"EU czar stomps into digital radio"

Stone the Kroes

By Andrew Orlowski • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 3rd March 2011 16:30 GMT

Free whitepaper – The Register Guide to Enterprise Virtualization

Europe's digital radio sector is a not a happy place, as consumers
vote with their wallets. It isn't just a DAB thing, which is a
uniquely British disaster: the appetite for digital radio is similarly
depressed all over the continent. And this is not good enough for
Neelie Kroes, Europe's unelected digital czar.

"Some people even question the fact that we really need digital radio
or claim that radio is 'a special case' which could exist forever on a
combination of analogue and online services," she has told the
Association for European Radio's annual conference. Kroes reminds us
that "it is not for us in Brussels to dictate the pace or the way
change should happen in this diverse sector".

Which is true. But that's not going to stop her chipping in. Why?

"My job is to help content providers scale up their offer [sic] at
least to the Single Market size – and that cannot be done with FM
analogue radio alone," she says.

There is hope then, for Alan Partridge – whose Mid Morning Matters may
soon be heard in Latvia and Greece.

Kroes does, to her credit, admit there's a problem, saying, "we need
to understand why the EU-wide consensus in 1986 that led to the
technically impressive DAB standard has drifted to today’s inertia. Is
it because digital radio is the new 'betamax'?"

She then goes on to cite the UK as an example of the potential of DAB.
If only.

"How can radio best participate in convergence?" she wants to know.
"What incentives would encourage user and manufacturers to shift to
the digital format?

Kroes's intervention doesn't go much beyond exhorting her industry
audience to do some creative thinking. Which really highlights the
perils of top-down intervention: there's only so much you can do.
Digital technology has fragmented the market for devices: digital
radio is a variety of incompatible standards, while FM analog still
works anywhere. But as she notes, the WorldDMB group is working on
this. As she doesn't note, "harmonising" Europe's digital radio masts
is too costly for Europe's radio industry to afford. And debt-
encumbered governments don't see it as a priority.

Kroes compares the digital radio migration path to dial-up to
broadband, and the introduction of GSM. But in each case consumers
didn't need to be prodded into action. GSM took off because the
economies of scale made mobile telephony affordable to the masses.
Broadband took off because it was faster.

The problem with digital radio is that it doesn't really doesn't
anything like as new or compelling. There are advantages, some are
interesting, fun and useful. But there are costs, too. And the cost of
paying for carriage over two infrastructures is crippling an industry
that would be struggling to pay for one. Kroes's job is to promote
anything with digital on the label. She forgets that many digital
technologies end up in the fail bucket: digital audio tape, for
example. And while our radio listening in the future most probably
will be mostly digital one day, it may well be over IP, not purpose-
built digital multiplexes.

Expect an enquiry. Or something. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03..._do_something/

Yup, you can throw Struble's hunk-of-junk into that too - LMFAO!!!
Virtually no one gives a **** outside of the HD broadcasters, and they
don't really care either, as most HD stations are not time-aligned and
are just jukeboxes - LMFAO!!!

On Mar 4, 6:57*pm, iBiquity Fraudsters
wrote:
"EU czar stomps into digital radio"

Stone the Kroes

By Andrew Orlowski • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 3rd March 2011 16:30 GMT

Free whitepaper – The Register Guide to Enterprise Virtualization

Europe's digital radio sector is a not a happy place, as consumers
vote with their wallets. It isn't just a DAB thing, which is a
uniquely British disaster: the appetite for digital radio is similarly
depressed all over the continent. And this is not good enough for
Neelie Kroes, Europe's unelected digital czar.

"Some people even question the fact that we really need digital radio
or claim that radio is 'a special case' which could exist forever on a
combination of analogue and online services," she has told the
Association for European Radio's annual conference. Kroes reminds us
that "it is not for us in Brussels to dictate the pace or the way
change should happen in this diverse sector".

Which is true. But that's not going to stop her chipping in. Why?

"My job is to help content providers scale up their offer [sic] at
least to the Single Market size – and that cannot be done with FM
analogue radio alone," she says.

There is hope then, for Alan Partridge – whose Mid Morning Matters may
soon be heard in Latvia and Greece.

Kroes does, to her credit, admit there's a problem, saying, "we need
to understand why the EU-wide consensus in 1986 that led to the
technically impressive DAB standard has drifted to today’s inertia. Is
it because digital radio is the new 'betamax'?"

She then goes on to cite the UK as an example of the potential of DAB.
If only.

