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Mandatory FM Radio in Cell Phones?
Topic Started: Aug 20 2010, 04:23 AM (286 Views)
George K
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Finally
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/radio-riaa-mandatory-fm-radio-in-cell-phones-is-the-future.ars

Radio, RIAA: mandatory FM radio in cell phones is the future

Music labels and radio broadcasters can't agree on much, including whether radio should be forced to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the music it plays. But the two sides can agree on this: Congress should mandate that FM radio receivers be built into cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics.

The Consumer Electronics Association, whose members build the devices that would be affected by such a directive, is incandescent with rage. "The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity," thundered CEA president Gary Shapiro. Such a move is "not in our national interest."

"Rather than adapt to the digital marketplace, NAB and RIAA act like buggy-whip industries that refuse to innovate and seek to impose penalties on those that do."

But the music and radio industries say it's a consumer-focused proposition, one that would provide "more music choices."

A grand bargain

Autumn, "that season of mists and mellow fruitfulness," approaches, and as Congress returns soon from recess, it will find its autumn agenda packed with supplicants who want the government to put its stamp on private negotiations. Google and Verizon famously released their own legislative framework on network neutrality earlier this month, and the broadcasters and music labels are nearing completion on a similar framework of their own.

In this case, the framework concerns public performance rights. Radio broadcasters and music labels are at each other's throats over the question of whether radio ought to pay performance rights to labels or artists when it plays their music on the air (currently, only songwriters get paid, not artists or labels). A bill percolating in Congress, the Performance Rights Act, would rationalize performance rights in the US; satellite radio and webcasters currently pay full performance fees to labels or artists, but radio does not, thanks to a longstanding exemption in copyright law.

The bill has already passed out of committee in both the House and Senate, but it is vigorously opposed by the broadcasters; they argue that radio provides valuable promotion to artists and shouldn't have to pay. Congress tried to force two of the main lobbying groups, the National Association of Broadcasters and musicFIRST (RIAA is a member), to hash out a solution last November. None was forthcoming, but talks have continued since then and are now close to completion.

The two sides hope to strike a grand bargain: radio would agree to pay around $100 million a year (less than it feared), but in return it would get access to a larger market through the mandated FM radio chips in portable devices.

"As regards the chip, this is a key issue for the radio industry," musicFIRST told Ars today. "musicFIRST, too, likes FM chips in cell phones, PDAs, etc. It gives consumers access to more music choices."

As the contours of this deal came into sight last week, the consumer electronics companies saw the prospect of a new government mandate, and one that was transparently about propping up a particular (and aging) business model.

"The performance royalty legislation voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee does not include this onerous and backward-looking radio requirement," said the CEA's Shapiro, and he wants to keep it that way.

The deal has not been finalized, we're told. When it is, the two sides still need to convince Congress to go along, but they're hopeful something can be wrapped up late this year or early in 2011.

Update: NAB stresses to us that no deal has been finalized. "However, if there is a decision made by the Board of Directors to go forward and seek legislation, including radio-enabled chips in mobile devices in possible legislation seems to us to be a reasonable idea," says NAB's Dennis Wharton.

As for the CEA criticism, "It's no surprise that CEA opposes this, since trade associations generally always oppose new rules. CEA also opposed DTV tuners in digital television sets; the FCC decided that having DTV tuners in TV sets was a good thing, and passed a rule that gave consumers access to local TV stations on DTV sets.

"We would argue that having radio capability on cell phones and other mobile devices would be a great thing, particularly from a public safety perspective. There are few if any technologies that match the reliability of broadcast radio in terms of getting lifeline information to the masses."
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Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Quote:
 
But the music and radio industries say it's a consumer-focused proposition, one that would provide "more music choices."


If it's consumer-focused, then surely competition will take care of it. There's absolutely no need to mandate it. What a bunch of ass-clowns.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Outlandish.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
RIAA should cease to exist.
NAB should hasten to irrelevance.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
In the 1940's the Musicians Unions' response to the popularity of the gramophone taking away revenue from performing artists, and in a disagreement over royalties, was to initiate a total recording ban. Annoyingly for jazz fans, this occurred right at the point when modern jazz developed.

The more things change....
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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The 89th Key
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I have it built into my phone already, it's a nice feature I use rarely. Nice to know it's there though. Let the market mandate it though, not congress.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
What I would find useful would be for the government to mandate that everybody listens to exactly 15 minutes of prescribed music and 'chat' every morning. There's nothing quite like 15 minutes listening to The Wit and Wisdom of Ryan Seacrest to help my self-esteem.

By 'self-esteem' I mean of course, 'Well, at least I'm not as empty and devoid of original thought as that ridiculous little midget*!'



