FCC’s Radio Work Continues Amid Little Attention to Other Media Items
The FCC continues working on several radio rulemakings, has completed one proceeding and may finish two others later this year. The attention by staffers in the Media Bureau to radio issues is in contrast to what some see as the commission’s overall lack of attention to other media issues. The agency in December approved a tribal radio order, which industry lawyers said the bureau made quick work of. By contrast, the commission is more than a year behind schedule on its media ownership review, in which industry lawyers said radio isn’t much in play.
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The bureau speedily sought public notice on letting radio stations use different power levels for each of their two sidebands, after iBiquity Digital Corp. and NPR studies said it might cut analog interference (CED Nov 2 p10). If approved, which may happen this year, asymmetrical sideband use could help HD Radio stations increase digital power levels while avoiding interference to analog operations, said industry lawyers and an executive. More than 6 million HD Radio devices have shipped, said Stephen Baldacci, senior vice president at iBiquity Digital. It licenses HD Radio technology to broadcasters and CE makers.
"We're delighted that they're paying attention to broadcast radio,” Baldacci said of the bureau. “We're very pleased the FCC is moving forward to assess our positions. We think there is a great opportunity for broadcasters” with asymmetric sideband use, he continued. In the market, “things are really moving fast” for HD Radio devices, and the number of receivers shipped is doubling each year, Baldacci added: “We're getting to very low, very broad coverage by the major aftermarket” equipment makers.
Prices for HD Radio devices have fallen, both for in-car radios and devices that aren’t portable, Baldacci said. More than 60 new HD Radio CE products are being unveiled at CES this week, the company said. Twenty-two original equipment auto brands are “committed” to the product, iBiquity said. “HD Radio Technology is moving quickly into the mainstream of consumer electronics as OEM Auto makers increase their commitments."
HD Radio continues to be a disappointment to some in the radio industry, who contend the pace of rollout has been slow -- among stations and by auto makers installing radios in their cars and trucks. The bureau and FCC have been trying to encourage the growth of HD Radio for many years now, and in 2010 a tenfold digital radio power increase was authorized, said attorney John Garziglia of Womble Carlyle. “The real thing now is to see how the whole thing plays out with putting receivers into cars,” he said. “What appears to be happening is that chips are being put into radios now, and if that’s part of the manufacturing process, that’s great."
"I don’t think the problem is with the FCC,” David O'Neil of Rini Coran said of digital radio. “The problem is with the industry. Receiver sales have to improve. I think the FCC has been very helpful.” The problem remains of “how do you sell receivers if there is no content?” O'Neil said. He expects to see more broadcasters use FM translators to rebroadcast digital radio programming in analog, he said.
That prospect has LPFM backers worried. They contend such situations cause interference to low-power stations, which under commission rules aren’t protected from harmful radio waves because they're considered a secondary service. Translators are supposed to fill in a station’s coverage area with analog, not to rebroadcast in that format programming that originates in HD, Policy Director Brandy Doyle of community radio advocate Prometheus Radio Project said. “Even when there are no terrain problems, stations are choosing to use their fill-in translators at power levels that are causing problems for LPFM stations, despite the fact that they're not designed to be used” for that purpose, she said: That’s caused interference to LPFM.