News & Events
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HD Radio™ Electronic Program Guide Project Begins Second Phase
The NAB FASTROAD-Sponsored Effort Will Present an On-Air Field Trial Later This Year
LAS VEGAS, N.V. (January 7, 2009)
– A project demonstrating the viability of an HD Radio Electronic Program Guide (EPG) ecosystem for AM and FM U.S. radio broadcasting has received approval and funding to proceed to a second phase, culminating in an on-air EPG field trial later this year.
“The project is the work of a consortium led by
BIA Advisory Services of Chantilly, VA and Broadcast Signal Lab of Boston, MA, with the cooperation of Unique Interactive, a UK-based company, and is funded by the National Association of Broadcasters Flexible Advanced Services for Television and Radio On All Devices (NAB FASTROAD) technology advocacy program. In the consortium's first phase of work last year, it researched the industry's needs and preferences on this subject, and developed a comprehensive proposal for an HD Radio EPG service architecture. This proposal, delivered to NAB FASTROAD last fall, included several key findings, which are detailed in the project's Business Requirements and Use Cases document. It is available for industry review at:
www.nabfastroad.org/NAB_FASTROAD_EPG_FINAL.pdf
The project has already generated a number of important conclusions. For example, implementing an EPG was found to be inherently more difficult for radio than for television broadcasting due to a number of factors, including the mobile nature of radio listening and the wide variation in radio receiver displays. Taking these challenges into account, the consortium has proposed a design for the U.S. HD Radio EPG system that incorporates several potential design architectures accommodating a range of delivery styles.
In the project's second phase, the consortium will continue to collect feedback from the industry on the evolving concept of an HD Radio EPG architecture, and move toward end-to-end trial operation of an EPG service in both laboratory and on-air environments. The proposed system builds upon an EPG-delivery specification developed by iBiquity Digital Corporation for its HD Radio technology, and expands its scope to interface with broadcast data authoring methods currently employed at radio stations. The proposal also considers EPG delivery to a wide variety of receiver types and displays (including fixed and mobile IP-connected devices), and accommodates the possibility of third-party "service bureaus" providing EPG data for stations or groups.
Later in 2009, the project will conclude with several months of on-air field trials in the Boston and Providence, RI markets, which were selected for their substantial numbers of HD Radio stations on-air, including many with coverage areas that overlap into the adjacent market (which provides additional challenges to mobile receivers in keeping a current EPG).
The consortium invites comments on its work to-date. Interested parties can review the consortium's initial conclusions in the document at the link above, and provide comment to
rducey@bia.com.
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About BIA Advisory Services
BIA Advisory Services, LLC, a subsidiary of BIA
Financial Network, provides research, data, analysis,
and financial and strategic consulting to media,
telecommunications, technology, directory publishing,
and local search companies. BIA Advisory Services
includes: The Kelsey Group, experts in traditional and
online local media and advertising; BIA Research,
providers of competitive and comparative market
information and analysis through data services,
specialized reporting, engineering studies and mapping;
and, BIA Consulting, specialists in business
intelligence and corporate growth strategy, and the
nation's leading communications appraisal and valuation
firm. Additional information is available at
www.bia.com. BIA's blog is located at
http://blog.bia.com/bia/ and the company can be
found on Twitter through
http://twitter.com/BIAfn. |
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About Broadcast Signal Lab
Broadcast Signal Lab provides a full range of broadcast
engineering services from FCC application engineering,
through facility design & construction, to continuing
signal quality monitoring & maintenance; including
migration to digital broadcasting. BSL is a member of
the National Radio Systems Committee and is actively
involved in the science, standardization and innovation
in digital terrestrial radio broadcasting. BSL's
managing partner, David Maxson, wrote The IBOC Handbook,
which lays out the entire structure of this digital
transmission system. See
www.broadcastsignallab.com for additional
information. |
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About Unique Interactive
Unique Interactive is all about Digital Radio &
Interactive Media technology. It supplies technology
products and services to broadcasters in the UK and
around the world. Specializing in data services for
broadcasters, it supplies systems that integrate with
existing technology, adding extra value to broadcasts
and creating solid revenue opportunities. Unique
Interactive currently supplies DLS Display Text services
to nearly 50% of UK broadcasters and has provided EPG
services to Canada, Australia and Korea, while supplying
the UK market with EPG services for over three years. It
is a market leader in broadcast data service provision,
and an innovator in a new and emerging field of
Interactive Radio. Unique Interactive is part of the UBC
Media Group plc, a UK public company quoted on the
London Stock Exchange. See
www.uniqueinteractive.co.uk for more information. |
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HD Radio
is a trademark of iBiquity Digital Corporation.
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