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No FM Chip Activation Mandate, Says Wheeler

Consumers AREN'T deciding for themselves. Their decision is made for them by electronics manufacturers.

My iPhone has lots of features I never use. I didn't buy the phone for the App Store or iTunes. That's all for the benefit of Apple. Heck, I didn't buy the phone for the camera. But it came with one.

If my phone came with FM capability, and it actually worked well, I'd use it. But I don't have that option. So it ISN'T a market decision. Unless you believe the only motivation a phone manufacture has is giving me what I want. Which, with Apple, is obviously not the case. Otherwise I'd able to change my battery.
 
At one time I had a HTC phone that had an FM radio built in. It worked pretty well and I actually used it. Unfortunately, I lost that phone and couldn't find a replacement (that I wanted to pay for) that had FM capabilities. The actual choice of FM or not seems to be at the whim of the manufacturer. They are the ones who decide whether or not to activate that feature. That's not exactly a "market decision."
 
On the same day the FCC tells Congress it won't mandate FM on phones, a new bill was introduced in Congress that would mandate a royalty payment for record producers and engineers. Now these producers and engineers already get paid whether or not the songs they work on are hits. This would get them ADDITIONAL money, money they never received before, and would be paid by digital broadcasters, none of whom have ever made a profit. Seems strange to mandate a new royalty, while at the same time choosing not to mandate FM service on phones.
 
I believe also the phone manufacturers (especially Apple) want to control their user environment. As with the old Sony Walkman, the antenna would probably need to be headphones, since installing an FM dipole antenna behind a metal case could be a definite problem. When most listeners aren't blaming the station for bad reception, they're blaming their radio. If a phone user didn't use headphones of the proper length with given conditions, the whole idea of an FM tuner in a phone would probably be more of a hassle than any benefit.
 
TheBigA said:
On the same day the FCC tells Congress it won't mandate FM on phones, a new bill was introduced in Congress that would mandate a royalty payment for record producers and engineers. Now these producers and engineers already get paid whether or not the songs they work on are hits. This would get them ADDITIONAL money, money they never received before, and would be paid by digital broadcasters, none of whom have ever made a profit. Seems strange to mandate a new royalty, while at the same time choosing not to mandate FM service on phones.
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In between radio careers, I was a live sound engineer for a lot of groups you might recognize. Lots of recordings were made of those shows and some were released as albums. I was never paid an extra dime or that, although the local IATSE union crew were usually paid at least double time, and often a lo more so the recording could be made. I think I got album credits twice. But that is OK. I was paid pretty well at the time. It was just a part of my job, which loved. Getting royalty payments 30- 40 years after the fact rubs me wrong. It was never a part of the bargain at the time, which I was happy to agree to. There is something horribly wrong here....
 
'Letting the market decide' is pure evasive weasel-speak. But I would expect nothing else from an Obama hack like Tom Wheeler (who seems to have no problem getting aggressive on net neutrality and putting severe limits on TV station JSAs).

But it appears that FEMA and some House Dems want FM chips activated. So this might come down to a legislative matter (maybe as an add on to the long overdue FCC Reform Bill?).

http://freeradioonmyphone.org

My old Motorola/Verizon Moto X had FM radio. Inexplicably, it would not tune in channels below 95.1. But I still used it on occasions and there's no reason why FM chips should not be activated now.
 
Carmine5 said:
But it appears that FEMA and some House Dems want FM chips activated. So this might come down to a legislative matter (maybe as an add on to the long overdue FCC Reform Bill?).
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You realize the Dems no longer control Congress? Even if they did, the MO for Congress these past 6 years has been to pass no legislation, regardless of its importance.
 
TheBigA said:
You realize the Dems no longer control Congress? Even if they did, the MO for Congress these past 6 years has been to pass no legislation, regardless of its importance.
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Yes, I am aware of that--just as I'm aware that the Dems control the FCC and the White House. But FM chip activation also has the support of Republicans, including Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR). This is really a bi-partisan issue and, as such, might spur some kind of action on Capitol Hill. We'll have to wait and see what happens in the coming months.
 
