Technology360

Merger Would End Satellite Radio's Rivalry

Lot's of stories today on the proposed merger between Sirius and XM.  Here's one by Richard Siklos and Andrew Ross Sorkin.  They write:

... Questioned last month about a possible Sirius-XM merger, the F.C.C. chairman, Kevin J. Martin, initially appeared to be skeptical, but later said that if such a deal were proposed, the agency would consider it.  ¶  In a statement yesterday, Mr. Martin acknowledged that the F.C.C. rule could complicate a merger but said the commission would evaluate the proposal. “The hurdle here, however, would be high,” he said. ...

Link:  New York Times. 

Doc Searls points out some other difficulties: antitrust, program quality, monoculture, obsolescence, costs and revenues.  Link:  Doc Searls Weblog.  Thanks to Rob Paterson for the tip.  --Dennis

Recyled satellite radio planned

Satellites used for relaying television signals operate from fixed orbital slots which enable them to be used by inexpensive fixed receive antennas.  They have small rockets on board that are fired periodically to keep them in one slot and after the on board fuel runs out after 10-15 years the satellites are retired and drift off position, even though technically they are still able to transmit signals.  The European Space Agency has developed a system to track these wandering retirees and permit them to transmit audio and other multimedia to mobile receivers on the ground.  Fascinating.  Link:  BBC News.  --Dennis

The Radio Gypsy's Predictions for 2007

Mark Ramsey has 13 predictions for radio this year.  Good reading.  Link:  Hear 2.0.  --Dennis

What the Satellite Radio Christmas Season means for you

Interesting piece on satellite radio by Mark Ramsey in which, among other things, he quotes Radio Business Report quoting a Bank of America analyst quoting NPD Group data as saying "... that retail sales of satellite radio receivers were down 46% year-over-year in December ..." (Sirius down 40%, XM down 55%).  Read the rest at Hear 2.0.  --Dennis

HD Radio at CES and Products You'll See Later This Year

Leslie Stimson has this report at Radio World.  Also see the satellite radio notes at the end of the article. 

Update 22 Jan. 2007:
Here's more information from NAB RadioTechCheck [pdf].  --Dennis

Satellite radio and digital television

The February issue of Scientific American has a worthy pair of articles of interest to broadcasters, especially to those who don't want to admit to their chief engineers that they don't know this stuff already.  The links which follow provide only a tease, so you either need to purchase rights or buy the magazine.  The first is a short article by Mark Fischetti called Song Beams that does a particularly good job explaining the urban repeaters for Sirius and XM.  The second is a more complete article by Michael Antonoff called Digital TV At Last? which, not surprisingly, is about the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting.

I've been reading (or trying to read) this magazine for 40 years and it's been a great education.  But they sure have antediluvian ideas about DRM and linking.  --Dennis

Measuring Satellite Radio's Impact

Fred Jacobs links to a fascinating study by Katz Radio of satellite radio penetration in major markets.  The study concludes that, on the average, Sirius and XM combined would rank #22.  Link: JacoBlog.

Did you hear what Howard said this morning?

Fred Jacobs writes:

... The fact is that as good as Howard is, environment plays a role in his success.  And with Sirius, his landscape has changed.  He isn't attached to a real radio outlet, his reach has been greatly diminished, and with it, his influence. ...

... 2006 is a very flat to down year for Stern, with none of those telltale "peaks" back in the old, terrestrial radio days.  ¶  We used to see the impact of environment on Stern from radio station to radio station, and market to market.  When he was on a great station with a real format, he tended to have blockbuster numbers.  When he was on a dog station that played music that was much-duplicated in the market, or just not very good, his ratings seriously lagged.  Despite the fact that it was the same show all over the U.S., the Arbitron numbers were far different, depending on the situation.  You can look it up. ...

Link:  JacoBLOG. 

Farting in church department:  Among my responsibilities is a network of 13 public radio stations, so it's been a minor annoyance to have National Public Radio's programming carried on Sirius along with Howard Stern.  Although not alone, sadly, he's IMHO debased the radio neighborhood for years with (uh, searching mightily for the least offensive term) ... juvenilia.   NPR has been running noncommercial promos for Sirius that we carry by contract, and recently they've included something like, "... where you can hear Howard Stern."  So now my stations are telling people there's a strip club in the neighborhood.  Wouldn't it be more effective for Sirius to tell NPR listeners that they can find NPR there?  --Dennis

Karmazin Looks Forward to Sirius TV

P. J. Bednarski reports Mel Karmizan's (CEO, Sirius Satellite Radio) Credit Suisse media conference with analysts:

... Karmazin told analysts he looked forward to Sirius TV, a planned service that will mainly air kids video, and is slated to begin next year. Sirius is targeting family vehicles with TVs in the back seat. With an antenna "the size of a hockey puck," Sirius will be able to stream video to those sets. But he said that, neat idea aside, it's not a business he expects will be a big game changer for Sirius.

Link:  Broadcasting & Cable.

Satellite radio subscriber growth

Satellite radio had 12.3M subscribers as of September 30th.  Sirius Satellite Radio gained on XM Satellite Radio between 3rd quarter 2005 and 3rd quarter 2006.  The former increased from 2.17M subs to 5.12M subs (135.5%), while the latter increased from 5.03M subs to 7.18M subs (42.7%).  However, looking at gross new subscribers only for the 3rd quarter of 2006, Sirius gained 732,406 (14.3% of its ending total) while XM gained 868,007 (12.1% of its ending total).  Gross new subscribers have been trending down for both services since the December 2005 holidays.   Data source: Orbitcast.

Over at paidContent.org, Jonathan Berr has the 3rd quarter earnings story for Sirius and for XM.  Both did better than Wall Street expected.  --Dennis