O aluguer do espectro como negócio... além da rádio

Há quem veja a rádio - não, talvez, a rádio como a conhecemos hoje... - como uma plataforma para distribuir conteúdos. Para além da sua actividade central, beneficiando de canais paralelos de transmissão.

O presidente da iBiquity, que inventou e está a desenvolver a tecnologia HD nos EUA, tem feito várias declarações sobre as potencialidades da rádio do futuro. Esta declaração é uma delas: "if Microsoft is right, we’ll all be reading our New York Times on an e-tablet five years from now. Radio broadcasters will be one of the main distributors of that sort of content. Between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, when they’re not selling a lot of ads, they’ll be able to turn down their audio and blast out The New York Times to 100,000 e-tablets around Manhattan - and they’ll get paid for it. It’s spectrum rental. The Internet is a great way for distribution, but radio has great spectrum that’s so economically attractive compared with anything else out there - cell phones, WiFi etc.
We’re also excited about the concept of a “Buy” button. There’s no better place for an impulse purchase than when you’re sitting in traffic listening to ads. Radios will have a “Buy” button: If I like a song and want to download it, I press the “Buy” button, and that track gets downloaded in the format I want. Or, if I’m listening to an ad for 1-800-FLOWERS, I can press the “Buy” button. That stuff is very doable, and we think it’s pretty cool. Plus, the radio station gets a cut of the sale, because it occurred when that station was being listened to." "If You Aren’t Thinking Digital, You’re Smokin’ Dope" (04/11/05)
By Reed Bunzel, Editor-in-Chief "Radio Ink"