A recent Radio and Records article gives a bit more color on the regional channels recently announced by XM Satellite Radio. Currently WLW - a Cincinnati AM station owned by Clear Channel - is the first of these regional offerings, with more to be announced in the months ahead. In total, seven regional news and talk channels, each provided by Clear Channel, will be made available to XM subscribers.
It's important to note that these regional channels will be broadcast on a national level - there's no geo-targeting going on here. It's also important to note that XM Radio and Clear Channel will be splitting the revenue earned from the advertising sold on these regional channels.
I strikes me that XM's regional content can't possibly make terrestrial broadcasters very happy. This might also be an indication that Clear Channel is looking to diversify it's content, perhaps they aren't very confident about the successes of HD Radio. I'm really curious as to kinds of stations will be picked up (maybe it's a way of grabbing content that otherwise wouldn't sign with satellite radio exclusively?).
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