Have a new Motorola G LTE (well NEW to me from its box!!)...it has a FM chip in it...but I dont have any ear buds...and probably never used that option..I COULD test it with the cable I use to plug in the spkr audio into my car audio system (use it to listen to WLS FM while driving AND also the phone mic is still hot when the 1/8in to 1/8in is plugged in on both ends!! GREAT audio on a phone call....and the best non-handsfree handsfree I ever used :rolleyes:..audio stream stops with phone rings or I start to dial...I love the features...but the FM chip?? WHY?? Its a phone, not a FM radio...ok I use the stream to listen to my favorite DJs & music..because FM does not cover as well as the 50,000 watt AM blowtorch of the Midwest but thanks to band conditions and increase noise, plus other signals on channel from outside the US makes the old clears useless today...Otherwise, I WOULD listen to the music on the AM radio...in CQUAM (using my Metrosound tuner)
 
I suspect that the manufacturers don't actually have choice in whether or not smartphones are capable of receiving FM broadcasts. It may be (especially if a smartphone has an "FM chip" in it - the circuitry to receive FM radio, and the access to the circuitry is disabled), that the wireless carriers are in control. The deal may be "if you have a radio inside the smartphones you make, we won't carry them in our stores". The carriers probably don't want anyone using smartphones to access content that they are not in complete control of.

This reminds me of many radios in the 1990's and many of the first radios with IBOC capability - as they were often manufactured to be sold in markets around the globe, with different standards, and (in the case of IBOC radios) already designed to make use of phase demodulation, many radios shipped to the US had all of the circuitry needed to listen to AM stereo built into them - only with a jumper soldered to two pins of the C-QUAM chip to disable AM stereo listening.

As for "marketplace choice", these days, shopping is like voting in an election in the old USSR. When you vote, there's only one candidate on the ballot for each position.
 
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1L6E6VHF said:
The deal may be "if you have a radio inside the smartphones you make, we won't carry them in our stores". The carriers probably don't want anyone using smartphones to access content that they are not in complete control of.
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But you don't have to buy a phone at a telecom store. You can easily buy one at any electronics store, and choose any carrier you want. And carriers do not create content. They are, by definition, common carriers.
 
TheBigA said:
But you don't have to buy a phone at a telecom store. You can easily buy one at any electronics store, and choose any carrier you want. And carriers do not create content. They are, by definition, common carriers.
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The key is creating consumer awareness and demand for this option. While carriers can't create content, they do have an interest in creating traffic on their networks, so having active FM chips in "dollar phones and your soul for 24 months" would be counter-productive to their interests.


My soul is mine, that's why I choose to buy my phones outright and do business with that slimeball devil, Sir Richard Branson.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
so having active FM chips in "dollar phones and your soul for 24 months" would be counter-productive to their interests.
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But once again, carriers don't make phones. Manufacturers make phones. The hostility to activating the FM chip is coming from the Consumer Electronics Association, who represents the manufacturers. They don't want to be told what to do.

But as I said at the top of this thread, there is no market force involved here. The market is not given the chance to comment. So while I understand the hesitation for a mandate, it would be nice to at least have the Chairman be factual in what he says. Then again, he's a former PR flack for the cellular industry, so what do you expect?
 
TheBigA said:
But once again, carriers don't make phones. Manufacturers make phones. The hostility to activating the FM chip is coming from the Consumer Electronics Association, who represents the manufacturers. They don't want to be told what to do.

But as I said at the top of this thread, there is no market force involved here. The market is not given the chance to comment. So while I understand the hesitation for a mandate, it would be nice to at least have the Chairman be factual in what he says. Then again, he's a former PR flack for the cellular industry, so what do you expect?
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Manufacturers make phones, and their customers in most cases are the carriers who sell them. The end result is still an unholy alliance that throttles the marketplace of end users as you suggest. Wheeler and the Obama administration are nothing but cheerleaders for the cell phone industry.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
Wheeler and the Obama administration are nothing but cheerleaders for the cell phone industry.
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Keep in mind it's not really a party politics thing...both parties (with selected exceptions) are cheerleaders for telecom.

So it's not going to change with a different party in charge.
 
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