A (not so) technical question about "conditional" access

[Mike Walker]

I have a question about the logistics of a conditional access broadcast. Say there was a big bluegrass festival in your market (as there is in mine this month...Merlefest, one of the biggest), and your station had made arrangements to offer a kind of radio "pay per view"...for a fee, you could listen to EVERYTHING on the main stage. Alright, I'd pay for that...and so would many others. In fact, this would be a GREAT way to promote HD radio!

Here's my question...suppose a customer buys the Merlefest package, but because of atmospheric or other conditons (say they erected a big metal building between his receiving antenna and the station's tower) he's unable to receive the broadcast. Now there was nothing technically wrong at the station end, but still the customer didn't get what he paid for. Would he (the customer) be due a refund? And if so...my God, how would stations handle phone traffic for something like this? If a BIG event is offered (say NASCAR races become available ONLY as a "pay per listen" event...or Major League Baseball, or whatever), wouldn't a station/stations have to hire someone just to handle this?

 

[amfmsw]

That's a good one Mike. Well, I guess the weather and atmoshpheric problems would be considered "acts of God", and would let the broadcaster off the hook. If the building were there before the event, it would be the broadcasters duty to be sure they could get relay signal BEFORE they sold it, or have a plan B, like an ISDN line.

If it were underway, and dumped out due to technical problems (NOT weather related), the station would probably be on the hook for renumerance to the listeners. If the performance didn't get underway at all, or promised acts didn't perform, the promoter would probably be legally responsible, but the broadcaster would have to sue to get repaid. Any of the scenarios, however, would make the station look bad, no matter who's at fault.

All just my opinion.

 

[IBOCRocks]

I have a question about the logistics of a conditional access broadcast. Say there was a big bluegrass festival in your market (as there is in mine this month...Merlefest, one of the biggest), and your station had made arrangements to offer a kind of radio "pay per view"...for a fee, you could listen to EVERYTHING on the main stage. Alright, I'd pay for that...and so would many others. In fact, this would be a GREAT way to promote HD radio!

Here's my question...suppose a customer buys the Merlefest package, but because of atmospheric or other conditons (say they erected a big metal building between his receiving antenna and the station's tower) he's unable to receive the broadcast. Now there was nothing technically wrong at the station end, but still the customer didn't get what he paid for. Would he (the customer) be due a refund? And if so...my God, how would stations handle phone traffic for something like this? If a BIG event is offered (say NASCAR races become available ONLY as a "pay per listen" event...or Major League Baseball, or whatever), wouldn't a station/stations have to hire someone just to handle this?

To be honest, nobody knows how that will work, because nobody has decided to even try it. In fact, there is nothing available today to do "Conditional Access" even if one wanted to. Plus, the only "conditional access" that has been discussed is data delivery, and there is a good chance that that would require specific hardware.