Phase out over-the-air signals? (was: Re: WCRB to simulcast on 88.

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Wed, 8 Jun 2011 11:34:04 -0400 (EDT), TVNETDUDE@aol.com said:

> How well would Sirius and MLB do if they didn't stream?

Pretty well, thank you very much.  Streaming is nearly pure revenue as
far as they are concerned.

> How many people that run from one to a dozen internet radio stations
> from home will ever see a dime?

How many people that run from one to a dozen Internet radio stations
from home will ever see a listener who isn't a friend or relative?
 
> As for the Globe and the Herald, what could it cost them to put
> their content on-line?

A good deal, but far less than it costs them to put it in print.
Distribution costs, however, are only a part of the cost of publishing
a newspaper -- and they are in a real bind right now because most of
their readership is online but most of their revenue is still in print
advertising.  If you fairly allocated costs of content *creation* on
the basis of aggregate readership, print would make money (still) and
online would lose money.  (But print without online would lose money!)

> The cellular industry could be a source of revenue

No, the cellular industry will be a source of *cost*, not revenue.
The cellular industry is interested in selling improved listening
quality and reduced bandwidth consumption (relative to unicast
streaming).  That's why they don't want those FM tuners enabled.

> but how would one "Oldies Station" differentiate itself from
> another?

By providing programming that appeals to a particular audience,
whether it be based on connection to a particular community, air
personalities, or playlist -- in other words, the same way the
successful ones do now.  If there is no unique value proposition in
the content, there is no reason for consumers to prefer one source
over another -- and in particular, there is no reason for them to
prefer to rent content, by listening to advertising or paying
subscription fees, when they can spend less and buy a copy for
themselves.  That business model is, if not finished, clearly on its
last legs.

-GAWollman