Phase out over-the-air signals? (was: Re: WCRB to simulcast on 88.7in R.I.)

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:57:24 -0400, "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com> said:

> question.  Unless they do, the Bob Bittners of this world will have to 
> go elsewhere -- maybe on the Internet, where you don't need a license, a 
> transmitter, or the real estate for one.  Or the large electric bill.

Ah, but you need a different kind of license to do Internet
broadcasting, thanks to a bogus distinction in the copyright law that
treats streaming as somehow magically different from OTA broadcasting
as far as piracy goes.  The NAB has thus far successfully fought off
correcting this in a way that would hurt OTA broadcasters, which the
copyright industry has been lobbying for for years.  But Bob's
electric bill at WJIB is probably less than the mandatory copyright
license costs would be for streaming to the same number of listeners.
Plus, the blanket license for streaming includes a number of asinine
restrictions on program content (e.g., cannot play more than three
songs performed by the same artist in an hour).

-GAWollman