Broadcaster Traffic Consortium Expands with New Broadcasting Partners
Apr 24, 2009 9:18 AM
Indianapolis – Apr 20, 2009 – Broadcaster Traffic Consortium (BTC), a new joint venture of eight radio companies, has added Journal Broadcasting, Regent Communications, Saga Communications and Corus Entertainment and the Corus radio stations in Canada as contributing broadcasters for FM RBDS and HD Radio data distribution.
“Through the addition of these new broadcasting partners and continued contributions by the founding members, BTC has grown to cover 82 FM RBDS and 74 HD Radio markets as well as the top seven Canadian metropolitan areas with FM-RDS,” said Paul Brenner, president for the consortium and SVP/chief technology officer for Emmis Communications. 77 FM RBDS markets and 63 HD Radio Data markets are active today with the remaining BTC committed markets to be completed in Q2 2009.
BTC uses RBDS and HD Radio technology to deliver real-time Navteq traffic and other location-based information directly to portable navigation devices and automobile in-dash systems. With the high bandwidth capacity provided via RBDS and HD Radio technology, consumers can obtain high-quality, up-to-date information including traffic flow and points of interest when and where they need it most.
BTC aligns traditional radio business model with consumer-demand applications. “BTC represents a considerable commitment to innovation by all the participants,” said Brenner. “Our purpose is to further accelerate consumer HD Radio receiver penetration and create new revenue. The expansion of BTC represents the power of our industry to unite our resources and deliver innovative service solutions to relevant content partners. By leveraging our strengths-low-cost distribution, localized content, nationwide coverage and digital capacity-we are re-establishing this industry as an innovative means of engaging consumers.”
Brenner also said that broadcasters’ ability to monetize the HD Radio bandwidth is greatly increased by providing a one-stop shop for a low-cost nationwide data distribution channel. BTC represents a data distribution service that allows broadcasters to expand beyond traditional audio programming as their sole use of HD Radio technology’s capabilities and enable major service providers to leverage broadcasters’ free, over-the-air systems to meet consumer demand for interactive user-specific data applications.
Founding members of BTC are Beasley Broadcast Group, Bonneville International, Cox Radio, Emmis Communications, Entercom Communications, Greater Media, National Public Radio and Radio One. Additional members include Cumulus Media, Lincoln Financial Media, Hubbard Broadcasting and Cobalt Media.
The Broadcaster Traffic Consortium
The Broadcaster Traffic Consortium, an alliance of several broadcast groups, is working with Navteq to provide real-time traffic and other location-based information for portable navigation devices and automobile in-dash systems via HD Radio technology….
