The industry took a giant step closer to getting HD Radio into cell phones yesterday with the announcement at the NAB Show in Las Vegas that a new low-power, low-cost, high processing HD chipset is now available. Hailing it as “revolutionary for our industry,” iBiquity, Intel and Emmis Interactive spent the past year developing the chipset, with financial support from NAB Labs. The new chipset will work in cell phones, tablets and other mobile devices as well as in automobiles. It standardizes HD’s Artist Experience interface while also rolling out a host of new interactive opportunities for advertisers and providing reporting and measurement functionality for broadcasters and advertisers. The chipset, which relies on the Emmis Interactive Tag Station technology, does more than merely make it possible for HD broadcasts to be heard on mobile devices. It also “enhances what we can do with radio,” iBiquity COO Jeff Jury says. That involves pairing broadcast radio’s larger HD distribution pipe with a connected back channel enabled by the mobile phone’s WiFi, 3G or 4G connectivity. “Think of a hyper efficient broadcast ‘download’ into the phone, and interactivity as the ‘back channel,’ allowing interactivity coming through the phone’s existing IP connectivity,” iBiquity CEO Bob Struble says. The chipset opens up new content options for listeners and marketing opportunities for advertisers. For example, an action button that places a call to a local merchant, downloads a coupon to the device, or places an appointment into its calendar. Full screen ads and mapping integration are also included. While mobile carriers have previously rebuffed industry overtures to install HD Radio into their devices, Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan says the new chipset will change the conversation, due to potential revenue sharing opportunities it opens up for carriers. “This gives them opportunities to use ad campaigns through our channel,” Smulyan told Inside Radio. “It offers a compelling value proposition for cell providers.” Interactive sales functionality could bring incremental revenue that could be shared with mobile carriers. And music sales from song-tagging could be routed to a carrier’s online music store, for example.