News Archive: June 2007
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News Archive: June 2007 |
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6/22/07 - New LPFM Expansion Effort Launched in Congress [link to this story] A coordinated introduction of bills in the House and Senate by bipartisan duos suggests the chance to rescind the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act may be pretty good this year - but, as the Mediageek has already noted, prior Congressional history on this issue means there's still a lot that must happen before any LPFM expansion becomes law. There are several factors working both for and against the growth of LPFM. One is that telecommunications and media-regulation issues more generally are occupying a lot more of Congress' time this session: several large debates related to broadband deployment and network operation, spectrum repurposement, possible corporate mergers (such as the proposed XM/Sirius marriage), and copyright/royalty regulation are already sucking a lot of political time and energy. The good news is that everyone engaged in the lobbying fight, on both sides, only have a limited amount of time and resources available to throw at things. Thus, while the large dogs of industry scrap over the bigger picture, there's a better-than-even chance that the ever-growing power of the public interest lobby can mobilize effectively to shepherd a relatively obscure side-issue through the legislative process. At the same time, it must be noted how the radio landscape has changed since 2000, when LPFM was first formally introduced. Since then translator stations have proliferated significantly, and the FCC stands on the cusp of introducing new rules to allow AM stations to assemble their own fleets of low-power FM repeater-stations, which further restricts the amount of available spectrum for new entrants. There's also the as-yet unrealized 10-watt class of LPFM station: Congress' negative intervention into the service in 2001 did nothing to stop the FCC from encouraging the proliferation of LP-10 stations, but as of yet the agency's done nothing to actually move forward to do so. One must wonder whether the promise of pending legislation that would fundamentally revamp the technical rules of LPFM might give the FCC the political breathing-room to remain idle. Even so, it certainly wouldn't hurt to let your members of Congress know that they have an opportunity to right a seven-year wrong by supporting the Local Community Radio Act. 6/9/07 - The Wheels on BusRadio Go Round, Fall Off? [link to this story] A recent Counterpunch article on BusRadio, the secretive yet insidious company which desires to hard-wire school buses into a closed-circuit radio network chock full of targeted advertising, highlights the company's struggling fortunes: recently the school board in Jefferson County, Kentucky rejected an overture from BusRadio after mass protest from parents, students, and citizens. BusRadio has now completed one full academic year of business and little to show for it: whereas it initially bragged of grandiose plans to grow its network to reach millions of kids, currently its captive audience is only about 100,000. Jefferson County, Kentucky, which includes the city of Louisville, provides bus service for 60,000 students alone; failing to close that deal was a big failure for BusRadio. In addition, BusRadio's not just under attack for its crass commercialism, but also for its apparent insensitivity to the privacy of children and what it considers to be "age-appropriate" programming. And now, BusRadio's home state of Massachusetts is considering banning all advertisements in schools, including buses. Without some serious growth, BusRadio may soon be running on fumes. 6/5/07 - Free Radio Olympia Off-Air But Online, For Now [link to this story] It seems that the FCC's sweep of microradio is not leaving the old guard alone. Several long-running microradio stations have been visited by the FCC recently, including two individuals specifically targeted from the Free Radio Olympia collective, which sent out this missive:
Mediageek details another communiqué which details the station's long history of being a good steward the airwaves while posing a radical challenge to the FCC's licensing policies which deny the existence of stations like FRO. The station may consider separating its studio from transmitter via webcasting, which seems to at least complicate the FCC's enforcement process, if not stymie it. 6/1/07 - FCC Releases Detailed Digital Audio Broadcast Rules [link to this story] 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. 1. The FCC's taken what seems to be a bass-ackwards approach to potential interference issues and which service to favor - analog or digital - during the transition between the two, which could still take decades. Surprisingly, while iBiquity proposed the FCC favor the protection of analog service, the agency did not agree:
However, since there is no mandated transition schedule for radio, stations remain free to choose whether to go digital or not. 2. Extended-hybrid FM operation allows for "up to 50 kbps" of bandwidth to be provisioned for non-audio services without compromising the 96 kbps main digital audio signal quality. However, stations have the option of reducing main program audio bandwidth to free up capacity to provide other services like datacasting, and as of now there are no restrictions on how stations can use their bandwidth, other than guaranteeing that stations will convey their analog signal as their main digital program stream. However, when it comes to defining comparable audio quality between the two, the FCC hedges, which may give broadcasters more latitude with which to free up bandwidth capacity for non-audio services: "There can be a substantial reduction in bit rate before most listeners would notice any digital artifacts that might impact audio quality. The broadcasters’ and listeners’ tolerance for reduced audio quality depends on many factors, most importantly, station program format." 