"How can radio best participate in convergence?" she wants to know.
"What incentives would encourage user and manufacturers to shift to
the digital format?

Kroes's intervention doesn't go much beyond exhorting her industry
audience to do some creative thinking. Which really highlights the
perils of top-down intervention: there's only so much you can do.
Digital technology has fragmented the market for devices: digital
radio is a variety of incompatible standards, while FM analog still
works anywhere. But as she notes, the WorldDMB group is working on
this. As she doesn't note, "harmonising" Europe's digital radio masts
is too costly for Europe's radio industry to afford. And debt-
encumbered governments don't see it as a priority.

Kroes compares the digital radio migration path to dial-up to
broadband, and the introduction of GSM. But in each case consumers
didn't need to be prodded into action. GSM took off because the
economies of scale made mobile telephony affordable to the masses.
Broadband took off because it was faster.

The problem with digital radio is that it doesn't really doesn't
anything like as new or compelling. There are advantages, some are
interesting, fun and useful. But there are costs, too. And the cost of
paying for carriage over two infrastructures is crippling an industry
that would be struggling to pay for one. Kroes's job is to promote
anything with digital on the label. She forgets that many digital
technologies end up in the fail bucket: digital audio tape, for
example. And while our radio listening in the future most probably
will be mostly digital one day, it may well be over IP, not purpose-
built digital multiplexes.

Expect an enquiry. Or something. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03..._radio_do_some...

Yup, you can throw Struble's hunk-of-junk into that too - LMFAO!!!
Virtually no one gives a **** outside of the HD broadcasters, and they
don't really care either, as most HD stations are not time-aligned and
are just jukeboxes - LMFAO!!!

Your Many Multiple {Spamming} Screen IDs
All End-Up ~translating~to~ LAMFAO !

clearly time-and-time again
demonstrating you are a 'fao' ~ RHF

On Mar 4, 6:57*pm, iBiquity Fraudsters
wrote:
"EU czar stomps into digital radio"

Stone the Kroes

By Andrew Orlowski • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 3rd March 2011 16:30 GMT

Free whitepaper – The Register Guide to Enterprise Virtualization

Europe's digital radio sector is a not a happy place, as consumers
vote with their wallets. It isn't just a DAB thing, which is a
uniquely British disaster: the appetite for digital radio is similarly
depressed all over the continent. And this is not good enough for
Neelie Kroes, Europe's unelected digital czar.

"Some people even question the fact that we really need digital radio
or claim that radio is 'a special case' which could exist forever on a
combination of analogue and online services," she has told the
Association for European Radio's annual conference. Kroes reminds us
that "it is not for us in Brussels to dictate the pace or the way
change should happen in this diverse sector".

Which is true. But that's not going to stop her chipping in. Why?

"My job is to help content providers scale up their offer [sic] at
least to the Single Market size – and that cannot be done with FM
analogue radio alone," she says.

There is hope then, for Alan Partridge – whose Mid Morning Matters may
soon be heard in Latvia and Greece.

Kroes does, to her credit, admit there's a problem, saying, "we need
to understand why the EU-wide consensus in 1986 that led to the
technically impressive DAB standard has drifted to today’s inertia. Is
it because digital radio is the new 'betamax'?"

She then goes on to cite the UK as an example of the potential of DAB.
If only.

"How can radio best participate in convergence?" she wants to know.
"What incentives would encourage user and manufacturers to shift to
the digital format?

Kroes's intervention doesn't go much beyond exhorting her industry
audience to do some creative thinking. Which really highlights the
perils of top-down intervention: there's only so much you can do.
Digital technology has fragmented the market for devices: digital
radio is a variety of incompatible standards, while FM analog still
works anywhere. But as she notes, the WorldDMB group is working on
this. As she doesn't note, "harmonising" Europe's digital radio masts
is too costly for Europe's radio industry to afford. And debt-
encumbered governments don't see it as a priority.

Kroes compares the digital radio migration path to dial-up to
broadband, and the introduction of GSM. But in each case consumers
didn't need to be prodded into action. GSM took off because the
economies of scale made mobile telephony affordable to the masses.
Broadband took off because it was faster.

The problem with digital radio is that it doesn't really doesn't
anything like as new or compelling. There are advantages, some are
interesting, fun and useful. But there are costs, too. And the cost of
paying for carriage over two infrastructures is crippling an industry
that would be struggling to pay for one. Kroes's job is to promote
anything with digital on the label. She forgets that many digital
technologies end up in the fail bucket: digital audio tape, for
example. And while our radio listening in the future most probably
will be mostly digital one day, it may well be over IP, not purpose-
built digital multiplexes.

