Satellite radio is dead - they just don't realize it yet

Great article in the EE Times this morning about GM and Ford working with Apple to put seamless iPod integration into their vehicles and the impact that is likely to have on satellite radio networks like Sirius and XM, who are already bleeding money.

When we started TPN 18 months ago, I had a number of people, including a couple of (now ex-) hosts ask me how I thought podcasting would compete with satellite radio. To me it's always been a non-battle. The satellite idea came, unfortunately for them and their investors and shareholders, at the wrong time. They appeared on the scene in one of those bizarre windows of non-opportunity that we see arise in markets from time to time. Satellite is, no doubt, a better alternative that traditional radio. But it doesn't come CLOSE to being able to compete with podcasting. So they have a 12 month window before podcasting really hit the scene and 12 months isn't long enough to do anything.

And it was always seemed obvious that mp3 playing functionality would quickly get built into cars, and I don't think it will stop with the iPod either. We need to support all other players as well (although there isn't any other player really worth thinking about right now). So, if you are the customer, what are you going to choose - to listen to 500 satellite channels, or 500,000 podcast channels? AND have your very own music collection that you've invested hundreds or thousands of dollars on to listen to?

So I laugh my ass off every time someone reminds me what Sirius are paying Stern. That has to be the deal of the century - for him. I just hope he has the foresight to get most of it in his bank account before the satellite radio business becomes a footnote in Wikipedia.

Comments

[Phillip Molly Malone]

What do you think Stern could do as a podcast? I don't know a lot about him but from what I know, he is the poster boy for podcasting (its just he doesn't do one, yet).

JMTC
Molly

[Cameron Reilly]

I don't know, but from the bits of his stuff I've seen and heard over the years, I don't get the hype. He's no better or worse than most podcasters. Apparently his audience gets all excited if he says rude words. Shit, I've been saying rude words since I was ten years old. What's the big deal?

[Phillip Molly Malone]

Have to agree, dropping a whole heap of Swear words does nothing for me. After a Ben Barren post I have been listening to KATG and they are having diggs at Pacific Coast Hellway (part of Podshow) and PCH just thinks the more swear words they can fit into each sentence, the funnier it will be. News flash, unless it is cleaver, it just seems stupid.

Molly

[Peter]

Actually, I'm not a huge Stern fan. I haven't listened to him since he was on WNBC--how's that for ancient?

That said...

I used to occasionally listen to Howard Stern when I was driving somewhere during afternoon rush hour. He was very entertaining. However, when he was fired from WNBC and went to WXRQ (K-Rock) and did mornings, he wasn't as funny. I didn't listen to him in the morning--that brand of humor just wasn't that appealing at 7:00AM for some reason.

So the advantage of a Podcast for Howard? Time-shifting! I could listen to Howard while driving home, when I suppose I'm more in the mood for Lesbian Dial-a-Date or the like...

[Technipages]

You forget one important element in music. How do people discover what to listen to? Some hear from friends, some browse iTunes, but nothing will ever beat random play on the radio. Satellite radio totally opens up a whole new world of music to be discovered.

Sure having a huge music and podcast collection is great, but you have to have a source for where you get new stuff. Radio and MTV will always be king when it comes to that.

[Cameron Reilly]

Technipages... you should check out some music podcasts like TPN's Rock Show, Mellow Monday, Alternative Music and Jazz podcasts. Check them out at www.thepodcastnetwork.com. You'll get hours of new, free, great music each week!

[shoutout100]

Oh My God,are you insane cameron I had sirius radio for three years now and for less than 50 cents a day I listen to great music,talk,comedy,sports,etc. Yeah ipods are great its an update from headphones and a cd player its not live music or entertainment give me a break its not dead at all its still in its infancy and I feel it will only get better with new technology and as technipages stated " How do people discover what to listen to" Duh, if anything I feel as though the ipod is dead I had my fix aleady and itunes sucks,you can do the same things on sat radio as ipod only better.

[Michael Hopcroft]

One area where the podcast is not going to be able to catch up with satellite radio for a long time, if ever, is in the live broadcasting of sports and other time-sensitive events (such as election returns and breaking news stories). Podcasting technology simply does not currently permit truly live content, and by its very nature the task of making it able to is going to be extremely difficult. Certainly podcasts are far from useless for sports coverage and news, but they are far more useful after the fact -- they are much better for analysis and commentary than for reporting. Satellite radio serves this function admirably, and an integration of the two functions would be more useful than simply abandoning one function in favor of the other.