[opendtv] Re: FCC on revitalizing the AM band

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 08:25:52 -0400

On Oct 28, 2015, at 9:58 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

The usual consumer ignorance? Ultimately, the same question applied to other
devices, such as PVRs for OTA TV, or even ATSC STBs, way back in the early
days.

Consumer ignorance or indifference?

HD radios did not move off of the store shelves. We are well past the early
days of HD Radio...

It was like pulling teeth. I usually suspect this happens when middlemen,
stores, or even CE vendors, are on the take. But with radio, it may be simply
that FM is "good enough," and general indifference and apathy pervades that
sphere. Much like TV. When the Internet brings with it so much extra
flexibility, the one-way broadcast option sort of loses its luster. Although
here too, the survivability of the one-way broadcast OTA scheme is unbeatable.

I agree that FM is good enough; in fact it seems to be getting better. There
was a time, not long ago when traveling, that I would search the AM band to
find a station/show. Now I search the FM band first and AM as the last resort.
When I hit the auto tune button on AM it only finds one or two stations; on FM
it typically finds 10-20.

There is no question that radio as a medium to listen to music has lost its
luster. There are simply too many better options, most without the annoying
ads. Yet radio is still the most important medium for discovering new music.
Comparisons with TV are informative.

Both TV and Radio started out as ad supported FOTA services. When serialized
programming left radio for the TV screen the music industry seized the
opportunity to make radio the discovery engine for music. We went through the
era of payola, where stations were paid to play music; for decades stations
paid a nominal annual license fee to play music.

Now the music oligopoly is treating radio broadcasters like the TV content
oligopoly treats TV broadcasters. They are demanding the same payment for music
that they demand from the Internet streaming services - and if you want to
stream your radio station you pay more. No wonder music is leaving the
airwaves....


Why is efficient spectral reuse a travesty?

(What should be) unnecessary simulcasting is the travesty. If your HD Radio
is transmitting multiple program streams to the market area on one 400 KHz
channel (including the analog spectrum in the middle), you shouldn't need to
waste spectrum with many FM analog translators, taking up additional 200 KHz
channels. You could instead use those frequencies for hyper-local LP
stations, for example. And, last I saw, the FCC does not allow radio stations
to go all-digital. THAT'S why you don't find any.

Why would any radio broadcaster want to go all-digital? After more than a
decade trying to create a market, the audience is still not there.

The fact that stations DID create new services to fill the new HD radio
"channels" showed support for HD radio, both in terms of the upgrade costs AND
the cost to program these channels. These investments were not rewarded with a
viable audience.

The decision to use FM translators to reach a viable audience tells us that
the FM band was not being used to its maximum public benefit. Maybe the best
use for the AM band is to turn it into unlicensed spectrum for the kind of
hyper local content you suggest.

For one-way broadcast, the infrastructure doesn't need to change. For two-way
service, the AM and FM frequencies are far from ideal for cellular service,
and worse, there's not much spectrum there to begin with. A single LTE
channel is at least 20 MHz wide, but for the fast speeds, aggregated to 40
MHz, 80 MHz, on up to 160 MHz. The entire FM band is just 20 MHz. The entire
AM band is just barely over 1 MHz wide. Not auspicious for 2-way service.

So bottom line it sounds like the current analog standards are good enough.

Well, unmetered WiFi is hardly the answer for car radios, right?

With automated handoff and adequate hot spot density, WiFi can work, even in
vehicles, in urban areas. Keep in mind that the cable industry is building out
hundreds of thousands of hot spots; some cities are building pervasive WiFi
networks; and cell phones are now able to seamlessly handoff between WiFi and
cellular networks using the new call continuity standard.

But the real trend is toward making vehicles WiFi hot spots. This may mean
adding a cellular link to the vehicle, essentially an additional device on your
cellular data plan. Or more often, just using a smartphone as the hotspot, with
Bluetooth to support features such as hand free telephone calls.

But the other part is true enough. As 4G signals become truly ubiquitous, the
need for broadcast radio goes away. That's the same argument I've been making
for broadcast TV, Craig. Of course, it means you have to pay for a wireless
Internet service, where radio is FOTA. But at least this monthly fee would be
used for other things than JUST a car radio.

Yup. This is no different than what is happening with TV, except that radio is
embracing Internet streaming, while the TV content owners are unwilling - or in
some cases like NFL game - unable to give their broadcast affiliates streaming
rights.

In essence, we are replacing all of the "free" legacy consumer uses of the
spectrum with wireless broadband, and in the process creating a new form of
indirect taxation under Title II government regulation. At the same time the
government is stepping in to regulate the private spectrum used for wired
broadband as well.

Maybe ad supported FOTA broadcasting was not so bad. Now we must pay to get the
bits and then pay for ad free content, or put up with the ads on the FOTI
services.

And yes, I do have a tiny HD Radio tuner, the size of a matchbox, that I've
plugged into the car's aux input connection. It sounds great, and at least in
my tests in the suburbs, the signal was good even on the subchannels. But
it's a nuisance to have to plug that in every time. So I only used that
scheme one time. If the car had a built-in HD Radio, though, I'd use it for
sure.

Interesting. Do you ever connect your smartphone to access music libraries or
Internet streams?

Regards
Craig

----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:

- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org

- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. opendtv
  3. Archive
  4. 10-2015