[BC] XM only wishes it could get numbers like this!

[Scott Fybush]

>No. A good broadcaster pays attention to everything around him or her. 
>Everything is competition. Stern isn't going to have nearly the audience 
>he had on radio. His leaving is more a ratings and revenue loss for radio 
>than any serious gain for SIRIUS. The installed base of receivers simply 
>isn't there. With radio, everyone within range of an affiliate can receive 
>him on virtually every receiver they own. Not true for many, many, many 
>years with satellite.
>
>Smart broadcasters don't react to the competition's hype. Either satellite 
>or Podcasting. At some point, each of them has to figure a way to make it 
>pay. How many web sites do you pay for? They've been around a long time. 
>How many Podcasts will you be willing to pay for?
>
>I wonder where the overall price point is when people stop increasing 
>their costs and start canceling one service to pay for another. Cell 
>service took care of quick churn by charging a $150+ cancellation fee. 
>Cable is still burdened with churn, especially since you can activate and 
>deactivate tiers by phone. No more need to wait for the cable guy.

The growing competition from satellite seems, at least here in upstate NY, 
to be manifesting itself through package deals. Both my local phone company 
(Citizens dba Frontier) and my local cable provider (Time Warner) will 
gladly sell me phone, internet and TV service. The best deal I've seen so 
far is from the phone side - $79 a month for phone, DSL and Dish Network's 
basic package. That's not much more than what I'm paying Time Warner for 
cable service alone right now. It's tempting.

And of course it comes with a catch - just like cell service, you sign a 
contract with a cancellation fee. Right now, cable's running ads attacking 
Frontier on that point, but I'll bet they start doing it themselves before 
long.

Back to the point at hand - it seems like just about every day, I'm seeing 
another announcement about one of the satellite radio services expanding 
its reach. The one just the other day was XM, I think, putting receivers in 
50,000 Hilton hotel rooms around the country. They don't say so, but I'd 
bet that the revenue stream there will come from one of those "optional" 
dollar-a-night charges on the bill, just like the USA Today outside the 
door and the safe in the closet.

"Many, many, many years" before satellite radio is universally available 
will be down to "many years" before we know it. They're being very 
aggressive about getting the radios out there. Can anyone say the same 
about HD Radio?