"Radio: You don't want HD Radio's Bilk-o in your foxhole."

You can't make this stuff up.

How would you like it if one you believed to be a business partner did
an about face and supported the very thing your industry is fighting
against?

Memo to terrestrial radio: iBiquity and the HD Radio Alliance just
double-crossed you.

The dynamic duo closed their dismal year by firing off a letter to the
FCC on December 20 urging that if the merger between XM and Sirius
satellite radio companies is approved - HD Radios must be included in
all satellite receivers.

Riiiiight!

That means when terrestrial radio promotes HD Radio it'll be pushing
satellite radio, too.

iBiquity's management and legal team also managed to meet with some
lower-level FCC staffers just before the Christmas break in an attempt
to grease...er... plead their case.

Poor NAB boss Fumbles. He doesn't even have juice to meet with the
entry level types at the Commission. He'll always be a mouse studying
to be a rat.

Does it astound you as much as it does me that at the NAB convention
last September -enemy numero uno was still XM and Sirius - and that
proposed merger had to be stopped at all costs?
Unlike Fumbles' NAB, which vehemently opposes the merger, iBiquity and
the HD Radio Alliance - that purportedly serves terrestrial radio
owners - evidently does not.

Should the merger be approved iBiquity wants to obstruct the company
from any exclusive arrangements with suppliers, retailers, and car
makers. They claim that not doing so would provide the merged company
a major advantage over HD Radio.

Peter "Sgt. Bilk-o" Ferrara and his HD Radio Alliance troop already
know that their product roll-out ought to be rolled-up and tossed away
- but there's too much money at stake for those in the deal to leave
on the table even though HD Radio's outcome is fated.

After stealing the stove - he'd come back for the smoke.

iBiquity argues in that a "combined XM-Sirius could be in a better
position to hamper their ability to introduce HD Radio technology into
the marketplace."

Introduce?

Let me read to you a portion of a press release from HD Radio Alliance
issued on April 10, 2006: "In response to a surge in consumer demand
for HD Digital Radio(tm) receivers, three major retailers now plan to
offer HD Digital Radios in their stores nationwide beginning this
month and have announced sweeping marketing and education campaigns to
support new customers....."

Seventeen months later and you're still introducing your product?

How many products has Steve Jobs announced during the same time frame?

I have to add include this line from that April '06 press release -
just to rub it in - where it described HD Radio as "...what promises to
be the biggest trend in consumer entertainment since the advent of FM
radio."

So, let's say that in iBiquity's blue sky universe users could choose
from both satellite and HD Radio.

No one will argue that when you can pick up and listen to a
terrestrial radio station that the quality is close to and competitive
with satellite radio. But have you ever listened to the sound of HD
Radio side channels?

It's somewhere between AM and present-day FM. That is, when you can
receive them.

XM has exclusive deals with GM, Honda, and Nissan, and Audiovox's Terk
Electronics distribution, which also distributes Sirius satellite
antennas.

Sirius has exclusives with Ford, BMW, and Mercedes Benz automakers,
retail outlet Radio Shack, and Direct Electronics, which also
distributes premium sound systems and vehicle security.

In response to the latest laughable HD Radio demand, XM and Sirius
responded in a joint statement saying, "This is evident from the
strong support our merger has received from a broad array of
businesses and organizations. iBiquity's own filing highlights
satellite radio's competition with HD radio," and calling iBiquity's
latest scheme, "...nothing more than a self-interested attempt to use
the regulatory process to promote HD radio's market share in this
highly competitive landscape."

You know, I could've sworn that the HD Radio Alliance claimed that a
number of retail locations - including the top retailer in America -
sold HD Radios.

Bilk-o's not what one would call a details guy. He disregards facts.
Here's another one. Most dealerships that offer exclusivity to one
system also sell after-market satellite radios of its competitor. A
friend who's a Honda dealer pushes XM and contractually required to do
so. But the same dealership also sells after-market Sirius units for
customers that prefer their offerings.
*
I'm certain car dealers would find shelf space for HD Radios, too.
That is, if anyone would buy 'em.

Bilk-o can't come to grips with the fact that more ahooga horns were
sold for cars last year than HD Radios.

I'll give him credit for one thing. He's made iBiquity and HD Radio's
technical hi-jinks incessant radio industry blog fodder for the past
year.

We'll pay very close attention to next week's Consumer Electronics
Show in Vegas to witness the response HD Radio receives there.

In a world of silk purses, HD Radio is a sow's ear.

http://gormanmediablog.blogspot.com/...bilk-o-in.html