FCC TO CONSIDER IBOC RULE CHANGES, POSSIBLE CONTENT PROTECTION
The FCC at its open meeting Thurs. (April 15) will consider a further notice on rule changes for radio stations that broadcast digital audio using in-band on-channel (IBOC) technology. We're told that among the range of IBOC issues that the Commission is likely take up are AM nighttime service and NPR’s Tomorrow Radio project for adding a supplemental audio program to the iBiquity Digital HD Radio system. But many are speculating the FCC also will consider proposals advocated by the RIAA to establish broadcast flag- like content protection to digital radio.
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RIAA wouldn’t comment directly on an open letter sent 2 days earlier to FCC Chmn. Powell by the consumer groups Public Knowledge and Consumers Union urging the Commission to avoid “a rush to judgment” on digital radio content protection (CD April 9 p10). But RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol released a statement in which he said the recording industry “is excited about the deployment of digital radio as it offers fans an exciting way to listen to music.” However, he said his industry was concerned that the IBOC transmission system being considered by the FCC “does not protect the music even though safeguards could easily be implemented.” For example, the RIAA fears that sound recordings played on digital radio “could be copied and redistributed freely on the Internet without permission,” Bainwol said: “We look forward to working together with the Commission, broadcasters and others to ensure that digital radio provides consumers with a new way to enjoy music while protecting those who create that music.”
In that letter, the groups told Powell that a workshop held Jan. 30 in Washington by FCC staff “clearly showed there are neither pressing technological issues nor spectrum- related issues that require the Commission’s immediate action to protect digital radio content.” Public Knowledge and Consumers Union said although they would welcome “a more in- depth discussion of the issue, the Commission should avoid deciding prematurely that the question of content protection for radio broadcasts is one that merits a rulemaking.” They said “not nearly enough evidentiary spadework has been done” to warrant a rulemaking. Moreover, “as we saw in the workshop, there is broad skepticism among the majority of stakeholders whether the case for any rulemaking aimed at protecting radio content has been made.”
CEA also weighed in with its opposition, making many of the same arguments as Public Knowledge and Consumers Union. Michael Petricone, CEA vp-technology policy, told our affiliate Consumer Electronics Daily it’s unclear whether RIAA is seeking establishment of a digital radio “equivalent” of the DTV broadcast flag, as the consumer groups had maintained. But it’s obvious the recording industry is asking for “limitations on consumers’ ability to record from the radio -- a fundamental right given great deference by Congress and protected by the Audio Home Recording Act,” Petricone said.
“Nobody knows” for sure what the RIAA will advocate at the FCC, Petricone said. He echoed the consumer groups when he said that “unlike with the DTV broadcast flag, here there has been no industry process or consensus, no proposed solution, and no definition of what the ‘problem’ is.” The RIAA has yet to file a comment in the long history of the Commission’s digital radio proceeding, which dates back to 1999, Petricone said: “I would be curious to hear what the RIAA issue is, since over 500,000 digital radios have already been sold in Great Britain without any ill effect.” He said it would be “vastly premature to even consider limiting the fundamental fair use rights of digital radio listeners.”