Why Would Satellite Radio Seek To Emulate Traditional Radio?
from the ads-from-above dept
Back in March, Clear Channel won an arbitration ruling allowing it to run ads on music stations it supplies to XM. XM made it clear at the time that they regretted the ruling, and had no plans to extend commercials to any of their core music channels. Still, BusinessWeek now speculates that the satellite radio operator is on the verge of adding commercials to more of its channels, making the keen observation that XM no longer uses the slogan "100% commercial free music". Think that could have anything to do with the Clear Channel ruling rather than being some hidden signal of a future strategy? It also quotes a Gartner analyst who expects satellite radio to evolve and become similar to terrestrial radio over the next 5-10 years, but the analyst gives no reason XM would voluntarily give up their key differentiating factor. Certainly, the terrestrial broadcasters would like to see it evolve this way, hence Clear Channel's desire to pollute XM's stations with commercials. There are still plenty of questions hanging over the satellite radio providers and their business models -- not the least of which the cost of running their satellites. But to think they'd so easily do away with one of their biggest competitive differentiators from terrestrial radio is short-sighted.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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If XM is going to go down the same route, though, they'll have to come up with exclusive content that people are willing to pay for. Music probably can't offer that. It's already all 'syndicated.'
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Re: exclusive content to sat-radio
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Re: Re: exclusive content to sat-radio
I personally signed up for Howard Stern's antics.
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Re: Re: exclusive content to sat-radio
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Re: Re: exclusive content to sat-radio
this is just like cable. If you got good stuff people will pay for it. If not....
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Re: And?
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Clear Channel
Clear Channel ruins everything it touches. We used to have a really good Hard Rock radio station in my area till Clear Channel bought it and started playing repeats of the same crap every day. Then after ratings for the station plummeted (gee wonder why) they turned it into a latin mariachi station. Screw Clear Channel.
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clear channel invested
Now that XM is actually competing with Clear Channel for listeners, Clear Channel decided that they wanted the channels that they program for XM to now include commercials.
Since Clear Channel only programs like 5-10 music channels on XM, Clear Channel isn't making much money on this deal. They are doing it so that now XM can't claim to be 100% commercial free. Its almost like a sabotage type of thing. Clear Channel had been programming their XM channels commerical free since XM's inception, and now that XM is taking off, Clear Channel wants commercials now. Coincidence? I think not.
XM's slogan is now "Most Commerical Free Music Channels" on satellite radio.
I certianly hope that they are not moving away from commercial free, just taking a small step against their will.
I am a very happy XM radio subscriber for over 2 years. Check out Opie and Anthony XM 202.
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I have been a Howard fan for over 15 years and I can honestly say, this is BY FAR the best he has ever been. I totally LOVE his show on Sirius.
Regular radio is just horrible. I haven't listened to regular radio in over six months, not one time.
The $13 I spend each month on Sirius is the best $13 I have ever spent! I also had XM, what a joke XM is. XM is like regular radio only with a $13 fee lol.
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So if you have satalite radio then even if it has commercials you can still listen to many many more channels than I can recieve from local stations and it opens the doors for TiVO for Radio.
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Cable was NEVER commercial free except for PBS programming. In fact cable television started out as a means of delivering better viewing of broadcast TV in areas with low quality signals or limited reception. Pre-cable (actually CATV), there were a lot of markets with only 2 or 3 viewable signals.
Commercial-free PAY channels (e.g. HBO, Showtime) came later, along with distant imports (WTBS Altanta, WGN Chicago, WOR and WNEW New York) and cable only channels like ESPN and CNN.
More choices was the prime selling point for cable, not commercial-free. (Cable also pre-dates affordable VHS tape players and Blockbuster type rental chains - HBO and Showtime helped cable grow.)
Can 2 pay radio networks survive? Not likely. One? Maybe. Satellite radio pre-dates the iPod and iPod ready car audio systems. Portable/user selected audio programming (including syndicated podcasts) will probably negate some of the value of satellite radio.
