Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) will start making HD Radio technology available at all 832 of its U.S. stores, according to the retailer and the HD Digital Radio Alliance. HD Radio is the terrestrial radio industry's response to the satellite radio industry, although it's been late to come into the game and so far, is an unproven product even though it was released some time ago.My bet is that most satellite radio customers (a majority) fled to the pay-for-service model of satellite radio to escape the boring playlists and incessant advertising that terrestrial radio stations broadcast. I'm sure commercial-free content played a role in the growth of satellite radio as did the sheer amount of individual programming. Now that HD Radio has found friends in two of the largest retailers in the country (Wal-Mart and Best Buy), is it destined to give satellite radio a run for its money?
That is doubtful unless the HD Radio industry moves beyond simply transferring the same tired content from the analog airwaves and packaging it into a slicker "HD Radio" format that sounds better. All that will happen is that staid and boring content will, well, sound absolutely superb. It'll still be staid and boring content, though. Now that HD Radio has a few high-profile retail friends, the programming choices and content (perhaps even pay content) needs to be looked at or HD Radio will fade into the sunset rather quickly.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-24-2007 @ 11:16PM
Brian said...
Consumers are apathetic towards HD RAdio, and will not buy HD radios at Best Buy:
“HD Radio on the Offense”
“But after an investigation of HD Radio units, the stations playing HD, and the company that owns the technology; and some interviews with the wonks in DC, it looks like HD Radio is a high-level corporate scam, a huge carny shill.”
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-03-07/music/hd-radio-on-the-offense
“Sirius, XM, and HD: Consumer interest reality check”
“While interest in satellite radio is diminishing, interest in HD shows no signs of a pulse.”
http://www.hear2.com/2007/02/sirius_xm_and_h.html
"But is 'availability' of HD radios the problem?"
"And one broadcaster reported to me that he asked an iBiquity rep how many HD radios had actually been sold as of the most recent accounting. And this was his answer: 150,000."
http://www.hear2.com/2007/04/but_is_availabi.html#comments