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Virgin Radio: top five US internet radio station |
Radio broadcasters in the US have switched off their internet services following a court dispute with record companies over broadcast fees.
US media giants Clear Channel, CBS and Infinity are among those which have closed all online broadcasts after artists demanded payment from radio stations that rebroadcast their music over the internet.
Although the groups have decided to pull the stations off the internet, there are no immediate implications for the UK radio industry which adheres to a different set of royalty agreements.
Commercial Radio Companies Association chief executive Paul Brown said: "Unlike the UK, radio broadcasters in the US do not have to have a licence with the record companies in order to broadcast their music.
"Therefore the record companies have gone to court in the US to force the radio stations which are broadcasting on the internet to pay a licence fee to the record companies."
When the record companies were successful in this action, rather than pay the fee, the stations simply stopped broadcasting on the internet.
Virginradio.co.uk, which claims 35% of its listeners in North America and is the fifth most listened-to channel in the US, believes that the closure of internet services in the states will have little effect on its
revenues.
"Our advertisers are only targeting the UK audience and we as a station only get returns on impacts which are marked UK," said Lee Roberts. radio development commercial director at Virgin Radio parent SMG.
"Effectively, we only charge advertisers for UK listeners."
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