(37 years of dealing with this crap, er stuff, professionally. If nothing else, it's been an interesting ride.)
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Re:
I got sat radio for Howard, but love the rest of the programming. Discovery Radio is great. The commercial free radio is why I don't switch off the unit when I want to hear music.
Pod casts will never replace anything. They are too much a pain in the ass. IPODs are too much a pain in the ass. I don't want to spend hours placing and orginizing music. I would rather just turn on the radio and get all the content I could ever want. No download required.
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But cable also had the good fortune of filling people's need for more TV. With MP3 players and a general decline in interest for radio I think XM and Sirius have to be much more careful.
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4 million in 6 months???
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Re: 4 million in 6 months???
I wish that my 1 hour drive to work is longer!
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Re: Re: 4 million in 6 months???
stay in car.
listen until you want to, then get out.
1 hour commute problem solved.
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Re: Re: 4 million in 6 months???
It used to be Opie and Anthony, but they got canned for being too over the top. I think the FCC had something to do with it too.
Man, I miss Whip-em-out Wednesdays (WOW), and Fear Factor Fridays.
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Re: Re: Re: 4 million in 6 months???
Time to change to XM...
In my town they got rid of all of the rock stations because the ignorant bible thumpers thought rock was satans work , but the ghetto music is still allowed... WTF!!!! What god would support bangers... friggen tools. besides, being ghetto apparenly makes more money here. Way to go SW Georgia. I'm moving back North!!!
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sirius / stern / commercials
Now he has a few commercial breaks, and they are not intrusive like they were on regular radio. 6-7 years ago when I would drive to college class (about a 25 minute drive) there were mornings when nearly the entire car ride was commercials and nothing of Stern at all. It was ridiculous.
I'm happy to have Sirius.
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Old News...
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Isaac Stern, Mike Stern and Leni Stern for starters.
Of course they're actual musicians not a blathering idiot...
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Re:
What is the point getting personal?
To you Howard is an idiot, but to me (and 4 millions others) he is genius.
Just like Albert Einstein people like Howard are gift to all of us.
I'm not trying to change your mind and you will not be able to change mine, but hopefully some people will see my post and decide to try Sirius for themselves.
Thank you for reading.
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Commercials and Reception
Now, I like the idea of having fewer or no commercials on satellite radio a great deal, and that's certainly a selling point, but I also like the idea of picking my favorite music genre and being able to listen to it all day with consistent, clear reception, even if I'm driving through the boondocks of Texas. I hate when I'm on a road trip surfing for a good song, and when I finally find it, it starts to fade out or get mixed with the broadcast of a local high school football game.
I don't have satellite radio yet, but I do have digital music on demand at home, which provides a similar music experience. More or less CD-quality sound through my stereo. No fading, no crackling (and yes, for now, no commercials).
I hope commercials don't come in and spoil the party, but if they do, there's still a lot to be said for the kind of reception available with this kind of technology.
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Howard
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they oughtta....
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Re: they oughtta....
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CC has been dropped
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Re: CC has been dropped
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Music
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Hahahaha
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Stern
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better than howie? Opie and Anthony
By the way, Howard went on for years and years about free speech and tried to be a martyr, but all the while he was censoring Opie and Anthony because he was afraid to compete with them. Howie admitted to all of this on Sean Hannity's show in March. My favorite quote from Howard in this interview was "I believe in censorship when it benefits me."
Read about it here: http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=186874
Opie and Anthony, 7-11 AM, XM channel 202
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No commercials!
I didn't sign up and pay the monthly fee to listen to damned commercials.
Thought the CNN and news feeds would be commercial-free but they are not!
At least BBC International comes to us via XM commercial-free.
A subscription service should receive revenue from subscriptions, not advertisement too!
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Re: No commercials!
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Re: No Commericals
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