[BC] The mysterious iBiquity license fee revealed?

[Rich Wood]

------ At 07:43 AM 1/25/2008, rj carpenter wrote: -------

>It would seem only logical that there be symmetry in the iBiquity 
>proposal to require IBOC on every XM/Sirius radio.
>
>Every radio with IBOC should be required to contain XM and/or Sirius.
>
>The logic seems unassailable to me.

Hmm. I seem to have missed the IBUZ offer to include both satellite 
services in all their radios. I agree. Logic and fairness should 
require all IBUZ receivers to receive satellite radio. That would 
take the pressure of IBUZ to actually spend cash to promote it. 
SIRIUS and XM would then contribute 2/3ds of the marketing budget of 
the resulting products.

If IBUZ wants a promotional free ride this would seem the closest 
solution. With all the awesome new niche programming on IBUZ 
secondaries, there's nothing to require that consumers subscribe to 
satellite. Perhaps there's a problem comparing the hundreds of 
satellite channels with the few IBUZ "stations between the stations" 
that nearly duplicate the analog. I can understand the IBUZ fear that 
satellite will make IBUZ coverage seem pitiful.

Maybe a group should be formed to help with "friend of the court" 
type recommendations to level the playing field and help IBUZ get the 
free ride it wants. It's about the only way to avoid spending real 
cash to promote it.

Rich