NAB Concedes Merger Asks For HD
Yesterday, an army of hybrid digital radio proponents including Jane E. Mago, Sr. Vice President and General Counsel Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Marsha MacBride of the National Association of Broadcasters, Jessica Marventano of Clear Channel Communications, Diane Warren of the HD Alliance, Anne Lucey and John Orlando of CBS, Whit Adamson of the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, and Larry Sidman of Paul, Hastings spoke with Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate and Amy Blankenship.
Considering this happened yesterday and no reports of any HD mandate were made public, it is probably a non issue. Contrary to reports however, we still do not have an official vote from Commissioner Tate and as such, I feel it important to report accurate news as it comes, rather than speculate on rumor. The fact that this meeting took place at all is cause for concern. I have made my views known in my article: The Hypocrisy Of HD Radio Proponents.
“In light of published reports that the Commission was considering approval with conditions, the parties explained the need for a condition to prevent the combined XM radio to harm further development of digital terrestrial radio. Specifically, the parties urged the Commissioner to condition any approval of the merger so that all consumers would have access to radio equipment that would allow them to switch between digital satellite offerings and terrestrial digital offerings.”
[ FCC Filing ]
Yeah right, switch between Sat and terrestrial digital offerings? What a joke, what are those IBOC clowns smoking anyway? What’s with Tate is she waiting for the biggest amount of money she can take er.. I mean make?
ok now nab needs to replace my ford factory 6 disc with a new interoprable one that gets satrad, am/fm and my 6 disc. oh! i see nab only me and siri have to go out and buy a new recevier to get satrard and am/fm while you put forth no money. oh but if hit am/fm i can hear you, why do i need it in my recevier anways? on second thought put it in, it will further show that satrad competes with terestrial radio and hd and ipod etc. etc.
i dont need a new reciever with hd and an am/fm button, i can hit it on my factory and your right there nab, which shows you compete with satrad already…
Hey Tyler,
looking forward to the show tonight at 9
It’s called “Open Access”. If consumers don’t want Hybrid Digital Radio, it will die, as it should.
Brandon-
I have read every article in the past 24 hours that has come out regarding the merger (most conceding it to be a done deal); I think that you have hit the nail on the head. We STILL have NOT heard that: 1. Tate has indeed voted yes on the merger, & 2. What exactly are the ‘additional’ conditions that Tate wants added to the item already proposed by Martin in circulation? Look, I’d like to believe that we are finally at the endgame. I guess I have become so paranoid with the ‘merger is coming’ news over the past 9 months that I need to probably hear from Mel that we finally have won approval.
I think it should be a decision of the radio maker to decide if they want to include HD chips in their units.
I smell the foul rat odor of iBiquity/NAB/HD Alliance – these gangsters will stop at nothing. No one wants crappy HD Radio, which doesn’t even work!
Sending a bunch of women to try and convince the female Commissioner. If that fails, maybe they’ll send male models to do a striptease for her.
This stinks. And stink defines TeamBLOC. Listeners long ago said ‘no’ to HD. Did FCC ban HD from Satellite radios? No. FCC simply said they wouldn’t force SatRad manufacturers to include it. Isn’t that what’s called a ‘free market’? Yes, it is.
But for all the HD gangs blithering about choices, their actions prove their nothing but a cheaszy gang of nasty four-flushers, four dollar bills in mid-priced biz suits. TeamBLOC’s idea of choice? Jam your favorite stations with HD noise until you capitulate.
As with thugs, communists, and spoiled brats, the HD gang won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. They don’t quit, despite the fact listeners are increasingly aware of and disenchanted by HD’s coercive methods.
No doubt the HD gang will pull more gags until it gains its ends. Thus far, TeamBLOC has wrecked AM listening and now promises to do the same to FM.
They claim radio has ‘an inevitable digital future’. ‘Inevitable’? Wasn’t the same said of Titanic’s Manhattan debut?
TeamBLOC blats, “We’re going digital, get over it.” (Nice crowd, eh?) Listeners long ago said, “Go” – and take the witch’s broomstick with you.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
25 July, 2008