5.4.4 Limites à internet (legais e financeiros)

Limites internacionais à expansão dos conteúdos

É um tema estruturante e de grande importãncia no futuro:

«During a five-day meeting in Geneva of the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, an unlikely coalition of delegates from developing nations and technology organizations such as Intel and the U.S. Telecom Association voiced strong objections to treaty provisions covering webcasting and "simulcasting" over broadcast or cable networks and computer networks»

fonte: «Webcasting Gets a Reprieve», Technology Review, Wade Roush, 8/5/06

Impor fronteiras à rádio na net

Dizia-se que a rádio na internet acabava com uma das limitações maiores da rádio hertizana: o fim das fronteiras impsoats pela capacidade de cada emissor.

Uma nova disposição legal na Grã-Bretanha obriga as rádios que emitem música e transmitem pela net a pagar uma licença extra. Resultado: muitas rádios acabaram com o streaming para não residentes.

Este artigo do Guardian fala detalhadamente sobre isso (e sobre os direitos de autor, mais o problema da concorrência com as rádios dos EUA, que não têm esse problema e ganham mais mercado mundial, pela desistência das britânicas): «Will licensing kill the radio star? New rules on royalties are stifling British internet radio stations while allowing foreign rivals to broadcast into the UK unhindered», Guardian Unlimited, Wendy M. Grossman, May 4, 2006.

(dica: Chão de Papel)

Os custos da rádio na internet e o modelo de negócio

excertos de um texto que pode ser resumido assim: "How is the independent internet radio market going to survive?"

- «Growing costs for bandwidth are coupled with exorbitant monies being paid for music fees (...) Dailysonic is the station that’s introduced "Subtract," a system that allows audience members to remove audio ads in its program. Here’s a section of the sell-line featured at DailySonic: "For each Subtract that you buy, you’ll get one less advertisement inserted into your show. And it’s pretty inexpensive. Each Subtract costs 6 cents..."

OK, people don’t like advertisements. But the fact that we have reached a point where an industry that is trying to survive from selling ads is telling its audience that these ads are bad, is bad»

Mais: «The system allows listeners to remove advertisements from their online radio show by purchasing "Subtracts". Each Subtract costs a few pennies, and results in one less ad heard by the listener.

Unlike subscription-based online radio, listeners can purchase as many or as few "Subtracts" as they want. There is no contract or minimum cost, and unused subtracts automatically roll over to the next month. When a listener's subtracts run out, advertising gets re-inserted into the show without interruption of service»

Stern na internet (mas a pagar...)

(da BillBoard Radio MOnitor) «Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin said during Friday morning’s earnings call that there are definite plans to offer Howard Stern’s show as a streaming Internet option to subscribers but that concerns about the clarity and security of the signal are the main holdups.

"Karmazin didn’t offer a timetable for putting Stern on the Internet, other than to say 'Stay tuned.' He did say, however, that such a product would not cost  subscribers anything additional.
“'We are very concerned about the overall [Internet] backbone and its availability to' accommodate a regular stream of Stern’s programming, he said. Karmazin was certain that such an offering would be very popular and that 'we may get additional subscribers' but added 'we are not going to do it until we get the technical issues worked out so we can be assured of the security and a clear listening experience,'... "»

Stern To Stream Via Sirius; Fox Returns,Feb. 17, 2006 , By Tony Sanders

(act) Uma rádio na internet a pagar

Será um caso raro e merece desenvolvimento:

Primeiro foi o FM (97X): criada em Setembro de 1983, a woxy 97.7 FM em Oxford, Ohio (Cincinnati), como rádio Alternativa e dedicada ao rock moderno.
A partir de Setembro de 1998, passaram a emitir em simultâneo (simulcasting) através da Internet (woxy.com). Em 2004 a empresa proprietária das duas rádios foi vendida, mas o negócio correu mal e, por problemas financeiros, a emissão hertziana fechou. Desde 16 de Julho de 2004 que são, provavelmente, a primeira rádio hertziana que passou a cem por cento para a Internet.
O prestígio da rádio foi crescendo como espaço alternativo e diferente do panorama radiofónico. Ganhou ouvintes em muitos países, para além dos Estados Unidos.
A partir de Fevereiro de 06 (19 meses de serviço livre) passou a ser um site por subscrição (“a listener-supported operation”), garantindo que assim irão melhorar o serviço oferecido aos ouvintes.
A Woxy.com explica que esta alteração se deve às dificuldades que a rádio na Internet encontra: “Technology hasn’t quite bridged the gap to allow easy access to internet radio in your car and other remote locations. Satellite radio is portable and nifty except that we’re not on it. While it’s technically possible to receive Internet radio on certain mobile phones today, the process is far from being user friendly or widely available. But we have no doubts that easy Internet radio in your car, iPod or phone is just around the corner. We just need to figure out how to stick around until that time comes”

Enquanto isso não acontece (ou seja, enquanto a publicidade não se vira para a emissão on line), e para resolver as dificuldades financeiras conjunturais (“means paying music royalties to all kinds of folks (royalties that are probably going even higher this year), handling the costs of reliable streaming, providing health insurance for our employees and filing our taxes. We like to run a clean business”), pretendem atingir 7 mil membros numa espécie de clube, pelo preço de três cafés ou um bilhete de cinema (“For the bargain price of $9.95/month we will be offering 24-hour, true broadband, CD-quality streams to subscribers”); ou seja, quase três dólares menos do que a subscrição via satélite (Sirius e XM)

Nota final: "But the message on the station’s Web site says that it likely will have to restrict all of its broadcasts to paying supporters if it doesn’t attract enough subscribers by March 6. Miller declined to say how many listeners the station needs to sign up".

Informações recolhidas em http://www.woxy.com/ e http://www.woxy.com/support/faq.php

Outros links de interesse: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u41559.shtml e http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060206/BIZ01/302060016

ACT a 11/3/06: «Following a surprising announcement last month of impending financial disaster, long time webcaster WOXY has announced that  initial efforts to raise necessary funding have allowed the station to stay on the air for the time being.
A note to listeners on WOXY's web page says that the station's push for individual donations, as well as new revenue from the newly-instated high-quality streams available only to members, has yielded positive results.
According to the website, "[WOXY's] investors are encouraged by our growth so far and have pledged to hang in there. We still have a ways to go, but with your continued support ... and some innovation on our end, we’re going to be able to get to where we need to be."
The station's immediate future appears to still be in jeopardy. The original notice posted on the website in early February [read  previous RAIN coverage here] announced that WOXY had until March 6 to raise enough money to stay afloat, both through membership pledges and donations. If some unspecified level of financial support was not met by that date, the website announced that the station may have had to go off the air altogether". (fonte: «Woxy funding push shows hope, webcast's future still uncertain» RAIN, BY DANIEL MCSWAIN, 10/3/2006)