Clear Channel Communications, Emmis Communications and several other large broadcasting companies turned off many or all of their Web streams Tuesday, citing ongoing negotiations with the record industry and advertisers.
Online listeners at Clear Channel stations ranging from Los Angeles' KFI Talk Radio to San Francisco's popular KMEL hip-hop station were given a terse apology instead of the expected live radio stream. The note cited "issues regarding demands for additional fees for the streaming of recorded music and radio commercials." "We are working with...our advertisers and the Recording Industry Association of America to find a solution to those problems as quickly as possible so that we can resume our streaming," the note said.
Although this round of radio silence is likely to be temporary, it is the clearest illustration yet of the thicket of details old and new media companies must still push through as they try to establish the Net as an entertainment medium in its own right. Ranging from copyright complaints to advertising contracts, each of these issues will affect the financial viability of Net services and help determine how much content winds up being available to consumers online.
The catalyst for Tuesday's blackout was a disagreement with advertisers over who should pay for commercials that are rebroadcast on the Internet. But that was just the last in a series of issues that has posed a growing financial threat to radio stations providing their work online.
Late last year, federal regulators ruled that radio stations will have to pay the same royalty fees for music that face online-only Webcasters. Radio stations have never had to pay this type of royalty for broadcasting music on air and are suing in federal court to have the decision overturned.
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