WBCN doing Brazilian on SCA

[Neggy]

Looks like BCN is doing Brazilian programming on its sub carrier authorization.

Wonder why not it's HD allotment?

http://www.radiobr.fm/

 

[johnster]

There selling the sub carrier.
As a member of the HD Alliance they would not be permitted to that with an HD channel.

 

[Neggy]

they may not be able to lease it, but the Brazilian community is huge in Boston (too huge IMHO but that's another story) and at some point a big name radio company is going to put a non english language format on a FM with some punch to it. HD radios will be down in price soon but who the heck has ever bought a SCA decoder? I uilt one in HS 30+ years ago, and I know they are available for the sight impaired to listen to The Talking Information Center on WATD's SCA, but it is a real niche peice of equipment.

 

[Varulven]

Boston Concert Network (WBCN) to turn into Brazilian Cable News - the all new WBCN. We can only hope!
Cha Chi will be sending us to the South of The Border in South Carolina with their contests. Hey, Cha Chi sounds pretty good for a Brazilian station's promotion director!

 

[johnster]

I don't think you understand. The HD alliance has to okay the format of your HD2. You can't compete and you can't sell advertising. Along with many other restrictions. So until the alliance period runs out your not going to see this type of programing ideas on HD2's. Now after that the sky is the limit and with the licensing fees kicking in I think they will have to make some money with them or they won't want them.

 

[Varulven]

it was just my twisted humor that 104.1 FM would grab that programming and flip

 

[content]

I don't think you understand. The HD alliance has to okay the format of your HD2. You can't compete and you can't sell advertising. Along with many other restrictions. So until the alliance period runs out your not going to see this type of programing ideas on HD2's. Now after that the sky is the limit and with the licensing fees kicking in I think they will have to make some money with them or they won't want them.

What would the HD Alliance's objection be to this type of programming? While I understand the HD Alliance's agreement not to sell advertising on HD2, why wouldn't they allow companies to compete and make their own formatic decisions? Competition is good for the consumer. So, if the companies believe enough in their HD product to 'compete', it will ultimately create a better product which will more likely attract consumer adaptation to the new delivery platform.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

I don't think you understand. The HD alliance has to okay the format of your HD2.

An arrangement which raises multiple questions of law. The Communications Act states quite clearly that it is the licensee which is responsible for all programming carried on its station, and that responsibility cannot be delegated contractually or otherwise. Questions also arise about collusion and anti-trust issues. I'm waiting for a station to ignore the HD Alliance and actually program whatever they damn well please on their secondary channels. Who's going to enforce this so-called agreement when it's probably illegal on its face?

 

[Neggy]

somehow the term "Sherman Anti-Trust Act" comes to mind when I heard the Alliance term.

I can't even discuss my labor rates with another body shop without it being considered Anti-Trust.
(one of my sidelines is as a unibody/frame tech)

 

[johnster]

Listen I'm not disagreeing with you I'm just pointing out whats going on...

The only reason these stations are HD is this alliance. By joining the alliance these companies get to waive the start up licensing fees and the regular licensing fees which are quite expensive. I think they can even get group discounts on equipment or at least delay paying for it. Now there is a two-year limit to this program so this will all time out.

Now from iBiquity's (http://www.ibiquity.com) and NAB's point of view this is a last chance effort to try to get HD radio to succeed. Unlike HDTV their is no FCC mandate to get HDRadio technology into radios and the marketplace. And just a better sounding signal of current radio is not going to do it. They feel their "killerapp" and their way to compete with satellite is these secondary program offerings. So their idea was that they needed to get a broad offering of formats on the air right away to be able to offer the diversity of satellite radio for free. They need this to happen to get manfacture's to want to add HD to radios and to then get HD Radios in new cars. So they struck a deal with all the large broadcast companies that agreed to jump right in.

Now they can pull out before the end of the two-year deal and do whatever they'd like with their secondary channels but they will owe Ibiquity quite a bit of money.
This is also why they can't decide to be in "HD" some days and then turn it off on others. As some have suggested here when they are airing a sporting event and want to loose the analog delay. For the HDradio technology to make to the consumer it has to work all the time and work the way it was designed.

So your in the gang or your out. Are they in some collusion with HD2... Yes for two years. But they have also agreed not to make any profit or compete during this process. So I guess their lawyers think they are covered and I'm sure they looked into it. These companies all pay a lot of money to lawyers. Could they be wrong of course they could but they don't make these moves blindly or without consultation.

