 RAIN 12/8: UK radio expert warns: The Yanks are coming (via Internet radio)! ·Dec 8, 11:23 AM WORLDWIDE REACH OF U.S. STREAMING RADIO ENDANGERS UK COMMERCIAL RADIO, WARNS EXPERTA British radio industry expert warns that through Internet radio, U.S. powerhouses like CBS and Clear Channel could come to dominate the commercial radio market in the UK and beyond.
Grant Goddard, in a post to his Radio Blog (here), uses the news of the CBS takeover of Yahoo! LAUNCHcast streaming (see RAIN here) to warn of an Internet “turf war,” with CBS and Clear Channel battling to “own the Internet streaming space.” Goddard warns that “it will eventually prove effective to extend their businesses into other territories at low marginal cost. “Now there is nothing (except music copyright agreements) that will be able to stop either CBS Radio or Clear Channel from streaming their radio stations into every home in the UK with broadband access,” Goddard writes. And since so many UK commercial stations have reduced or abandoned their unique, local “talk” content in favor of cheaper-to-produce music programming, he warns they’ll soon be vulnerable to competition from U.S. media companies (who don’t have access to AM/FM radio in Britain), as Internet-delivered radio gains dominance. NEW FLYCAST PRODUCTS ALLOW BROADCASTERS, NET RADIO TO OFFER BRANDED APPS FlyCast is now offering two new free services that give broadcasters and webcasters “smartphone” applications that are branded exclusively for their stations or networks.
The first, FlyCast DirectLink, is a iPhone app, branded for and linking to a single station stream. The second, called CustomCast, is designed for broadcasters that offer more than one streaming channel, or multi-channel webcasters. It’s a branded FlyCast channel guide, downloadable to smartphones like the Apple iPhone, with listen links for the multiple listening options from a single RAIN readers will remember a similar product offered by Jacobs Media (RAIN coverage here). Like it, the new FlyCast apps give stations and webcasters a direct and visible link on these hot mobile platforms, instead of expecting listeners to scroll through a directory of hundreds or even thousands of online options. Listeners can download FlyCast apps to the BlackBerry (Bold, Storm, Curve), iPhone (Original, 3G, and iPod Touch), or even to their Mac or PC desktop. Read more at Radio Ink here. AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA LAUNCHES iPHONE APPA new American Public Media iPhone app will allow listeners to find and play public radio streams. The Public Radio Tuner is free, and more than 150 public radio streams are included. Read more in the Apple fan blog TUAW here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
broadcaster or webcaster. It’s also free to FlyCast affiliates. 
Concerning Grant Goddard’s blog article, three points must be made: (1) CBS already streams the vast majority of its stations (as well as its HD2 channels) worldwide so if there is any damage it has already been done; (2) Clear Channel, because of copyright and union rules, discontinued worldwide streaming last year, and I have as yet to hear of any plans for the company to begin streaming worldwide again anytime soon (the stations’ streams can still be heard in the U.S. and its territories); and (3) many of the British commercial stations Mr. Goddard is talking about have streamed worldwide in the past and are awaiting for the same thing I think Clear Channel is—an international copyrights agreement!
— ted chittenden · Dec 9, 06:34 AM · #