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HD Radio Starts Accelerating
Less advertising, more programming try to push HD Radio growth: In a terrific update of a piece that I wrote six months ago for The New York Times, Eric Taub files this article today that covers the state of HD Radio, looking at the latest partnerships and projections for listeners.
Various radio chains are trying to fill missing programming options through multicasting on their FM stations. Many chains have grouped together to avoid broadcasting in overlapping formats, and have agreed to an ad-free set of formats to expand listener options. At this point, the industry wants to drive people to buy HD Radio sets, so competition and advertising aren't yet useful.
An analyst quoted in this story expects 500,000 receivers to be sold by the end of 2006. I've heard 1,000,000 from other sources, but it's entirely dependent on integration as a base option in cars, frankly. iBiquity's CEO expects $200 home HD Radios by the end of the year, and that conforms with what I've heard, too.
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