A recent Bridge Ratings study took a look at the competitive media landscape and the usage of the U.S. population. The results are pretty interesting...

The survey found that about 450,000 people say they listen to HD Radio daily.

Now, 57 million Americans listen to some form of Internet radio in a typical week, according to the study. Compare this to Sirius and XM, who combined pull in nearly 15 million subscribers.

Still, terrestrial radio continues to dominate, and MP3 players also hold a massive amount of earshare. An amazing 280 million Americans listen to terrestrial radio in an average week. While MP3 players - yes, including the iPod - reach 90 million Americans.

So let's break this down in percentages:

• HD Radio: 0.0015% of the U.S. population
  
• Satellite Radio: 4.8% of the U.S. population
• Internet Radio: 21% of the U.S. population
• MP3 Players: 30.4% of the U.S. population
• Terrestrial Radio: 93.7% of the U.S. population

[Bridge Ratings]

Sony has stepped into the HD Radio arena now with the XDR-S3HD tabletop radio and the XT-100HD mobile tuner.

The Sony XDR-S3HD tabletop targets the retro-chic crowd with a large back-lit blue LCD display set in a mesh-covered front panel and wrapped in a cherry wood finish. Along with HD Radio support, the XDR-S3HD also sports MP3 playback (through an auxiliary cable), and 20 presets for either the AM/FM band.

Expect to see the XDR-S3HD in stores in July for about $200.

Then there's the Sony XT-100HD, which is a hideaway mobile tuner that connects through the Sony head unit's bus interface.

On top enabling your car to receive HD Radio, the unit will pump any available PAD data to the headunit. Also expect to see the XT-100HD available in July, running around $100. 

The recent advertising campaign by Mercury that prominently promotes a free 3-years of Sirius Satellite Radio, is being called into question - by Jacobs Media.

Jacobs Media, of course, is a terrestrial radio supported organization. But let's ignore that.

The whole reason why the campaign is being questioned, is because Jacobs own research shows that MP3 player integration and GPS navigation are more popular new car features than satellite radio. Now, the research was based off of a survey that polled "Rockers" specifically, which may (or may not) be Mecury's target audience. But let's ignore that.


Using this research, we see that 16% of respondents are "very interested" in seeing satellite radio in their next vehicle. Compare this to the 19% of respondents "very interested" in GPS navigation - and the relative costs incurred between satellite radio and GPS nav - and you can figure out exactly why Mercury is promoting Sirius instead. (Hint: $195 vs. $2,295) But let's ignore that too.

Instead, let's question whether Fred Jacobs would be taking the same accusing tone (hinting that partnerships like this artificially inflate satellite radio's subscriber numbers) if the promotion was for... oh I don't know, maybe HD Radio instead? Would Jacobs would take issue with Ford's partnership with Sirius, if it weren't for the Big Three automakers saying that there's no interest in HD Radio? Nah, of course not.

Let's just ignore all that.

[Jacobs Media Blog]

The HD Radio propaganda machine is at full-tilt right now, touting the fact that they've reached all of the top 100 markets in under 18 months.

This milestone was reached with the addition of 15 new markets - including Gainsville, FL; Charleston, SC; Daytona Beach, FL; Des Moines, IA; Mobile, AL; Wichita, KS; Madison, WI; Colorado Springs, CO; and Lexington, KY. to name a few - all of which now have HD2 multicast programming.

Meanwhile, Jacobs Media is showing that awareness of HD Radio went up 18% in 2006 to 45% in the latest "Technology Web Poll" of rock radio listeners. Right now, there's only moderate interest in having HD Radio in cars and trucks. Unfortunately, satellite radio didn't ring the bells in interest either...

Jacobs' study show that MP3 connectivity and GPS navigation are the leaders in desired new vehicle features. Not surprising. Only about 10% expressed strong interest in HD Radio in their next vehicle - while 14% expressed strong interest in Satellite Radio.

Good news right? Too bad that more people responded as "somewhat interested" for HD Radio (37%) than for Satellite Radio (26%).

It's obvious here that HD Radio is mounting competition for Satellite, and $250 million campaigns don't help the matter. The key is for Sirius and XM to gain back the mindshare that they've lost recently (but without the ridiculous advertising budget).

Samsung said they will introduce a new low-power, low-cost chipset for HD Radio receivers. These new chipsets will be an important step in the development of portable HD Radios.

Samsung figures that samples of the chipset will be available before the end of the 2007 - and production anticipated for the first quarter of 2008.

The low-power, high-performance chip will be capable of supporting all current and planned HD Radio technology features. It is being designed and manufactured using advanced technology and features a System-in-Package (SIP) module and a CMOS, mixed-signal single-chip tuner.

Target HD Radio applications include: mobile phones, portable media players, portable navigation devices, table radios and home audio-video components. 

If HD Radio is able to integrate into mobile phones and portable media players before satellite radio does, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.  

There's a very interesting interview with Bob Struble, President and CEO of iBiquity Digital Corporation on C-SPAN.

Stuble talks about the commercialization of HD Radio, as well as the competition they face from various audio entertainment media like iPods and satellite radio. Interestingly enough, Struble points out that iBiquity is partnered with both XM and Sirius.

Also of note is how iBiquity is the only provider of the HD Radio technology nationwide. Struble explains that iBiquity is subject to the FCC patent policy. This means that if a patented technology is incorporated as a standard, the owner would have to agree to license it on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

Worth the watch and very in-depth (approx 30 mins).

[C-SPAN]