🚀 go-pugleaf

On 9/20/2010 5:35 PM, Joel Koltner wrote:
> "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? :-)

There is no lawsuit. There is not going to be any class action lawsuit. 
This is a law firm trying to see if there is any money to be made in a 
settlement. There isn't. No one takes them seriously. Not iBiquity. Not 
BMW. No one. Well perhaps are favorite anti-HD troll takes them seriously.

Perhaps people think that HD Radio should work like satellite radio 
rather than traditional terrestrial radio and are disappointed at the 
programming they have available in their area, or perhaps they're in an 
area where the HD choices are limited. They are simply misinformed, 
which is not grounds for any lawsuit.

>> 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.

Perhaps, but no different than satellite radio, actually satellite radio 
is paying even more per new subscriber because of revenue sharing.

> 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!).

No individual can invest in iBiquity as they are not a public company. 
Nor did the investors (mainly large station owners) expect any return 
beyond the deployment of the HD system. It's likely that iBiquity will 
eventually become part of a larger technology licensing company.

> 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.

We're moving the wrong way on that front. No evidence that 4G is going 
to solve it either.