(* - I'm apparently the same height as Ryan Seacrest.)
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Steve Miller
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Bull-Carp
Now if only they could make those phones include a buggy whip.
Wag more
Bark less
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KlavierBauer
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HOLY CARP!!!
As someone in the radio industry (we have multiple AM and FM frequencies) I can tell you that things aren't as bad as the radio industry will try to convince congress - but things aren't great either. AM towers that cost millions of dollars just a few years ago can't be given away now, and the same is beginning to happen in FM land where frequencies are still bought and sold quickly - but for MUCH less than just one or two years ago.
Broadcasters were already duped once when they were essentially "forced" to all purchase and implement HD transmitters, but were then limited by the technology, and by the FCC to broadcasting at only 1/10th of their broadcast power for that frequency (on the digital side), so all of the fantastic high quality HD content they had only reached 1/10th as far. As a result, nobody has adopted HD for listening, even though it's great, allowing multiple channels/formats on one frequency.

The FM receiver being mandated into phones seems absolutely absurd to me. While radio struggles to stay afloat (much like the print industry is doing right now), it is incumbent on them to find the way to survive. Aren't se sick of "bailouts" - and wouldn't this be exactly that? More listeners = more advertising revenue, and that's how radio stations make their money. Making people have radios means a higher % of listenership, and that will mean more advertising revenue.
Couple the new Arbitron rating system with a couple hundred million more FM radios out in the field, and broadcasters can show their advertisers how popular they are once again.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this, as one of the big sources of bandwidth usage among cell providers is people streaming audio. If the cell company can shift this burden back onto the broadcasters and not shoulder it themselves, they might be game.

Scary indeed.
"I realize you want him to touch you all over and give you babies, but his handling of the PR side really did screw the pooch." - Ivory Thumper
"He said sleepily: "Don't worry mom, my dick is like hot logs in the morning." - Apple

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blondie
Bull-Carp
Isn't it bad enough hearing artists' ringtones on others' phones?
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Copper
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Shortstop

There could be some outrage about this issue.

Maybe I could make some money by selling a device that disables the FM radio.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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Improviso
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HOLY CARP!!!
Hell... I don't even turn the radio on in my car anymore. What's played on radio today is by no stretch of the imagination, music. It's crap.
Identifying narcissists isn't difficult. Just look for the person who is constantly fishing for compliments
and admiration while breaking down over even the slightest bit of criticism.

We have the freedom to choose our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences.
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1hp
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Fulla-Carp

Did you notice that your set top box (cable) - at least the newer ones distributed over the past few years - have a 1394 (Firewire) port? This was a government mandate. The only thing was, the mandate didn't say that the 1394 port had to actually be functional. So, although the hardware is all there, there is no software behind it to make it functional (which is probably why you didn't notice it). I could see the FM tuner in a cellp hone going this way - include the tuner, but no (yet another) antenna. :sombrero:
There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and................
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KlavierBauer
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HOLY CARP!!!
1hp: Many cell phones do exactly this currently. space-taking FM tuners are in many cell radios.
"I realize you want him to touch you all over and give you babies, but his handling of the PR side really did screw the pooch." - Ivory Thumper
"He said sleepily: "Don't worry mom, my dick is like hot logs in the morning." - Apple

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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Improviso
Aug 20 2010, 06:56 AM
Hell... I don't even turn the radio on in my car anymore.
You don't listen to Rush Limbaugh? :huh:
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
1hp
Aug 20 2010, 06:57 AM
Did you notice that your set top box (cable) - at least the newer ones distributed over the past few years - have a 1394 (Firewire) port? This was a government mandate.
Interesting ... what's the backstory behind this mandate? Who should we vilify for this outrage? :mad2:
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George K
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Finally
Axtremus
Aug 20 2010, 07:16 AM
1hp
Aug 20 2010, 06:57 AM
Did you notice that your set top box (cable) - at least the newer ones distributed over the past few years - have a 1394 (Firewire) port? This was a government mandate.
Interesting ... what's the backstory behind this mandate? Who should we vilify for this outrage? :mad2:
Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Dang! I was hoping that it'd been the doing of the "Rising Sun" Sony so we get to bash some foreign multinational corporation.
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Improviso
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HOLY CARP!!!
Axtremus
Aug 20 2010, 07:15 AM
Improviso
Aug 20 2010, 06:56 AM
Hell... I don't even turn the radio on in my car anymore.
You don't listen to Rush Limbaugh? :huh:
I wait for the DVD to be released at the end of the season. :D
Identifying narcissists isn't difficult. Just look for the person who is constantly fishing for compliments
and admiration while breaking down over even the slightest bit of criticism.

We have the freedom to choose our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
It's pretty obvious the government is sending out encoded FM transmissions that tell everybody to vote Republicrat at the next election. Luckily, the iPhone antenna is so useless that most users aren't being indoctrinated to the same extent.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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KlavierBauer
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HOLY CARP!!!
You mean like FM number stations?
"I realize you want him to touch you all over and give you babies, but his handling of the PR side really did screw the pooch." - Ivory Thumper
"He said sleepily: "Don't worry mom, my dick is like hot logs in the morning." - Apple

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