canwest and trn might start to ge the heebee geebee's seeing some smaller
broadcasters forced to possibly end business. I see Kraft food's are
watching their backs now incase the toacco laywers hit the food industry for
providing more fatty unhealthy foods. Maybe radio in this country should be
put on it's tippy toes in the same way.... an fm license is still a pretty
big deal in my eyes not a jukebox license.... it's the means of a highly
respected way to deliver imediate and useful resources and information.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Mosen" <jonathan@...>
To: <lpfm_radio@...>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 01:34
Subject: [LPFM] Interesting Article in the Herald


> Rule change could destroy broadcasting network
>
> 07.07.2003
> 4.00pm - By ADAM GIFFORD
>
> The founder of an Auckland Indian language radio station is crying foul
over
> a change in the radio licensing regime which could force him off the air.
>
> Apna FM broadcasts from its Henderson base under the general user radio
> licence for low power FM, using supplementary low power transmitters to
> network
> its signal across the city.
>
> It also supplies a feed to Sky, for free transmission through Sky
decoders.
>
> But under the new licence rules gazetted last month, from October 1 there
> can be only one low power FM transmitter broadcasting the same signal
within
> a
> 25km radius.
>
> A 500 microwatt transmitter, the most powerful type allowed under the
> licence, can broadcast about 5km.
>
> Ministry of Economic Development senior policy analyst Ian Hutchings said
> Cabinet decided low power FM was for local broadcasters.
>
> "It is intended to be for local entrepreneurs to get on and do it, to put
> their toe in the broadcasting water," Hutchings said.
>
> "Some people want to use low power FM to create a network emulating high
> power FM. The Government says this is not on," he said.
>
> Hutchings said the debate was over what constitutes local.
>
> But Apna chief executive Shyam Karan said there was nothing in the old
> licence saying low power FM was just for amateurs broadcasting out of
their
> bedrooms.
>
> "Apna started under the regulations as they stood, using frequencies which
> were under-utilised," Karan said.
>
> He said the radio station wanted to provide a particular service to a
> particular group of people.
>
> The spectrum set aside for low power FM - 88.1 to 88.7 MHz in the lower FM
> band and 106.7 to 107.7 MHz in the upper FM band - are both guard bands
> shielding
> neighbouring users like taxi radios and aeronautical users from
interference
> from high power FM stations.
>
> Karan said users understood it was unregulated because the Ministry of
> Economic Development didn't have the resources to police it - which means
> Apna has
> little recourse against broadcasters deliberately jamming the frequencies
it
> uses.
>
> "Now we find the radio spectrum management unit is saying it will have a
> bigger role to play in that it is regulating content."
>
> While it will be illegal to create a low power network blanketing
> metropolitan Auckland, there is nothing to stop a broadcaster sending its
> signal to a
> satellite and rebroadcasting the result elsewhere in the country on low
> power FM transmitters - as long as the transmitters are 25 km apart.
>
> Radio Rhema technical operations manager Andrew Fraser said the Christian
> broadcaster uses this method to get its signal into small communities that
> buy
> their own transmitter.
>
> "We had a chat to the ministry to discuss what issues there were with that
> frequency, and they came out with a policy which suits the way we use
them,"
> Fraser said.
>
> Hitchings said two commercial FM licences covering Auckland will come up
for
> auction later this year, for which broadcasters who want to shift up from
> low
> power FM can bid.
>
> But Karan said Apna is unlikely to win one of them if it has to compete
with
> the effective duopoly controlling the Auckland radio market: Canwest and
The
> Radio Network.
>
> "We are prepared to pay for resources. We can pay a fair market value for
> frequency when it comes up, but we are up against companies who are not
> looking
> at market value but reservation value, the cost of shutting off the market
> to competitors."
>
> He said by taking a particular market-driven approach, the ministry is
> ignoring social issues relating to spectrum allocation.
>
> The amount of spectrum for low power FM users is further restricted by a
> rule in the licence saying transmissions on the bands from 88.5 to 88.7
MHz
> are
> not permitted within 120km of the Skytower.
>
> This is to protect the signal from Mai FM, which through a quirk in the
> development of Maori broadcasting was assigned the 88.6MHz slot.
>
>
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