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Ad disputes tune Web radio out

Summary

A struggle over online ads prompts some of the biggest radio conglomerates to pull the plug temporarily on the Web versions of their programming.

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A struggle between actors, advertisers and broadcasters over online ads has led some of the biggest radio conglomerates in the United States to pull the plug temporarily on the Web versions of their programming.

On Tuesday, Clear Channel Communications, Emmis Communications and several other companies turned off many or all their Web streams. The radio stations are caught in the middle of a dispute over payments to commercial actors when advertisements are streamed online as well as played on air.

"This was a corporate decision," Kevin Mayer, chief executive of Clear Channel Internet Group, said in a statement. "We are working hard to resolve outstanding issues with all concerned parties. It is our intention to put the streams back up when it makes legal and financial sense."

Clear Channel owns more than 1,100 radio stations around the country. The shutdown affects KFI Talk Radio and KIIS in Los Angeles and KMEL in San Francisco, among many others.

The stumbling block resembles the ongoing fights over online music rights, indicating that confusion over Internet rights extends farther than is typically realized. Advertising agencies have agreed to pay radio voice actors a higher fee if their commercials are used online as well as on air. Faced with these higher payments, advertisers have asked the radio stations not to use on-air commercials online unless given direct permission.

The blow comes as radio stations are already struggling to persuade courts and regulators that they should not have to pay the same copyright royalties for music that online Webcasters face. The issues have posed a financial threat to the viability of the broadcasters' online operations.

The advertising issue does appear to be a temporary one, however. Technology exists, and is used by some radio stations, that allows them to clip out pieces of the stream--such as individual advertisements--and replace the pieces with something else. Mayer said Clear Channel is close to moving to such a system.

"The answer is not to stop streaming," said Ira Shepard, an attorney for the national advertising associations who served as negotiators with the actors' unions last year. "The answer is to stream appropriately."

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