Expect an enquiry. Or something. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03..._radio_do_some...

Yup, you can throw Struble's hunk-of-junk into that too - LMFAO!!!
Virtually no one gives a **** outside of the HD broadcasters, and they
don't really care either, as most HD stations are not time-aligned and

- are just jukeboxes - LMFAO!!!

What else is a Top 40 Radio Station
{Be It Analog -or- Digital IBOC/DAB}
To Be -or- Not To Be -but-a- JukeBox !

On Mar 5, 4:02*am, SMS wrote:
On 3/5/2011 12:41 AM, RHF wrote:

Within a Decade ~2016+ IBOC {HD-Radio} in the USA
will reach the Tipping-Point and Analog Radio will be
like 8-Tracks and BetaMaxs... a something that fewer
and fewer remember with each passing year . . .

I'd say more like 2020 to 2025 for analog terrestrial radio to disappear
in the U.S. Because of the recession you're not going to see HD Radio in
every new car for five to seven more years, and thus there will be too
many relatively new vehicles with analog-only radios in "~2016+." Look
how long it took every vehicle to have FM, after FM was invented, more
than thirty years!

I'd predict that by 2020, buying a vehicle with an analog FM radio will
be like buying a vehicle with a cassette deck in 2011. I could be wrong
of course, all of a sudden something so much better could come along
that everyone abandoned digital radio.

The big advantage in the U.S. and other HD countries, is that it's a
more gradual transition than in Europe. This causes some problems in
terms of co-existence of analog and digital on the same band, but it
also makes the transition a lot easier. It's still possible that if DAB+
fails that the European countries will look to the success of HD Radio
in the U.S. and realize that even though it's an American system that
it's a better solution than DAB+.

How long do you think that investors will continue to float iBiquity?
iBiquity was supposed to go IPO by 2009, but now it is too late,
especially since many investment firms out of NY, and some direct
iBiquity investors, have repeatedly visited my blog and know about the
car HD Radio investigations.

You can buy brand new little cheap Analog AM/FM radios for as little two
or three dollars in discount stores.
cuhulin, the Analog

On Mar 5, 2:08*pm, wrote:
You can buy brand new little cheap Analog AM/FM radios for as little two
or three dollars in discount stores.
cuhulin, the Analog

Are they in working condition ? Sounds a little too cheap for a
regular product , or are they being dumped ...

On Mar 5, 3:58*am, SMS wrote:
On 3/4/2011 7:20 PM, RHF wrote:

Your Many Multiple {Spamming} Screen IDs
All End-Up ~translating~to~ LAMFAO !

clearly time-and-time again
demonstrating you are a 'fao' ~ RHF

It's a natural reaction. He's bitter and disappointed about the success
digital radio has had in the marketplace. When Mexico adopted HD Radio
last week he must have been in tears.

I've seen a lot on Usenet over the years, and he and several of the
anti-digital-radio shills are right up there with the best of the best
in terms of trolls.

But there actually is something to the article in The Register. If
Europe wants to get serious about digital radio they need to adopt the
system used in the U.S. which has gained acceptance by broadcasters,
receiver manufacturers, automakers, and consumers. FM analog radio is
one of the few technologies that's relatively the same throughout the
world (the differences are small enough that receiver makers don't need
completely different receivers for each market). It would be nice if FM
digital followed the same path, and since HD is the furtherst ahead it
makes sense for the rest of the world to use the HD system.

If any post proves that SMS doesn't know what he's talking about, then
this is it. FM channel spacing in Europe is 100kHz. How on earth would
IBOC work with channels that close together? OK, the frequency
planning ensures that stations 100kHz apart are geographically
relatively distant but here there are many signals 200kHz apart that
are relatively close to each other, enough so that the boundaries
between them have usable signals.

Oh, and trying to convince the public to adopt a new digital radio
system that offers no advantages to DAB (which is struggling) would be
another bad idea!

On Mar 4, 7:58*pm, SMS wrote:
On 3/4/2011 7:20 PM, RHF wrote:

Your Many Multiple {Spamming} Screen IDs
All End-Up ~translating~to~ LAMFAO !

clearly time-and-time again
demonstrating you are a 'fao' ~ RHF

It's a natural reaction. He's bitter and disappointed about the success
digital radio has had in the marketplace. When Mexico adopted HD Radio
last week he must have been in tears.