I would say the bigger problem is the collusion that took place before all of this where the FCC and the broadcast industry agreed to let this one company "iBiquity" have all the marbles. But I guess it's been done in the past with other other technologies and has held up in the courts so it probably will again. And without that "one player" or standard you have other problems with competing technologies that would in this case never make it to the market place.

The thing is the start up and licensing fees are so high that I think it will be a long time before you see stations owned by smaller companies like WATD and WFNX being able to add HD. I guess if it sells they will be forced into it and when the 2 year deal runs out everyone will be in the same game. Figuring out if they can make enough money from HD2, HD3 etc. to pay iBiquity's fees and still make a profit with them.

So there are some flaws with the plan but I guess if you look at it from everyone's angle you get where they are coming from. I don't think there is any evil intent accept for capitalism.

 

[tjm_pro]

"Looks like BCN is doing Brazilian programming on its sub carrier authorization."

This programming is not on 'BCN's HD2. They are using one of WBCN's SCA allotments which is totally different than HD, iBiquity has no say in the matter.

A subcarrier, known also as Subsidiary Communications Authority or SCA, is a separate audio or data channel (like RDS) which is transmitted along with the main audio signal over a broadcast station. These subcarrier channels are not receivable with a regular radio; special receivers are required like these http://www.daytonindustrial.com/products.htm .

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

So their idea was that they needed to get a broad offering of formats on the air right away to be able to offer the diversity of satellite radio for free.

One of the dumber moves I've ever seen in close to 40 years in the radio business. Offering the diversity of formats that satellite radio has, with a completely different business model, is a recipe for disaster. Remember, this is commercial radio we're talking about. They need to sale of air time to make a profit and pay all the costs associated with running these extra channels. Having them run without commercials for two years is, to put it plainly, insane. They have no way to recoup those costs, and they can't do it by charging existing advertisers on the main channel any more money because there is no increase in audience on the main channel to justify it. So, what they're really doing is diluting what their air time is worth. How much sense does that make?

they can't decide to be in "HD" some days and then turn it off on others. As some have suggested here when they are airing a sporting event and want to loose the analog delay. For the HDradio technology to make to the consumer it has to work all the time and work the way it was designed.

Which means that they had better get the FCC to approve nighttime IBOC on AM, and fast. On a remailer I subscribe to, someone posted that a Denver AM station is running all their HDRadio promotions overnight...when it's turned off. It's crap like this that is going to kill this tech before it even has a fair chance.

So I guess their lawyers think they are covered and I'm sure they looked into it. These companies all pay a lot of money to lawyers. Could they be wrong of course they could but they don't make these moves blindly or without consultation.

Enron had a whole bevy of lawyers, and their top execs still wound up with long prison terms. Having lawyers review these agreements is no guarantee of anything.

I would say the bigger problem is the collusion that took place before all of this where the FCC and the broadcast industry agreed to let this one company "iBiquity" have all the marbles. But I guess it's been done in the past with other other technologies and has held up in the courts so it probably will again. And without that "one player" or standard you have other problems with competing technologies that would in this case never make it to the market place.

You would guess wrong. None of the other "new" technologies, such as color TV or FM stereo, have demanded such huge up-front licensing costs from either transmitter or receiver manufacturers, nor have they demanded a say in what programming is transmitted using the new tech. The only result of taking the FCC to court over a new tech in the case of AM stereo was that there was no standard set and the new tech effectively died off.

Figuring out if they can make enough money from HD2, HD3 etc. to pay iBiquity's fees and still make a profit with them.

They're making NO money now, and we have no way of knowing if, after two years, there will be enough receivers out there with enough of an audience to make any of these secondary channels pay their own way. In any case, whatever audience there will be will be snatched away from other secondary or primary channels. The pie isn't getting bigger just because there are more listening options. Remember what happened in the wake of FCC Docket 80-90, which permitted drop-in FM allocations and rim-shot signals covering larger cities. Lots of stations started going under, because the economy could not support so many additional signals. Now we're proposing to double or even triple the number of available FM signals, while the listener universe is increasing by only a few percent a year (the normal rate of population growth). It amazes me that the broadcasting business, which relies on a specific economic model for its very existence, doesn't see how they're managing to shoot themselves in the foot by touting this new technology as if it was going to get back all the listeners they've already lost to alternative media. They're using this new tech to dilute their audience and therefore dilute the value of their commercial inventory, and again that's a recipe for disaster.

 

[johnster]

TJM we know its on their SCA. This discussion only started because it was suggested it should move to BCN's HD2.

For a box of hair you seem pretty smart to me! Very good points.... and an interesting analysis.