Scott - While I understand that many stations will "Leave it on until it breaks," why do some stations take their IBOC down temporarily and then put it back on? I understand having to go to a non-IBOC backup like WBZ did but WLW had their IBOC off for like a day and a half and then put it back on. Same boat as WBZ or were they actually working on the IBOC?
73, Dave ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:23:04 -0500 From: Scott Fybush <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IRCA] How much does IBOC cost? To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected], [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Chernos Saul wrote: > How much are all costs associated with IBOC, including procurement and > ongoing use? > > In particular, if this can be separated, how much does it cost to keep > it running, say every month or year? Are we talking AM specifically? The answer is a big "it depends." If an AM station has a fairly recent transmitter and a well-maintained transmission system (not just the antenna itself, but the phasor, transmission lines, etc.) that's already broadband enough to handle the wider bandwidth required by IBOC, the costs can be relatively minimal - low-to-mid-five figures for a new exciter and the license from Ibiquity. If more extensive work is required - say, a new phasor - the costs can go way up from there, though there's certainly an argument to be made that a lot of those costs would need to be incurred eventually, IBOC or no. Contrary to popular belief, there is no recurring license fee for IBOC. FM stations that multicast have to pay Ibiquity a portion of any revenues they get from multicast services. But the only ongoing costs for an AM station to run IBOC would be a slight increase in the power bill - which may go a long way towards explaining why it may linger on at many stations long after it's clear nobody's listening. It's the same deal as AM stereo - the easy thing to do is to leave it on the air until it breaks or the transmitter is replaced, but not to expend any energy on fixing it if something goes wrong. s _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
