting Begins In Earnest”
FCC Releases Detailed Digital Audio Broadcast Rules
Although the Commissioners themselves voted two months ago to approve the mostly-unrestricted nationwide rollout of HD Radio, the actual regulatory text was just released yesterday. The 74-page document includes basic operating parameters, a second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on DAB, and Commissioners’ statements (recycled from their March meeting).
A very basic synopsis of the of the rules can be found at the Broadcast Law Blog. On first-read, it’s hard not to notice that the FCC overwhelmingly references just three major stakeholders in the DAB debate: the National Association of Broadcasters, iBiquity, and National Public Radio. The agency consistently defers to industry technical data to justify its decisions, mainly involving studies conducted by iBiquity and “analyzed” by the NAB.
Otherwise, I noted several interesting passages, taken roughly in the order in which the FCC wrote them. Continue reading “FCC Releases Detailed Digital Audio Broadcast Rules”
XM Repeater Network Entirely Pirate
Last October it was first disclosed that many of the terrestrial repeater stations used to boost the coverage footprint of the XM satellite radio network were operating without FCC approval. Recently XM filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission which seems to suggest the pirate nature of the network is more egregious than first confessed. Up to one-third of the company’s 800 repeater-stations are either placed in locations not approved by the FCC, operating at power levels well above those approved by the FCC, and several are on the air without FCC approval for their placement at all. The scope of such flaunting of the rules is unheard of: some of these illicit repeaters are operating with more than 40 kilowatts of power.
What’s more, it’s clear that XM had an economic incentive to break the law: the majority of its illicit repeaters serve the largest markets. More than half of those placed in the Los Angeles market, for example, are operating “at variance” from what they were authorized for. As a whole, according to XM’s own estimation, the 200+ rogue repeaters serve approximately 42 percent of its network’s total coverage footprint. Continue reading “XM Repeater Network Entirely Pirate”
"Free" Radio Not So Much in HD
Fresh off the heels of the FCC’s veritable rubber-stamping of the “HD” digital radio protocol, the broadcasters behind iBiquity’s technology are wasting no time in preparing to lock down its content. Think about this the next time an NAB executive testifies on Capitol Hill and proclaims the virtue of so-called “free” over-the-air radio.
NDS, a maker of digital media encryption technology, recently signed a deal with iBiquity to provide HD Radio with an encrypted content-delivery system that effectively institutes subscriptions capability on digital radio.
“RadioGuard” is derived from NDS’ “VideoGuard” technology, which it claims will allow radio stations to provide “more choices to their listeners, a broader selection of content and more segmentation opportunities for advertisers, all of which provide additional revenue-generating possibilities.” Continue reading “"Free" Radio Not So Much in HD”
FCC: Market to Decide Fate of HD Radio
On March 22, the Federal Communications Commission removed the final administrative hurdles to allowing the full-scale rollout of in-band, on-channel (IBOC) “HD” digital radio in the United States. It’s a huge win for the industry, though the public benefits remain to be seen.
According to staff testimony at the meeting (which starts at ~1:01:00), the FCC appears unconcerned with HD Radio’s potential pitfalls and more than willing to let the industry set the pace of radio’s analog/digital transition. According to Ann Gallagher, an engineer in the Audio Division of the FCC’s Media Bureau, “substantial additional testing” by iBiquity and the National Association of Broadcasters justifies the expedited deployment of HD Radio. Stations may now commence multicasting and separate their analog and digital antenna systems without formal FCC approval. Continue reading “FCC: Market to Decide Fate of HD Radio”
Public Interest Obligations for Digital Radio?
When TV broadcasters were given access to new spectrum in order to establish digital channels late in the last decade, the grants were contingent on broadcasters using the spectrum-windfall in ways that served the public interest. This might include things like opening up a slice of each DTV channel to public access, or obligating DTV stations to produce “public-interest” programming with news, educational, or other civic-minded value.
The problem is that while the FCC’s been talking about public-interest obligations for DTV broadcasters for 12 years now, it hasn’t adopted any explicit rule defining what those obligations are, and how stations must comply with them. Meanwhile, DTV stations are going on the air and the spectrum they use – touted as having the capacity to offer as many as six different channels – is being utilized however broadcasters see fit, and this often has nothing to do with providing more free over-the-air content. Continue reading “Public Interest Obligations for Digital Radio?”
U.S., U.K. Chart Spectrum's Future
Some interesting tidbits have been published recently that provide a nice point-counterpoint to the way countries are handling the use of spectrum in a digital world.
The U.S. Department of Commerce (the Federal Communications Commission’s parent department) has just established a two-year “Spectrum Advisory Committee” to offer “reforms that expedite the American public’s access to broadband services, public safety services, and long-range spectrum planning.” It would seem that this committee is to further the work of the White House’s Spectrum Policy Initiative, created three and a half years ago, which to-date hasn’t seemed to produce anything of substance.
As in the case of the first initiative, this committee will not report to the FCC, but instead to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which primarily oversees spectrum activities restricted to government use and international spectrum issues. Continue reading “U.S., U.K. Chart Spectrum's Future”
Clear Channel: Sold
As a rudimentary reading of the tea leaves has shown, Clear Channel has elected to go private, accepting a buyout offer of nearly $19 billion from two private investment firms. On the same day, Clear Channel announced it would divest its holdings of radio stations outside of the top 100 markets – just under 39% of its total station inventory, minus those small cluster-sales it has already made over the last couple of months.
It’s anybody’s guess what a leaner, meaner private Clear Channel may mean; regulatory review and approval of the deal will be required. There already may be a shareholder lawsuit in the works, too. Continue reading “Clear Channel: Sold”
Sirius Confesses to Power-Jacking Transceivers
Sirius Satellite Radio also filed a document with the SEC this week with regard to overpowered satellite-to-FM transceivers and its role in developing and marketing them. Check this:
[C]ertain Sirius personnel requested manufacturers to produce Sirius radios that were not consistent with the FCC’s rules. As a result of this review, we are taking significant steps to ensure that this situation does not happen again…. Continue reading “Sirius Confesses to Power-Jacking Transceivers”