iBiquity's BIG mistake

[EasyPeazy]

Something hit me a few minutes ago when I was reading the GM thread. The one where the president of General Motors basically said they would start installing HD Radio when consumers demand it.

As far as I know, NO automaker has installed a satellite radio service because of consumer demand. Not a single one.

They have only installed it after a satcaster has agreed to give them some financial consideration or an ownership stake.

iBiquity is trying to use radio's bully pulpit and tactics like we saw at the recent auto show rather than giving the automakers a cut of the action. So far it isn't working, and I really don't expect it to work. It didn't work for XM or Sirius did it?

I firmly believe HD Radio will be in new cars someday. That day will come when iBiquity breaks down and pays the automakers to include them like the satcasters did and not a day before.

If someone at iBiquity actually thinks they're going to get automakers to pay licensing fees to include HD technology in their radios, they're sadly mistaken. The checks will almost certainly be going the other way.

 

[700WLW]

... I firmly believe HD Radio will be in new cars someday. That day will come when iBiquity breaks down and pays the automakers to include them like the satcasters did and not a day before...

HD Radio will never be standard in automobiles, and that is the only way it will ever succeed:

"MediaWeek: It's the Talent, Stupid"

"Radio has been negotiating—with little success—with automobile manufacturers to get HD radios installed in new cars. Without HD radio as a standard option in cars, it seems unlikely that these radios will reach critical mass anytime soon."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/current/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003535365

"XM/Sirius Merger - Clear thinking, and what it means for Radio"

"Plus, as I've said before, as goes satellite so goes HD. Meaning HD's only - and I mean only - shot for success is as standard (not optional) equipment in new cars. And that is a slow process that will take years and years - one car buyer at a time. And what does it mean for radio? It means we should stop spending phantom money on our air promoting HD and start spending real money to buy dashboard space in every new car."

http://www.hear2.com/2007/01/xmsirius_merger.html#comments

Ramsey, has offered to help the HD Radio Cartel change its direction, but they are intent on the path to destruction:

"I have, for more than a year, pointed out the challenges that HD radio will have to grapple with, I have posed questions the industry needs to effectively answer, I have offered strategies to make the effort work. All are widely - VERY widely - read by the HD radio establishment and completely and arrogantly ignored. If it's "real ideas" you want, I have spent a lot of effort to offer them - for free. For this, I have been cautioned and criticized. I have been warned by at least one client. I have been told outright by the HD Alliance that my efforts are a funny way to get their business. And frankly, I don't give a damn. The HD establishment made a foolish set of decisions and took a foolish set of wrong forks in the road. So now when I tell them they have to go back and take different forks they turn a blind eye."

http://www.hear2.com/2007/02/inside_the_shar.html#comments

 

[EasyPeazy]

I've been following your blog posts for a while now. Sometimes they're interesting, but you and whoever is writing the blogs are 110% wrong on this one.

Money can - and often does - fix everything.

If you're a satellite radio company and you want satellite radio in new cars, money can make that happen.

If you're iBiquity and you want HD Radio in new cars, money can make that happen too.

It has nothing to do with consumer demand. It has everything to do with money.

This is why I think this is iBiquity's BIG mistake. If they want to drive demand, they have to get the radios into cars.

If they want HD Radio to succeed, they had better sign the deals they've almost certainly discussed with automakers and get this show on the road.

 

[dbdigital]

Something hit me a few minutes ago when I was reading the GM thread. The one where the president of General Motors basically said they would start installing HD Radio when consumers demand it.

As far as I know, NO automaker has installed a satellite radio service because of consumer demand. Not a single one.

They have only installed it after a satcaster has agreed to give them some financial consideration or an ownership stake.

iBiquity is trying to use radio's bully pulpit and tactics like we saw at the recent auto show rather than giving the automakers a cut of the action. So far it isn't working, and I really don't expect it to work. It didn't work for XM or Sirius did it?

I firmly believe HD Radio will be in new cars someday. That day will come when iBiquity breaks down and pays the automakers to include them like the satcasters did and not a day before.

If someone at iBiquity actually thinks they're going to get automakers to pay licensing fees to include HD technology in their radios, they're sadly mistaken. The checks will almost certainly be going the other way.

