Radio stations are already facing the beginnings of new competition from Internet broadcasters, which range from out-of-town radio stations to Internet services that allow people to choose their own formats.

Audio Net, a Dallas-based Internet broadcaster, even offers play-by-play for contests broadcast exclusively for the Internet, like events at some small universities.

That law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, decreed that Internet broadcasters should compensate record companies for the use of their products.

Media executives fretted that online newspapers and Internet broadcasters would arise from the ether to capture their audiences.

A rancorous dispute ensued over how performance royalties should be assessed for Internet broadcasters.

The final listing of sources, dated October 9, 2003, included forty-three American college and community stations, three Canadian stations, and five Internet broadcasters.

"It's probably the most substantial issue" facing Internet broadcasters, said Dave Goldberg, vice president and general manager for music at Yahoo, which operates a Web music service.

Nonetheless there is still a sense among some Internet broadcasters that the untamed online frontier where they have cultivated listeners is coming to a close - or at least becoming more crowded.

Otherwise, 40 or so local ABC outlets and Internet broadcasters are opting to broadcast the debate when it is over, after 11 tonight, while others are not.

Internet broadcasters had argued that the proposed rates would force large numbers of them out of business.