[cma-l] FW: The Cost Of The DAB Trials

[tlr at gairloch.co.uk]

James
 
Actually I think if we were on the Community Radio PPL licence terms (which is
an option open to us) we might pay more than on the commercial radio terms for
simulcasting.
As far as I know, PPL's Community Radio licence for a station with Internet and
DAB simulcasting is more expensive than it is for a micro commercial station,
owing to the effect of PPL's minimum fee structure.I think CR licence holders
would pay £1348 for  FM + DAB + 50 streams, or £1561 with 100 streams), compared
with a £1218 minimum for commercial licencees with Internet & DAB, but I'm not
certain. Either way the difference isn't great.
 
I don't see any basis for the Devil's argument that multiplatform should not be
'thrown in'. A DAB simulcast would not serve any more people for us, and In any
case the number of people served is not a direct  factor in PPL's licence rates.
The principle underlying the Copyright Tribunal's ruling that forms the basis
for the charging relies on the station's net revenue being an acceptable proxy
for the real value of PPL's repertoire. The ruling also had no provision for a
minimum charge to be levied.
 
Another niggle with PPL's licensing is that the Internet charge for CR licencees
is based on maximum number of streams permitted by the streaming server,
regardless of use. We used ot have a server capable of 100 streams that rarely
had more than 5 listeners - what concern is it of PPL's if for whatever reason
we elect to have an underutilized stream server?
 
Alex
 

> On 12 March 2015 at 23:06 James Cridland <james at cridland.net> wrote:
> 
> 
>  Alex, you said:
> 
>  >I see no justification for any additional charge simply because you are
>  >available on two different types of radio.
> 
>  To play devil's advocate - if you paid the commercial radio rate, you don't
> pay extra for internet streaming nor for DAB simulcast.
> 
>  If you pay a lower amount for being a community station, you could argue that
> it is understandable that you don't get the multiplatform thrown in.
> 
>  I'd be interested to understand whether, if you are a community radio station
> on FM and you also stream online and broadcast on DAB, do you end up paying
> more than a commercial radio licence? I'm guessing not, but I don't know.
> 
>  (Lest you think I am backing PPL or PRS, a quick Google search will dissuade
> you of that thought)
> 
>  James
> 
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