I know Ford is an iBiquity investor (they're listed as such on the iBiquity website) but why they haven't made HD Radio standard in their cars or even given verbal support to HD-R is a head scratcher. Obviously, there is no financial incentive to add it and now that car manufacturers, such as Honda and Toyota, are touting iPod/PC connectivity and WiFi as the future of in-dash electronics, undoubtedly American car makers are studying how to impliment this as well.

Of course, given the way electronic technology is advancing, there is no reason why an in-dash receiver can't do it all.

db

 

[700WLW]

I've been following your blog posts for a while now. Sometimes they're interesting, but you and whoever is writing the blogs are 110% wrong on this one.

Money can - and often does - fix everything.

If you're a satellite radio company and you want satellite radio in new cars, money can make that happen.

If you're iBiquity and you want HD Radio in new cars, money can make that happen too.

It has nothing to do with consumer demand. It has everything to do with money.

This is why I think this is iBiquity's BIG mistake. If they want to drive demand, they have to get the radios into cars.

If they want HD Radio to succeed, they had better sign the deals they've almost certainly discussed with automakers and get this show on the road.

The buyer for GM made it perfectly clear, that consumer demand will determine, if HD Radio ever gets in-dash. You see, Ramsey confirmed that the Cartel/iNiquity has no plans to change its tactics, besides iNiquity has probably burned through much of its investment dollars - I am hearing, more-and-more HD Radio ads on radio, and know that with 2006, the ad campaign has been a failure. The Cartel/iNiquity has already confirmed that a main focus of 2007, will be with that loser company Sharper Image. The Cartel still believes, that consumers are not aware of HD Radio, even though, we now know that 75% of consumers are aware of HD Radio, at some level. If the Cartel was going to try and buy their way in-dash, it would have been done long ago - besides, car manufactures are not interested in HD Radio, because they know there is no consumer demand. In-dash Wireless Internet, iPod compatible in-dash radios, and with 80% of new cars receiving RDS (which is very similar to HD Radio), there is no chance of HD Radio ever making it in-dash.

 

[tankedsecondchance]

man oh man honda, just obtained a one time payment equal to 27 dollars a share for (xmsr) it was well over three hundred million dollars from bank of america

also gm gets roughly 400 million dollars period... even if they never install another xmsr unit ever, gm also gets 50% of sub revenue........hows radio going to match that kind of money today and satellite even kicks in for the chipsets.....

where talking billions of dollars here......

ford may and most likely will dump visteon completely going forward......

I would look at what harmin is doing with the auto oem devices this year and next....

im hearing dodge will make some related comments on sirius video shortly its no longer just about radio for the auto folks.....

 

[NE Miss Radio]

If they want to drive demand, they have to get the radios into cars.

Bingo! What % of radio listening is in cars? I seem to recall over 80% though I bet someone has the # exactly.
Ibiquity has been trying to push a top-down approach jamming it down broadcasters' collective throats. They should have focused on making HD-R available to consumers through the listener's radio and get the listeners to "pull" it out of the broadcasters.

 

[davideduardo]

Bingo! What % of radio listening is in cars? I seem to recall over 80% though I bet someone has the # exactly.
Ibiquity has been trying to push a top-down approach jamming it down broadcasters' collective throats. They should have focused on making HD-R available to consumers through the listener's radio and get the listeners to "pull" it out of the broadcasters.

Nationally, about 30% of all listening is in the car.

 

[audiophile.]

Visteon and Delphi will likely fold...

You can't lose 5 billion dollars per year and stay in business long...

 

[Mike Walker]

Yeah, nobody "demands" anything they haven't sampled yet. GM doesn't expect 'demand". They hope for MONEY, and this was a (not so) subtle request for it.

Now once you've heard a technology, and like it, that's different. My wife and I actually made a buying decision this year based partly on two pieces of technology we both agreed HAD to be in any vehicle we considered...mp3 playback, and XM radio. We found both in our Chevy Equinox. GREAT STEREO...and it has weels, too!

 

[tankedsecondchance]

satellite is now in around 230 models for 2007

 

[700WLW]

Yeah, nobody "demands" anything they haven't sampled yet. GM doesn't expect 'demand". They hope for MONEY, and this was a (not so) subtle request for it.

Now once you've heard a technology, and like it, that's different. My wife and I actually made a buying decision this year based partly on two pieces of technology we both agreed HAD to be in any vehicle we considered...mp3 playback, and XM radio. We found both in our Chevy Equinox. GREAT STEREO...and it has weels, too!

