Posted on 08/23/2010 2:08:49 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
There may be an FM radio in your next cell phone whether you want it or not. The National Association of Broadcasters is lobbying Congress to stipulate that FM radio technology be included in future cell phones. In exchange, the NAB has agreed that member stations would pay about $100 million in so-called performance fees to music labels and artists. Radio stations would be required to pay performance royalties on a tiered schedule with larger commercial stations paying more than smaller and non-profit stations.
The agreement is part of a compromise between the NAB and the Recording Industry Association of America, which will take the deal to legislators mulling changes to the laws that govern the music and radio industries. Under the proposal, non-profit stations and small commercial stations with less than $50,000 in annual revenue would pay $100 or 1% of revenue, whichever is the lesser amount. On the other end of the spectrum, stations with more than $1.25 million in annual revenue would pay 1% of their revenue.
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The fees haven’t been approved yet and there is no guarantee the proposal will pass in this session of Congress, or even in any session.
“It is important to note that stations with incidental music use – news, talk and sports radio – would not pay for music,” said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton earlier this month in a statement.
“Additionally, religious services – not religious music – would be exempt from music fees.” Broadcasters have also argued that FM radio access on cell phones would have public safety benefits by alerting and informing citizens in crisis situations.
Online radio already is required to pay performance fees and many online music providers have said the fees caused them to abandon their service or sharply curtail it.
The proposed legislation would require all future cell phones to include an FM chip – representing an estimated cost of about $1 for each chip. Although most cell phone manufacturers oppose being mandated to supply FM chips, many cell phones already include FM chips.
A coalition of six technology industry associations announced their opposition to the “chip mandate” on Monday. “Calls for an FM chip mandate are not about public safety but are instead about propping up a business which consumers are abandoning as they avail themselves of new, more consumer-friendly options,” according to a coalition statement.
The coalition consists of the CTIA – the Wireless Association, the Consumer Electronics Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Rural Cellular Association, TechAmerica and the Telecommunications Industry Association.
double ditto
Most NPR is on FM, they could not compete on AM.
I haven’t searched but I’d assume that you could probably get an app for AM listening.
See my previous post.
Great. On top of a crappy camera I’ll have to carry a tinny 1 transistor radio. Why not onclude a CB radio too, just to keep the truckers happy.
Location devices have been require for a while now.
The RAT Congress would be nuts to allow more access to talk radio.
Indeed. Furthermore, it’s the KIDS.. the one’s most likely to use their cellphone radios, that the Gov’t wouldn’t want to stumble into the TRUTH if they had AM talk radio.
Is it mandatory to even own a cellphone? I live a happy life without one thank you.
What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
I wonder how involved the FCC is with this. Man I wish the federal government would get out of regulating technology and just f*** off.
I agree with above poster. An FM receiver is useless in the face of internet radio. The reason to include FM is to put in place the future ability to halt internet radio in favor of local broadcasts. They just don’t want you listening to “the world”. They want you to listen to THEIR commercials and THEIR propaganda. Let’s hope we continue to have access to, and continue to support, “world radio” over the internet.
I think every Cell Phone should have a Swiss Army Knife in it.
Required?
Anyway, they're not FM, right?
Mandatory FM in cellphones means mandatory NPR and Left of the dial Pacifica communist-green party radio (which also have “lower ratings” and are exempted from the RIAA’s new performance tax on other stations).
Rush, Hannity, Beck, et al are on AM radio (along with local news, weather, emergency info, etc).
but there are already apps to stream radio content to cellphones anyway.
You can probably go to a dollar store and find a more energy efficient FM/AM transitor radio.
It could be done. There was a small "VW Van" toy record player that moved the needle around the LP. It could just as easily be a cellphone with wheels and retractable needle.
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