Emmis Makes Tough Call to Curtail NextRadio

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A lack of industry support means Emmis will dramatically reduce its FM smartphone listening app (NextRadio) and the associated TagStation data analytics operations, Inside Radio reported. Company CEO Jeff Smulyan told investors on his earnings call Thursday, the radio broadcaster incurred $7.7 million in operating losses for both projects over a 12-month period as of August 31.

But it also lost millions on the efforts over the past five years. Smulyan said Emmis tried to build a consortium of broadcast groups to help finance the efforts to get radio into smartphones. But the effort failed, and finally, Emmis board members said the company couldn’t keep financing R&D for the entire radio industry, Smulyan explained on the earnings call.

Emmis was a go-between for radio broadcasters and Sprint, the first carrier that agreed to place the app on its devices in a $45 million deal with payments spread out over three years. Later, AT&T and T-Mobile agreed to include FM chip activation on its Android specs to wireless device manufacturers, reported Inside Radio.

Later, NextRadio cut deals directly with other smartphone manufacturers. FM is now supported on 222 models, according to this list. But Apple was a holdout, resisting calls from the NAB and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to activate the FM chip in its devices.

Mobile device makers typically activate the FM chip in their smartphones sold in countries where buyers cannot afford a data plan. The NextRadio effort was about trying to enable FM listening on smartphones in the U.S. The NAB will continue to lobby on this issue and make software available for free to app developers, to enable FM in mobile devices, according to the account.  

October 15, 2018