Major Promotional Plans Underway for HD Radio; Groups, Ibiquity Cement Licensing and Data Fee Detail

Expect to see radio groups and receiver retailers ramp up promotion of HD Radio this year. That’s according to Ibiquity Digital President Robert Struble.
Speaking with RW Online in an exclusive interview here at CES, Struble said he expects radio groups to negotiate group buys for receivers to use as giveaways, and we’ll soon see station vans and special signage at remotes in which the HD Radio sound is promoted.
In a major group deal with radio groups announced earlier at this show, Struble said licensing agreements were worked out as part of the contracts. Those groups who agreed to accelerate their HD Radio conversions to the first half of this year agreed to pay a flat, one-time licensing fee of $5,000 per station to Ibiquity, said Struble.
Remember the long-ago discussed fees stations would pay Ibiquity if they made money off the data services associated with HD Radio? Struble says the 3% of a station’s revenues derived from data services that was discussed long ago is still a part of the deal with radio group owners. Non-coms are exempt from the data licensing fee so long as they air non-commercial material such as educational programming or radio reading services, said Struble and NPR’s Mike Starling.
That program can still include underwriting announcements. What is not OK, according to Starling here on the show floor at CES, would be exclusive, premium pay services, according to the deal between the network and Ibiquity.