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. Continue reading “New LPFM Expansion Effort Launched in Congress”
Month: June 2007
The Wheels on BusRadio Go Round, Fall Off?
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. Continue reading “The Wheels on BusRadio Go Round, Fall Off?”
Free Radio Olympia Off-Air But Online, For Now
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: Continue reading “Free Radio Olympia Off-Air But Online, For Now”
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”