Brits in a Tizzy Over Proposed Shutdown of All FM Radio – We may have problems with the introduction of Hybrid Digital Radio in the U.S., but it’s nothing compared to the twist in English knickers happening as a result of a “Digital Economy Bill” in Britain in which the government hopes to switch off all FM transmitters – 103 of them – by 2015. Since more than 90% of the UK population listens to the radio and 2/3 of them listen to FM, this means 100 million analog radio sets, with superior sound, would be useless. As part of the radio analog/digital switchover, the government wants to make all car radios digital by 2015 and for manufacturers to offer DAB radios for under £20.
The British digital radio system – DAB – is even worse than the U.S.’ HD Radio (which is compromised due to broadcasters’ insistance on having the same in-band frequency for both analog and digital). DAB employs an archaic MP2 compression format and sounds inferior to good FM stereo broadcasts, and in some sections of the country doesn’t come in at all. The government favored quantity over quality, and chose a system that crams as many stations as possible into the spectrum. DAB radios also draw more AC or battery power than analog radios. Now the Brit government wants to auction off the FM airwaves for use by mobile phone, Wi-Fi and other money-making efforts. Some countries are considering DAB+ technology, which offers better sound quality than standard DAB, but that would make all the present DAB radios obsolete. But the government also says the so-called “digital upgrade” cannot happen until 50% of all radio listening is being done on DAB. That’s unlikely with the expansion – as in the U.S. – of listening to Internet stations, which actually can have better audio quality than DAB. Many people want DAB and analog FM to co-exist, as analog and digital radio do in the U.S.
Rovi Hopes to Become Programming Guide for HDTVs, Blu-ray players and Set-top Boxes – The former Macrovision company wants to have its TotalGuide digital programming guide be the default user interface in a variety of connected video devices – positioning itself against TiVo, Boxee, Vudu and others. It boasts 20 new content partners who are integrating with their system, including Showtime, Rhapsody, ZillionTV, and several European firms. Some of their present content providers are CBS, Blockbuster, YouTube and Roxio CinemaNow. TotalGuide integrates cable and broadband video contect side-by-side in the same unified interface. It can be used as a search and discovery guide for the content, and to access reviews and metadata with suggestions for video viewing. Rovi also allows CE makers to pick and choose which content sources they want to support in their devices.
Sony Hopes for a Comeback – In the last few years Sony Corporation has lost out to more nimble competitors. Apple’s iPod has the corner on digital music players, in gaming Sony’s PlayStations trail competing machines from Nintendo’s Wii and DS, and Samsung has taken over as the leader in the flat-panel TV market. A new Sony Store in Nagoya Japan is copied after flagship Apple stores, and is part of the company’s new offensive for 2010. In the next few weeks Sony will introduce its new Sony Online Service, based on the PlayStation Network – a game download site with over 40 million accounts. Users will be able to download music, TV shows, movies and games from the company’s extensive library unto their various Sony gadgets. They are also working with Google and Intel on Google TV – a next-generation platform for TVs and set-top boxes, making it easier to browse the Web on TV sets. The first devices with the technology will be out this summer. Sony will also introduce tablet computers similar to Apple’s iPad.
