NDS Radio Guard, pay for the "channels between channels"?

[KB1OKL]

This will just add more weight to the lead balloon which is already sinking into the ground under the balloon launch pad:

Get the most from HD radio technology. NDS RadioGuard can enhance free radio broadcasting while helping pave the way for paid services in the future. Because conditional access pinpoints specific radios—for either local or national broadcasts—listeners can opt into or out of a variety of broadcasts. Possibilities include:

Read all:

http://www.nds.com/solutions/radioguard.html

 

[rbrucecarter5]

This will just add more weight to the lead balloon which is already sinking into the ground under the balloon launch pad:

One of the few things HD radio had going for it was that it is free, unlike satellite. Once they start charging, it won't take consumers very long to figure out that they can pay for one HD station, or pay for over 100 satellite stations. Do the math.

Looking at the choices offered, there is hardly anything compelling on the list. "Adult" anything is a code word for profanity and explicit sexual talk. People can hear that for free at any Junior High. It is hardly compelling listening and certainly not "adult".

 

[Play Freebird]

This will just add more weight to the lead balloon which is already sinking into the ground under the balloon launch pad:

Get the most from HD radio technology. NDS RadioGuard can enhance free radio broadcasting while helping pave the way for paid services in the future. Because conditional access pinpoints specific radios—for either local or national broadcasts—listeners can opt into or out of a variety of broadcasts. Possibilities include:

Read all:

http://www.nds.com/solutions/radioguard.html

This is something big companies like CBS Radio have been dreaming about ever since Howard Stern jumped to Sirius. Under current law, a broadcaster is allowed to transmit indecent material at any time of the day as long as it's offered on a subscription-only basis. The executives running these companies believe it's imperative to feature uncensored "talent" who talk dirty on the radio (Stern, Opie and Anthony, etc.) to remain competitive with satellite (which, by the way, appears to have lost steam in recent months -- but let's go ahead and imitate them anyway.)

But who am I to question the wisdom of CBS? I'm just a small-market independent broadcaster who obviously isn't as smart as those MBA-types who rose to the top of the corporate executive ladder and certainly deserve fat paychecks for all of the good things they've done for radio. So I'm sure scrambled HD is a great idea!

Note to readers: I put that last line in there to appease Radioman 100, as proof that we aren't all spiteful HD bashers.

Meanwhile, NDS expects that Radio Guard will serve a much higher purpose, by allowing access to an "Emergency Provider channel" and wonderful programs of "Diversity and opportunity and Community building local programming", but why would any of these need to be scrambled?

 

[KB1OKL]

But who am I to question the wisdom of CBS? I'm just a small-market independent broadcaster who obviously isn't as smart as those MBA-types who rose to the top of the corporate executive ladder and certainly deserve fat paychecks for all of the good things they've done for radio. So I'm sure scrambled HD is a great idea!

Waitress: And hello Sir, (1955 manners) How would you like your radio today, scrambled, whooshed, extremely short ranged, or covering parts of other stations and very expensive?
Customer: I'd like one with everything on it, thank you Madam (1955 manners again)
Waitress: Oh, OK then sir, one HD radio coming right up.
Waitress again after very short conversation: Oh I'm sorry sir we just donated the last few returns to the Goodwill Thrift Shop chain, the funny thing is that they can't even give them away, oh well.
Hmmm....Would you like an analog? We have quite a selection of those.
Waitress Whispers: I've heard they work much better than those HD radios anyway, people just wouldn't buy them, and after all that classy advertising, tsk, tsk, tsk.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

This is something big companies like CBS Radio have been dreaming about ever since Howard Stern jumped to Sirius.

Oh - yes - I am sure that Howard Stern make comments about the sexual characteristics of DEAD Columbine High School UNDERAGED girl corpses was the pinnacle of broadcasting excellence and the high point of Western civilization. Certainly - paying for the "privelege" of hearing things like that is the highest goal to which a human being can aspire. Kudos to CBS MDA graduates who want to provide that type of pay per listen programming to the American public.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

The usefulness of this technology is for reading services where copyrighted material cannot be available for normal public access. I don't see the sugarplums and dollars dancing in big corporate radio's mind ever getting anywhere, sort of like the whole HD project itself. LOL!

 

[Chuck]

The usefulness of this technology is for reading services where copyrighted material cannot be available for normal public access. I don't see the sugarplums and dollars dancing in big corporate radio's mind ever getting anywhere, sort of like the whole HD project itself. LOL!

Does anyone remember the days before wide-spread cable and/or satellite TV? Back in the late 1970's a number of pay TV services were introduced. Some used 2 GHz microwave, others were scrambled on conventional UHF stations. During that era, where I lived, both services were available. I think they were $9.95 per month and delivered ONE channel of "Pay TV." As soon as cable came out offering HBO, Showtime and other entertainment channels, these services vanashed. No body wanted one channel, when they could get lots of channels for just a little more money.

With the exception of reading services for the blind or some other niche market, nobody is going to subscribe to one or two channels, when they can get hundreds through satellite, or thousands through IP based technology. Yes, I know the IP based scheme is not fully here yet, but by the time people get HD to work right and come up with some subscription based proigramming, it will be here. Things move faster than you think.


History has a way of repeating itself.