[BC] DRM broadcasting to begin in USA

[Robert Orban]

At 12:51 PM 10/20/2007, Dana Puopolo wrote:
>The FCC has been BOUGHT AND PAID FOR by Ubquity. They don't WANT DRM!
>
>The FCC is too political to be useful any more. It needs to be abolished!

Above, you made a public claim that the FCC accepted bribes to 
approve iBiquity's system. I presume you have evidence that money 
changed hands between iBiquity and FCC staff and/or commissioners? 
Please provide the details of this; I would be very curious to know 
who gave and received the money and how many dollars changed hands.

I believe that the actual story is much less melodramatic:

The NAB originally wanted Eureka 147 -- a "new-band" system. Then the 
NAB changed its collective mind when it realized that Eureka would 
provide coverage parity, deciding to go with an IBOC system instead. 
Given the later failure of Eureka to find consumer acceptance 
anywhere but in the U.K., this might yet be proven to have been a 
good decision.

The NRSC got involved very early (ca 1991?). Under its auspices, 
extensive tests were made in 1995 of several competing systems. These 
tests assessed both the RF and audio codec performances. The RF tests 
were done in the same facility that had done the ATSC digital 
television tests. The codecs were assessed by CRC in Canada. (I was 
one of the listeners in those tests.) The results of these 1995 tests 
were presented to NRSC members in a 2-day seminar in Monterey 
California. (I was there and learned a great deal.) None of the 
systems passed muster with the NRSC -- it was back to the drawing board.

After more technical development of the systems, the "grand alliance" 
(of USA Digital Radio and Lucent) was formed several years later and 
named iBiquity. Further testing ensued under NRSC auspices. The RF 
codec performance was considered "as good as could be expected, given 
the IBOC mandate." The codec (PAC) was not considered good enough for 
AM use, although it was OK for FM at 96 kbps. iBiquity replaced PAC 
with HDC, which worked much better at low bit rates.

The NRSC approved this system for recommendation to the FCC. The FCC, 
having no serious alternative, approved the system with the caveat 
that nighttime AM interference might prove problematic and that the 
FCC might have to act to alleviate such problems if they developed.

Bob Orban