Planning to attend the NAB European Radio Conference in London next week? It's a great conference — typically, my favorite of the year. (Details here.) I'll be on a panel Monday morning called "Predicting the Future" with Paul Brown, Chief Executive of the CRCA (the trade body for commercial radio companiesin the U.K.), Leif Lonsmann, Managing Director, DR - Danish Radio, and Mark Pallain, Vice President of the Board, NRJ Group. If enough RAIN readers will be attending, let's make plans to have a RAIN Reader Cocktail Party -- maybe a pub crawl? Drop me a line at kurt@kurthanson.com. — KH

BY PAUL MALONEY
Today's Wall Street Journal includes a special 12-page "Telecommunications" section devoted to broadband Internet access. Over a series of twelve articles, the paper examines the business of broadband Internet providers, how having an "always-on" broadband Internet connection changes the way consumers use the Internet, and investment issues and opportunities in this arena.

Disappointingly, Internet radio is conspicuously absent as a topic, especially in discussions of "what's out there for consumers." We think that as ubiquitous as traditional radio has become over its 80-year history, Internet radio -- often free and available in high quality over broadband connections -- stands to become a "killer app." And when wireless broadband hits the mainstream, this industry will have the potential to compete with local and national broadcast radio.

The Journal articles do contain some important points, so we've included some excerpts below. We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Wall Street Journal today. The front page of the "Telecommunications" section, with links to all of the section's individual articles, is here (WSJ subscription required).

Broadband makes
Internet access almost seamless
From the WSJ's "Editor's Note" for today's "Telecommunications" section: "'It makes the Internet like air.'

"So says a consumer in Bob Hagerty's terrific article in this report ["The Fabric of Our Lives," excerpts below] -- and it's hard to come up with a better way to describe the impact of broadband. After a day or two of using it, you barely notice you have it; it just becomes part of the fabric of your day-to-day life. It's only when it's taken away -- and you have to go back to dial-up service -- that you realize just how much a part of your daily routine it has become.

"But don't be fooled by the seeming lack of drama. The Broadband Age is ushering in a whole new Internet, with profound implications for everybody involved. For those who use the Internet. For those who build a business around the Internet. And for those who invest in those Internet businesses."

Read the "Editor's Note" online here (subscription required).

The increasing reach of broadband
From the WSJ article "Profiting From the Broadband Revolution": "After years of hype and false starts, we can finally declare it: The Age of Broadband is here...

"By the end of this year, about 22.5 million households in the U.S. will have high-speed Internet access, or 21% of all households nationwide, according to the Yankee Group, a Boston consulting firm; by 2008, about half of all residences are expected to have a broadband hookup. Meanwhile, at the end of this year, some 7.4 million businesses will have the speedy connections.

"That's a lot of people, and it's already having a huge effect on what we see and do online. Video and music increasingly are becoming the norm..."

Read this entire article online here (subscription required).

Broadband makes the Internet
an answer book that's always open
From the WSJ article "The Fabric of Our Lives": "A squabble erupted recently in the Araujo family of Temecula, Calif. Three generations were at odds over the lyrics to the Queen song 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' Were the shaggy rockers singing about 'Ms. Miller'? Or saying something in German?

"'We jumped online,' says Charlie Araujo, a technology consultant and father of three, 'and within minutes we had the answer.' It was 'bismillah,' an Arabic word meaning 'in the name of Allah.'

"When the Araujos had a dial-up connection to the Internet, they probably wouldn't have bothered to spend several minutes calling up their service provider just to fetch some trivia. Now that they have a broadband connection, the line to the Internet is always open for work, entertainment or dispute mediation.

"Is this the stuff of high drama? No. But then, that's the point: As the Araujos and millions of others are discovering, broadband connections are changing Internet use in countless subtle yet profound ways. They make it much easier to use the Internet frequently, often in short bursts, rather than only once or twice a day to check e-mail, say, or monitor an eBay auction...

"Like many teenagers, Lindsay Napchen practically takes broadband for granted as a feature of her daily life. It allows her to keep the Internet connection open while she's watching television, doing homework or chatting on the phone...

"'We'll never go back,' says Darrin Magee, 31, who is working on a doctorate in geography at the University of Washington and has had broadband for about 18 months. He's delving into the implications of dam building in China's Yunnan province, and so needs to pull up large documents with Chinese text and graphics. Occasionally, he listens to an online radio station that specializes in bluegrass music, and he buys motorcycle parts on eBay."

Read this entire article online here (subscription required).

Wi-Fi fulfills promise
of mobile, portable Internet
From the WSJ article "Fast and Footloose": "Many consumers have grown tired of hearing of the coming of mobile broadband...

"Now, though, users of mobile devices are starting to get Web access at speeds that finally meet those early promises. It's happening primarily through the technology known as Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, which gives consumers fast wireless connections to the Web as long as they are within a few hundred feet of the connection's source, such as a DSL or cable modem. These connections are increasingly showing up in public areas, known as hot spots, like hotels, airport lounges, bookstores and even Starbucks coffee shops."

Read this entire article online here (subscription required).

The front page of the "Telecommunications" section, with links to all of the section's individual articles, is here.

From the Dallas Star-Telegram: "As owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban [on the left in photo] knows a thing or two about theatrics. As Cuban's longtime friend and business partner, Todd Wagner [right] is used to working behind the scenes.

"Both skills should come in handy as the two prepare to do for movies what they did for broadcasting over the Internet. Since selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999 for $5.7 billion, Cuban and Wagner have been building up assets in the entertainment industry...

"What started as separate business ventures became the backbone of a new conglomerate of sorts, meshing Wagner's passion for film with Cuban's penchant for exploiting new technology...

"Their business model now includes some old cinemas... and some new digital networks -- assets that are outside the purview of most big Hollywood studios. If their untraditional web of holdings makes them outliers in an established industry, then Cuban and Wagner are in rather familiar territory.

"'Todd and I always look to mess up industries,' Cuban said during an interview at the Inwood Theatre lounge. When the old guard of an industry shows resistance to change, he said, 'that's to us a green light to really explore.'..

"'When we go out there, it's like we're the two rich Texas guys, and everybody can't wait to fleece you,' he said. 'But they found out we weren't just going to sign' deals unless they make sense for the duo's new venture."

Read this entire article online here.