Yes, we’ve discussed FM Extra over and over again on this board. If you want a report on how well it works, see “Road Testing the FM Extra” by Tom H. Jones (
http://www.rwonline.com/article/276 ).
I heard from someone who should know –an insider – that the reason the new owners changed the name of the small company that developed FM Extra from Digital Radio Express, Inc. to VuCast is because they think that the word “radio” is passé, or even poison to investors.
The main reason FM Extra never became a viable alternative to Iniquity Digital Corporation’s “HD” for FM stations (there is no AM Extra!) is because there was apparently a non-disparagement clause, if not a non-compete, in the deal when DRE licensed its earlier technology (developed before FM Extra) to USA Digital Radio. But USADR had no money, so they paid DRE with stock. USADR later merged with Lucent’s digital radio spinoff to form Iniquity. And that's how DRE became a stakeholder in Iniquity. See
http://www.bext.com/RW/RWFMeXtraDec05.pdf. Here’s a quotation from it:
Early on, we saw that IBOC was going nowhere as long as there were multiple proponents, and even in the best estimates, it would be many years before there would be any return on investment.
So we decided to license our patent portfolio for use in IBOC to USA Digital Radio, which eventually merged with Lucent’s, IBOC group to form lbiquity. We are an lbiquity shareholder.
The suppression of FM Extra should be the subject of a criminal restraint-of-trade investigation, but don’t expect that to happen.