3. AM stations are permitted to commence digital broadcasts on a 24/7 schedule; the FCC again cites industry testimony to reassure us that interference will not be a major issue. 4. Stations will be permitted to use their digital broadcast capacity "as the marketplace dictates," though if stations decide to lease their capacity to third parties they are strongly encouraged to consider "'eligible entities,' which often include businesses owned by women and minorities" as favored candidates for leasing arrangements. This is a wishy-washy attempt to encourage new entrants into radio's digital future without actually mandating anything. 5. Entities that lease at least 15% of the weekly digital broadcast time on a station will be considered as having an ownership stake in that station. This should discourage larger conglomerates from snapping up excess capacity on the stations of weaker competitors. For example, if Clear Channel already owns eight stations in a market, it would be prohibited from renting out more than 15% of the excess capacity from competitors. This effectively prohibits companies like Clear Channel from circumventing existing station ownership caps by effectively renting out other stations full-time, though it does move the HD Radio environment in the direction of more program consolidation regardless. 6. Stations are permitted to provide "any type of digital datacasting service...so long as it does not derogate the mandated stream of free audio programming." The FCC seems to favor the provision of free datacasting services; it will currently only allow subscription-based datacasting pursuant to an experimental authorization. 7. "We expect terrestrial radio service to remain a free over-the-air service and, therefore, the amount of capacity devoted to ancillary subscription services must be limited." This will be a major focus of its Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (discussed below). 8. Interestingly, iBiquity says that the as-yet unapproved 10-watt LPFM station class will not be able to adopt its HD technology, given the "extremely low power level" of these stations. If such stations will effectively become obsolete in an all-digital future, this may explain why the FCC has refused to sanction their proliferation. 9. The FCC will require multicasting stations to apply the same public interest obligations that govern their analog broadcasts to their digital streams. These include regulations on political broadcasting; payment disclosure, sponsorship identification, and cigarette advertising; contest restrictions; and the broadcast of pre-recorded material. 10. The FCC will issue an annual report "as to how the new digital radio services are being rolled out, whether multicast streams are being offered, and the extent to which programming on digital radio and on the multicast streams are fostering the services" as outlined above. However, it will "obtain data from this report by periodically surveying digital audio broadcasters," not by actually actively conducting any independent investigation of its own. 11. Translator stations are given the green light to deploy IBOC on an interim basis, though the FCC believes that "a stronger record is necessary to address the complicated issues involved in the authorization of these facilities before adopting permanent rules for digital translator and booster stations." 12. Further development of the FCC's DAB rules will be delegated to the Media Bureau, so that full Commission action will not be necessary to authorize the deployment of things like new features and modes within the HD Radio environment. 13. The FCC continues to basically ignore the wholly proprietary nature of iBiquity's HD Radio protocol:
However, the document the FCC references with regard to its "patent policy" is 41 years old. I haven't had the chance to track it down to see if it has any teeth, and it's hard to see how a policy written in 1966 can be effectively germane today, especially with regard to intellectual property issues involving software, which didn't even exist back then. 14. There remain outstanding issues between the United States and its neighbors both to the north and south about HD Radio's effect on Canadian and Mexican radio stations. The government of Canada has suggested that the imposition of HD Radio may violate international treaties on just what the broadcast bands can be used for. The FCC doesn't really seem to care that much: "While we are optimistic that we will be able to resolve any outstanding issues with Canada and Mexico or other countries, these issues remain subject to ongoing negotiations." With respect to the FCC's Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on HD Radio, one of its primary goals will be to determine the limits of datacasting. It first suggests capping a station's bandwidth capacity for offering things other than free audio content. The starting figure it plans to work from is within the 20-25% range: "we will proceed cautiously to ensure that free over-the-air service is preserved." The NPRM also proposes some interesting questions that are not exclusive to the digital radio environment. For example, it proposes requiring stations to keep a digital copy of their public file online for public access at any time. And it seeks comment on "whether it is appropriate to review the rules that have facilitated the development of automated broadcast operations."
It cites two examples of where radio stations failed to activate the Emergency Alert System in local emergencies, including the infamous train derailment and toxic cloud that engulfed Minot, North Dakota in 2002, killing one and injuring thousands. An appendix lists the names of those who filed comments throughout the DAB proceeding to-date. It is interesting to see how the number dwindles as time moves on and "facts on the ground" - the actual deployment of HD Radio in increments - take hold. More comments will be solicited on the second NPRM, the filing window for which will most likely open later this summer. |