The Broadcaster Traffic Consortium, an alliance of radio broadcasters that is active in pushing new data offerings via the radio infrastructure, has launched a website with tailored information about the future of digital radio. The site is aimed at automakers, consumer device makers and other radio owners.
BTC is a group of 16 radio organizations with members in the United States and Canada. As Radio World has reported in the past, they formed a broadcasting network to distribute local traffic, weather and other map-related data using their analog and digital radio signals. Combined, they cover 92 markets with FM RDS-TMC and 75 markets with HD Radio data services. Many in broadcast see the coalition as a competitor to Clear Channel, which has a significant station-based data platform of its own and is not a BTC member.
Seven of the 10 largest U.S. radio organizations are BTC participants.
“The automakers and consumer device makers need to have ready access to current information about BTC’s breadth and capability,” BTC President Paul Brenner, said. “Radiobtc.com tells the story of our industry-wide success in bringing together independent broadcasters for a single data delivery solution.”
The website includes information on market coverage, news, coverage maps and history of the BTC.
At the recent Los Angeles Auto show, Honda launched the 2011 Odyssey, which includes FM Traffic on navigation-enabled cars. This is the first of several announcements from Honda, according to Brenner.
