🚀 go-pugleaf

"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message 
news:4c90f3ba$0$1611$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Still this a really strange "investigation." There are so many actually 
> valid technology issues that they could be investigating where they could 
> have a chance of a successful class action lawsuit, i.e. why has one 
> cellular carrier drastically reduced coverage after signing up millions of 
> consumers to two year contracts? This carrier has been quietly waiving early 
> termination fees to its customers that make a fuss about what happened, but 
> they have never publicized what they did to their coverage or what they will 
> do for customers that complain.

Agreed, it does seem like there'd be bigger fish to fry.  Maybe one of the law 
firm's principals bought a BMW and really took it personally when his HD radio 
didn't work? :-)

> Meanwhile HD Radio plods along, adding stations, adding advertisers on the 
> sub-channels, and doubling receiver sales every year.

Yes, although one has to keep in mind that a lot of that growth isn't entirely 
organic -- last I heard, iBiquity was still subsidizing some of the 
manufacturers who agreed to put HD receivers into their radio.  There's 
nothing inherently wrong with this, but it's important to know for anyone 
investing in iBiquity who's trying to decide just how strong a performer 
they'll be long-term (since sooner or later the seed money runs out!).

> �Let�s be very clear on streaming, it�s not going to kill radio. Pandora is 
> not the Death Star that�s going to destroy the business, but it isn�t going 
> to save it either.  Streaming is, for a lot of different reasons, a good 
> increment to the business.  It serves as revenue. But the ability to replace 
> radio�s traditional over-the-air revenue with new streaming revenue does not 
> exist.  It just doesn�t work.�

This is all true.

> �The basic radio infrastructure where one tower covers an infinite number of 
> listeners is a lot more efficient way to deliver audio than a point-to-point 
> connection that you need with the Internet. People are starting to get that. 
> We�re seeing not only the capacity issues but also starting to see variable 
> pricing plans.�

Also a good point, but while one tower can cover a 
[very-large-if-not-infinite] number of listeners, as technology advances, at 
some point wireless bandwidth is "cheap enough" that it no longer matters --  
it'll become profitable to stream to people individually.  That crossover 
point is, in my opinion, still a ways off though -- around a decade away, and 
likely double that.

---Joel