NAB and CTIA Clash Over FM Radio Proposal
Sep 14, 2010, 10:03 AM by Eric M. Zeman
The National Association of Broadcasters today published the results of a poll that queried the public's interest in including an FM radio in their cell phones. The NAB's poll, which was conducted by Harris Interactive, demonstrated that 76% of respondents would be willing to pay 30 additional cents for their cell phone if it included an FM radio. Beyond that, 66% of respondents said they would listen to an FM radio on their cell phone if it was so-equipped, with access to local weather being the top draw. The NAB said, "Our poll indicates that a sizeable majority of Americans are interested in the ability to listen to local stations in order to get news, weather and other information and would even pay a small one-time fee to get the service," said Aaron Heffron, Vice President of Public Affairs Research for Harris Interactive. "Young people seem especially enthusiastic about this additional function that they would always have in their pocket." The CTIA Wireless Association, the lobbying organization for the network operators, disagrees. It responded this morning with a statement from Vice President Jot Carpenter, "A chip mandate is the wrong answer. Government-dictated design would reduce innovation and limit consumer choice. In reality, FM capability is available today for consumers who want to access over-the-air radio on their mobile devices. Contrary to NAB's self-interested assertions, a majority of consumers do not want that capability, and the notion that they want to pay more for a functionality they do not want is ridiculous." The NAB and RIAA (music lobbying organization) proposed that all mobile devices, including cell phones, be forced to include an FM radio in order to settle a royalty dispute between the two organizations. The CTIA contends that forcing a solution to their own problems onto the cell phone industry is not acceptable.
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Comments
Nooooooooooooooooooooo!
Why stop there?
Oh wait, AM has talk radio. That is anti big government and individual rights. Can't have that!
Wow, what else can we force the government to impose?
I'm goint to make it with all kinds of ingredients I consider awesome and market it to every restaurant in the country.
Some restaurants are going to buy the recipe for it and put it on their menu because they, like me, like it a lot and they believe customers will buy the sandwich.
Other restaurants will NOT purchase the recipe, because they don't care to pay for it and believe what they have is better anyway.
For the second group of restaurants, who don't want my sandwich, I am going to go to the FDA and to congress and with a petition requesting them to FORCE all restaurants to put my sandwich on their menu AND pay me for the recipe re...
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The carriers don't want it because
Sure, having an additional feature on phones is nice, but none of them are free, all of them incre...
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people are willing to pay an extra $.30 for this?
So what we show here is...
The NAB's poll, which was conducted by Harris Interactive, demonstrated that 76% of respondents would be willing to pay 30 additional cents for their cell phone if it included an FM radio. Beyond that, 66% of respondents said they would listen to an FM radio on their cell phone if it was so-equipped, with access to local weather being the top draw.
10% of the people polled are willing to pay for something they won't use? 🙄 Try again, NAB. I side with the cellphone manufacturers on this one.
I have never us...
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The issue isn't if people want an fm radio
The problem with pretty much ANY fm radio on a phone is that they suck. They're notoriously weak signals, and you need to be wearing headphones to use them. If the NAB really wanted companies to pick up the FM radios, they would partner with Samsung/HTC/Motorola someone to develop a high quality radio for the device, and then market the ...
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Seriously, this will just create more lawsuits, and will increase the cost of a phone a heck of a lot more than .30 just to cover lawyer fees.
Remember, the RIAA is the one who tried saying ATT ha...
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