Re: Nail in streaming's coffin

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

Since Entercom, despite using a service provider that 
offers the technology necessary to keep the AFTRA ads 
off the Web, has opted to pull its streams, doesn't it 
sound to you as if the AFTRA contract simply provided 
the company with a convenient excuse for eliminating an 
expense that wasn't producing any revenue?

I gather that none of the geniuses that run these groups 
have enough smarts to figure out that, because of the 
Web's unlimited geographic reach and the large variety 
of signals large groups can offer, the Web need not be a 
financial drain but can actually become a significant 
revenue source via the national spot load. What's more, 
although Arbitron doesn't "measure" Web listening, Web 
listening is much more easily and accurately measured 
than is listening to over-the-air signals. The 
measurement technology is virtually inherent in the 
medium.

I guess the problem is that it would probably take 
several years to build up the Web-exclusive spot load to 
the point where streaming showed a profit. In the 
meantime, the nervous stockholders of these highly 
leveraged broadcast groups wouldn't tolerate any 
expenses ***that they are aware of*** that fail to bring 
substantial profits to the bottom line THIS QUARTER.

I think that for a group that's financially able to be 
patient there's an opportunity here to cash in big-time. 
I can't think of a more likely candiate than Paul Allen. 
Sporting News Radio should be streaming its product and 
using StreamAudio's technology or the equivalent, even 
if the only Web spots they can sell initially are PIs.

> Entercom has an exclusive group deal(signed in 5/2000) with StreamAudio.
> *All* of their streaming stations use StreamAudio.