Grant Broadcasters shutdown streaming

Last month the Australian High Court ruled that radio stations who stream their main broadcast on the internet must now pay a separate fee to PPCA to do so. More here.

At the time PPCA CEO Dan Rosen said: “….radio stations must pay a licence fee for streamed music and we hope to move quickly to work out a fair and proper licensing deal. We look forward to working with radio to establish equitable arrangements.”

One network has now taken down their streaming.

Here is the statement on the River 94.9 website (click to enlarge) :-

River 94.9 is part of Grant Broadcasters. Taking a quick look around some of their key radio stations today shows that streaming has been turned off and the same apology being posted.

David Rogerson, Grant Broadcasters Group Director of Programming and Content told us :

“When we were presented with the license for PPCA requirements, the rates and scales for stations operating in regional markets were exactly the same as those for metros. As a regional operator, Grant Broadcasters made the decision that it is beyond our market’s financial capacity to support and pay for the service.”