NPR, iBiquity Strike Deal on HD Radio Power Increase

RADIO ONLINE | , , | :am CT

iBiquity Digital, developer of HD Radio, and NPR announced an agreement for managing an HD Radio power increase, significantly improving reception of HD Radio signals. The two organizations jointly presented their recommendations to the FCC on Thursday, encouraging the Commission to move to adopt the power increase quickly.

"We are delighted that the radio industry is now poised to push this technology ahead together. We've found practical and balanced solutions that will greatly improve reception while limiting interference to existing analog operations," said iBiquity Digital President/CEO Bob Struble.

The agreement proposes that the Commission authorize a blanket 6 dB increase for all commercial and non-commercial radio outlet's digital power from the current level of -20 dBc to a power level of -14 dBc. This is four times the current power level.

NPR and iBiquity consulted with a broad spectrum of commercial and noncommercial stations over the last few weeks, and identified several conditions and criteria to manage the power increase process. These conditions were informed by NPR Labs recent field research, "Advanced IBOC Coverage and Compatibility Study," filed with the Commission earlier this week.

Conditions of the blanket increase included commitment by iBiquity and NPR to additional enhancements to the HD Radio system. The development work of the two organizations will focus on single frequency networks to fill gaps in digital coverage, asymmetrical digital sidebands to reduce the potential for digital interference to short spaced first adjacent analog stations, and low bitrate codecs and conditional access crucial to moving radio reading services into the mainstream of digital radio broadcasting.

The two organizations offered an approach to additional power increases beyond a 6 dB increase, depending on spacing criteria and conditions that limit harmful interference, and initial models suggest most stations will be able to exceed 6 dB.

NPR Labs Executive Director Mike Starling said, "We are optimistic about the future of HD Radio broadcasting, and eager to continue to work with iBiquity on the developments that will make this power increase work to everyone's advantage -- stations, listeners, and receiver makers."

The agreement also proposes a series of steps drawn from the current AM rules for interference to be applied to qualifying and limiting harmful interference with analog at the 6 dB increase level (-14 dBc). These steps would remediate harmful interference from any stations increasing power above the existing -20 dBc power level.

NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton said, "NAB is encouraged by this consensus agreement of iBiquity and NPR for optional increased digital power for FM HD Radio stations. We urge the FCC to move quickly and allow stations to operate at increased power according to the criteria in the agreement. This will result in greatly improved indoor reception for digital signals, including multicast signals, and pave the way for greater service reliability using portable HD Radio devices."