Phonecast
Phonecast is a portmanteau of telephone and broadcast ( radio ) and refers to the distribution of a broadcast program (usually radio) via a telephone server for listeners who get the current program over the phone. This method of dissemination has been around for decades, but has only found a very limited use in Europe due to high telephone charges and the high level of effort involved in implementing it on the technical side. Today Phonecast is implemented via media servers on the Internet (e.g. Asterisk ) and routed to the telephone network via multiplex-capable telephone gateways (transition stage from the Internet). Most service providers such as B. Phonecaster.de ( Just Digits GmbH in Heidelberg) or PhoneCasting.com in Kingwood (Texas, USA) operate not only the Internet server but also the gateways themselves and thus also make their Internet-based service available for SIP- enabled Internet telephony .
Technically, Phonecast is a special form of streaming media and just as it is implemented as a data stream via point-to-point connections , according to the legal definition it is not a broadcast service. Most of the radio stations that can be accessed in the telephone network are pure internet radio and offer this service as an alternative to the usual web radio, but there are only a few stations that also have terrestrial or wired VHF frequencies.
history
In Germany, broadcasting over the telephone network has developed from the tradition of the Bible telephone and literature telephone services (see main article there). In the 1960s, answering machines were developed for integration into telephone systems. For the first time, a practicable solution was available from a financial point of view in order to supply several callers at the same time via the same system. In the United States, radio programs were broadcast early on using this new service to keep business people in their hotel rooms up to date with stock market news and current affairs. In most European countries, this development was offset by high telephone costs. The Deutsche Bundespost set up a service through which news, weather, timetable information and also the classic time announcement could be called up. These were available everywhere at the local rate via monopolized telephone numbers of the post office without dialing prefixes. It was only with the introduction of today's service numbers that the tariffs differentiated and could also be offered by private companies on their own. There were two different technical processes:
- the "classic answering machine", which plays the announcement on demand from the beginning and was also operated by private institutions
- the server process of the Federal Post Office, which makes the same audio signal available to all participants in an endless loop
The phonecast developed from the latter process. From a technical point of view, it is the “simpler process” and enables live streaming in real time. Even a few years after the start of broadcasting via shortwave, the gospel broadcasting used the new technology to provide listeners who were not familiar with the complicated reception technology via shortwave with an additional reception option. The program was only available to a small group of listeners at the local tariff that was already cheap at the time and cost 23 pfennigs per connection, as there was no time limit in the local area at that time. For the other listeners, telephone costs were incurred according to the remote tariff. Also HCJB (a mission station from Ecuador ) offers one of the few remaining pure shortwave transmitter his program also has phone numbers in several countries, including with a German landline number and with German program. Some international international broadcasters have discontinued these complex services with the emergence of the Internet. Most broadcasters never offered this service because, prior to the establishment of the Internet, for reasons of cost it was necessary to be able to offer at least one national dial-in number in every country in which one wanted to reach the listener.
Phonecast and telephone-based “podcast” today
In the age of telephone flat rates, radio over the telephone is becoming more attractive again. In the case of mobile phones, the disadvantage of the lower sound quality compared to classic web radio is offset by lower power consumption when receiving internet via the same device. In addition, telephone flat rates are currently even more widespread than Internet flat rates in mobile communications. This is why Phonepublisher.com offers these services together with audio book programs and city tours for mobile reception in the car or cell phone, also together with identity management (telephone numbers with hearing authorization). While the streaming portfolio there mainly includes internet stations, including many small and private project radios, Phonecaster.de distributes some established and professionally designed programs such as that of ERF , HCJB , Mallorca 95.8 Das Inselradio and other stations. The two service providers essentially divide the market in the German fixed network between themselves.
Some stations only broadcast podcasts over the phone in addition to the Internet, including the news from Deutschlandradio , Netzeitung.de or the podcasts from AUTO BILD TV . They are thus supplementing their web radio offer with special offers for mobile phone users.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Phonecaster.de: Technical FAQ ( Memento of the original from August 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Teltarif.de: Listen to radio free of charge via phone with PhonePublisher - Currently several hundred programs already available from January 25, 2009