I've seen a lot on Usenet over the years, and he and several of the
anti-digital-radio shills are right up there with the best of the best
in terms of trolls.

But there actually is something to the article in The Register. If
Europe wants to get serious about digital radio they need to adopt the
system used in the U.S. which has gained acceptance by broadcasters,
receiver manufacturers, automakers, and consumers. FM analog radio is
one of the few technologies that's relatively the same throughout the
world (the differences are small enough that receiver makers don't need
completely different receivers for each market). It would be nice if FM
digital followed the same path, and since HD is the furtherst ahead it
makes sense for the rest of the world to use the HD system.

SMS,

It's the Domino Theory All Over and Over Again
First the USA [FCC] Adopts IBOC HD-Radio...
and then country after Country after COUNTRY
Adopts HD-Radio . . .
-truly-it's-a-nightmare-for the-hd-radio--haters-

Not Truly A HD-Radio Hater . . .
-or- A HD-Radio Lover . . .

but,, But... BUT ! ! ! Knowing . . .

That Generation Changes Take A Generation
Give IBOC & HD-Radio One Generation . . .

time will tell . . . ~ RHF

On Mar 6, 12:21*am, Nick_G wrote:
On Mar 5, 3:58*am, SMS wrote:



On 3/4/2011 7:20 PM, RHF wrote:

Your Many Multiple {Spamming} Screen IDs
All End-Up ~translating~to~ LAMFAO !

clearly time-and-time again
demonstrating you are a 'fao' ~ RHF

It's a natural reaction. He's bitter and disappointed about the success
digital radio has had in the marketplace. When Mexico adopted HD Radio
last week he must have been in tears.

I've seen a lot on Usenet over the years, and he and several of the
anti-digital-radio shills are right up there with the best of the best
in terms of trolls.

But there actually is something to the article in The Register. If
Europe wants to get serious about digital radio they need to adopt the
system used in the U.S. which has gained acceptance by broadcasters,
receiver manufacturers, automakers, and consumers. FM analog radio is
one of the few technologies that's relatively the same throughout the
world (the differences are small enough that receiver makers don't need
completely different receivers for each market). It would be nice if FM
digital followed the same path, and since HD is the furtherst ahead it
makes sense for the rest of the world to use the HD system.

If any post proves that SMS doesn't know what he's talking about, then
this is it. FM channel spacing in Europe is 100kHz. How on earth would
IBOC work with channels that close together? OK, the frequency
planning ensures that stations 100kHz apart are geographically
relatively distant but here there are many signals 200kHz apart that
are relatively close to each other, enough so that the boundaries
between them have usable signals.

Oh, and trying to convince the public to adopt a new digital radio
system that offers no advantages to DAB (which is struggling) would be
another bad idea!

Let Me Think . . .
HD-Radio is is the USA -and--not- 'Uber' Euro-Land
-we-think-therefore-we-are-euro-landers-

wow that is profound , , , ~ RHF

On Mar 5, 11:00*am, iBiquity Fraudsters
wrote:
On Mar 5, 4:02*am, SMS wrote:



On 3/5/2011 12:41 AM, RHF wrote:

Within a Decade ~2016+ IBOC {HD-Radio} in the USA
will reach the Tipping-Point and Analog Radio will be
like 8-Tracks and BetaMaxs... a something that fewer
and fewer remember with each passing year . . .

I'd say more like 2020 to 2025 for analog terrestrial radio to disappear
in the U.S. Because of the recession you're not going to see HD Radio in
every new car for five to seven more years, and thus there will be too
many relatively new vehicles with analog-only radios in "~2016+." Look
how long it took every vehicle to have FM, after FM was invented, more
than thirty years!

I'd predict that by 2020, buying a vehicle with an analog FM radio will
be like buying a vehicle with a cassette deck in 2011. I could be wrong
of course, all of a sudden something so much better could come along
that everyone abandoned digital radio.

The big advantage in the U.S. and other HD countries, is that it's a
more gradual transition than in Europe. This causes some problems in
terms of co-existence of analog and digital on the same band, but it
also makes the transition a lot easier. It's still possible that if DAB+
fails that the European countries will look to the success of HD Radio
in the U.S. and realize that even though it's an American system that
it's a better solution than DAB+.

How long do you think that investors will continue to float iBiquity?
iBiquity was supposed to go IPO by 2009, but now it is too late,
especially since many investment firms out of NY, and some direct
iBiquity investors, have repeatedly visited my blog and know about the
car HD Radio investigations.

The Economic Tipping Point Has Passed
~translation~ YOU LOSE !