FCC Chief Erred in House Testimony on FM Chips in Smartphones, Broadcasters Say

FM chips in smartphones “are a great idea, and they’re in an increasing number of phones,” Wheeler testified in reply to a question from Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., on where the chairman stands on the issue of FM reception in mobile devices for emergency alerts. But FM chips in smartphones “bring with them a couple of technological challenges,” Wheeler said. “One is antenna size. They need a bigger antenna to get the FM signal in a tiny device. That becomes an issue. They also can drain battery power. But they’re increasingly showing up and consumers have the ability to purchase them and some carriers specifically focus on them.”

Brenner said broadcasters have “come together" to make activating FM chips in smartphones a priority and are "running commercials focused on downloading or asking wireless carriers to turn on the FM chip in the phone,” referring to the NextRadio “awareness campaign” launched last month with NAB support (see 1502200041). “The FM chip is already in all smartphones so there is no technological barrier; it only needs to be permitted by the carrier and activated with the handset maker,” Brenner said.

“A few points of clarification” are needed when it comes to Wheeler’s testimony, Brenner told us. “The FM receiver, in fact, does not drain the battery more. Compared to streaming audio over broadband, the FM receiver uses less power and connectivity, which increases battery life, also reducing data usage and cost to the consumer.” In its online literature, NextRadio says that when compared with streaming, NextRadio consumes about one third the battery life of other music apps because "the audio is coming through a built-in FM tuner instead of over the Internet."

On Wheeler’s contention that FM reception in smartphones requires exceptionally large antennas in the handsets, “external earbuds do indeed act as the antenna because this is the best way to receive a local broadcast signal,” Brenner said. “Users of the FM enabled smartphone through NextRadio reflect that earbuds as a listening device is not an impediment. NextRadio was created as a radio industry solution to provide consumers with the choice to use the Free Radio already in their device, while providing a new interactive music experience and Emergency response information when needed.”

In his House testimony, Wheeler also told Clarke he thinks there’s a “broader question” in whether the FCC “should be forcing wireless carriers to activate these chips or whether they ought to be leaving that to consumer choice.” Wheeler’s aware that “broadcasters around the country are running commercials saying, ‘Write the FCC, write your Congressperson, and make them do it,’” he said in apparent reference to the NextRadio awareness campaign. “I think this is something that is being resolved in the marketplace, and that we ought to monitor that and watch what happens.”

Those remarks drew a sharp response from NAB Thursday in emails to reporters bearing the subject line, “Correcting the record on FM chips in cellphones.” At the House hearing, NAB said, Wheeler “seemed to dismiss the value of having activated FM radio chips in smartphones and mistakenly suggested that broadcasters are seeking a government mandate. NAB and broadcasters are NOT seeking a government mandate; we merely seek the FCC's help in using its influence in enabling a technology that can save lives in emergency situations.”

On Friday, we sampled many of the 30- and 60-second spots NextRadio sent last month to broadcasters in the awareness campaign with the request in an online overview that they run “a minimum of 20 total spots per station, per week, Monday-Sunday, 6 a.m. to 12 midnight.” The various spots use humor, straight talk, even a celebrity appearance by Erik Estrada of the 1970s TV series CHiPs, to press the theme that wireless carriers don’t want to activate the FM chips already embedded in most new smartphones because they want to make consumers pay to stream music “instead of listening to it for free.” Says a voice-over in one spot: “It’s time to activate the FM radio inside your smartphone. It’s time to demand free radio instead of some choppy, buffered streaming radio that eats up your data plan and drains your battery.”

But contrary to Wheeler’s suggestion that the commercials tell listeners to contact Congress or the FCC to demand mandates on FM chip activations, they actually refer listeners to the website FreeRadioOnMyPhone.org, which bills itself as a “collaborative effort” by American Public Media, NextRadio, NPR and NAB to promote FM reception in smartphones. There, links encourage visitors to the site to contact the various carriers urging them through phone calls, emails or tweets to activate the FM chips in their smartphones. Accompanying the links to contact Congress and the FCC is this suggested message: “Hi! Please encourage wireless carriers to unlock the FM chip on all smartphones they sell so I can listen for free and get important emergency information when data networks are unavailable!” FCC representatives didn’t comment.

Meanwhile, CEA President Gary Shapiro weighed in Friday with a statement in which he sided with Wheeler that "the federal government has no role in mandating FM radio in any devices." CEA is "puzzled that the NAB keeps saying it is not pushing a mandate, while urging the government to pressure smartphone makers to add costly features consumers do not want," Shapiro emailed us, repeating CEA's long-held policy opposing government mandates that don't affect the national health and safety. "A truly innovative tactic would be for broadcasters to use their enormous advertising power to get consumers to buy phones with an activated FM chip, rather than lobbying for government favors. Misleading the public to protect a shrinking market is a powerful tactic, but not as powerful as consumer choice.” CTIA, which also has a long-standing policy opposing government FM chip mandates in smartphones (see 1109130114), agrees with Wheeler that the issue is being resolved in the marketplace, spokeswoman Amy Storey emailed us Friday.