"In-Stat: Digital Radio Set to Take Off"

"In 2006, 73 percent of respondents to an In-Stat U.S. consumer survey were aware of HD Radio on some level."

http://beradio.com/eyeoniboc/instat-digital-radio-set/

http://www.google.com/trends?q="hd+...,+xm,+sirius,+podcast&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

But, 75% of consumers are aware of HD Radio, and are not even interested in sampling it; there is much more interest in Internet Radio, XM, Sirius, and podcasting, than HD Radio.

"Satellite Radio OEM Installs Growing"

"For the 2007 model year, satellite radio service is available in 218 vehicle models. That's up from 183 vehicle models in the 2006 model year, according to Edmunds."

"Unfortunately, HD Radio appears to be making some headway as well, with availability in 51 different models from nine automakers for the 2008 model year (according to the HD Digital Radio Alliance... not Edmunds)."

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/satellite-radio-oem-installs-growing.html

"MediaWeek: It's the Talent, Stupid"

"Radio has been negotiating—with little success—with automobile manufacturers to get HD radios installed in new cars. Without HD radio as a standard option in cars, it seems unlikely that these radios will reach critical mass anytime soon."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/current/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003535365

Of course, the HD Cartel is all about hype.

 

[EasyPeazy]

satellite is now in around 230 models for 2007

See? Paying off the automakers can do wonders.

 

[700WLW]

satellite is now in around 230 models for 2007

See? Paying off the automakers can do wonders.

It's the content, [EDIT] !

[EDIT-profanity, namecalling]

 

[EasyPeazy]

satellite is now in around 230 models for 2007

See? Paying off the automakers can do wonders.

It's the content, [EDIT]
[EDIT=profanity, namecalling]

Right. If that's the case, then why did the automakers require $$$ to install satrad in new cars?

 

[700WLW]

satellite is now in around 230 models for 2007

See? Paying off the automakers can do wonders.

It's the content, [EDIT]
[EDIT-profanity, namecalling]

Right. If that's the case, then why did the automakers require $$$ to install satrad in new cars?

As with all forms of radio, there is no real consumer demand - radio is just a convenience; but, there is consumer demand for cell phones, iPods, MP3s, gaming-systems, etc.

 

[EasyPeazy]

As with all forms of radio, there is no real consumer demand - radio is just a convenience; but, there is consumer demand for cell phones, iPods, MP3s, gaming-systems, etc.

Whatever you want to think dude. Let 'em build some cars without radios and we'll see if there's demand or not.

 

[Tom Wells]

I don't think there are any radio-delete options on new cars....there were in the 60's when people ordered cars, but now when everyone buys something on the lot, I don't think any are supplied that way.

People actually buy radio-delete option plates to put in 1960's muscle cars, and such a radio-delete plate is worth much more than
the radio that would have been in the dash!

 

[EasyPeazy]

I don't think there are any radio-delete options on new cars....there were in the 60's when people ordered cars, but now when everyone buys something on the lot, I don't think any are supplied that way.

People actually buy radio-delete option plates to put in 1960's muscle cars, and such a radio-delete plate is worth much more than
the radio that would have been in the dash!

Interesting. So the plates are worth more than the radios? Could that be because they're scarce? Would they be scarce because few people opted to delete the radio?

 

[Tom Wells]

I don't think there are any radio-delete options on new cars....there were in the 60's when people ordered cars, but now when everyone buys something on the lot, I don't think any are supplied that way.

People actually buy radio-delete option plates to put in 1960's muscle cars, and such a radio-delete plate is worth much more than
the radio that would have been in the dash!

Interesting. So the plates are worth more than the radios? Could that be because they're scarce? Would they be scarce because few people opted to delete the radio?

Yes, this is because in the 60's, people bought certain cars to drag race, and every ounce counted.
There were heater deletes, insulation deletes, thin windows with no crank options, and acid-dipped bodies as well.
Not many cars were ordered that way, but it's common to find restorers looking for radio-delete plates for their muscle cars.

I paid $125 for a factory AM-FM in my '65 Dodge, AMs are to be had for $10, while a delete-option plate goes for $50, but rarely
available. I have one available for a '66, as I would never have use for a car without a radio.