RBR.com is reporting that ABC Radio’s new streaming media solution should begin to launch next month -- with the AM stations. The goal is to have all the AMs up by July 1.

Though Real Broadcast Networks has said (in RAIN, here) that their company would be handling ad-insertion and "repping" for ABC Radio (among others), ABC Radio New Media EVP Geoff Rich says that not entirely accurate. Instead ABC will use the Media Touch/OMT Technologies’ “iMediaAdCast” system for ad-insertion. RBN will, however, provide international "gating" -- the ability to block or substitute programming to audiences outside of the U.S. for copyright purposes -- to ABC.

And, Rich tells RBR, ABC will handle its own ad sales. "We’ve been repping our own advertisements, both streaming and website ads, since the beginning. We have a specific department that’s dedicated to doing new media sales and they work with the traditional AEs who sell the regular radio ad time,” he says.

According to Rich, the company first discussed the need to replace or substitute online material last December, in the wake of royalty demands from the RIAA. Rich says, “We became concerned with a variety of issues with regard to Internet streaming -- digital copyright and rights management. So we actually started taking down our streams in March because of these issues in order to put together a combination of technology solutions as well as negotiated rights with third party content holders.”

Read the entire RBR piece here.

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From Radio World Online: "The Internet is losing its gloss all round, including as a viable alternative means of delivering radio. Broadcasters who rushed to set up audio streams and stake a claim to cyberspace now realize that it is limited and expensive.

"Broadband connection is essential, and even then the share of radio listening by Internet is minimal compared to traditional radio reception. The commercial value of a Los Angeles listener to a radio station in Paris, France, is nil. IT managers hate it when corporate networks clog up with multiple radio feeds, and ADSL backbones congest when too many users access high bandwidth content.

"One of the world’s largest broadcasters reckons its maximum capacity of 30,000 simultaneous Internet streams costs up to $30,000 per hour (including server, throughput and licensing). Compare that to the $100 per hour of a national digital transmitter network reaching unlimited millions, and it isn’t hard to see that the efficiency of the broadcast model is way ahead of Internet streaming.

"The same limitations apply to mobile phones which...cannot provide even a fraction of a percent of the capacity terrestrial radio broadcasters need. Moreover, listening to radio on a mobile phone connection is never going to be free to air.

"In any analysis, terrestrial radio remains the most powerful and compelling consumer proposition. Digital radio adds considerable value to the proposition, yet keeps all the attributes of existing radio.

"So is there a clear way forward without confusion? One realistic option is to encourage a combination of technologies to satisfy market needs. This could ensure the success of all the digital radio systems rather than the damaging and expensive likelihood of market failure for one or more of them. Ultimately the consumer isn’t driven by the best technology, he just wants a radio that works and we should be capable of delivering that to him."

The author of this piece is Quentin Howard, CEO of Digital One, the national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom. Read the entire essay here.

...

... Mr. Howard brings up some valid points here (and if you read the entire piece, he really seems to understand the digital broadcast world). But his $30,000/hour streaming figure seems high. This would come out to about $1/listener/hour, whereas we've generally heard estimates closer to a dime. ...

From CBS Marketwatch: "The Internet music subscription service that RealNetworks and several major music labels are backing gets its first public demonstration Thursday at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill.

"Rob Glaser, chairman of the Seattle-based software company, will show off MusicNet to members of a House Judiciary subcommittee that oversees intellectual property. 'The hearing is intended to educate members about the availability of music online and the obstacles to offering digital music for sale on the Internet,' said Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., the panel's chairman, in a letter to lawmakers...

"RealNetworks is providing the technology for MusicNet, a venture in which Bertelsmann AG, AOL Time Warner, and EMI Group own interests."

Read the entire article here.

The hearing will be Webcast here at 12 p.m. Central time.