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Technology Stocks : Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HEXonX who wrote (6563)	2/28/2007 11:59:29 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8420

Satellite deal foes don't hear message Ny Phil Rosenthal Published February 28, 2007 Regardless of whether the people paying for satellite radio are dissatisfied with regular old broadcast radio, they're still listening to a lot of it. That's one of the findings in new data released Tuesday by Arbitron, which polled its diarykeepers on satellite and Internet radio listening for the first time with its fall 2006 ratings period covering most of the year's final quarter. The new data on consumption of satellite radio comes out just in time for federal regulators poised to put last week's proposed combination of satellite radio outfits XM and Sirius through the wringer. Arbitron found that the two subscription services accounted for 3.4 percent of all radio listening. But that satellite radio listening was spread out among a whopping 297 different channels. The most-listened-to channel drew a 0.2 share and the least attracted a 0.009, share, too small to be reported by Arbitron's standards. The company wouldn't say which channels got which. So we still don't know how many people are listening to Howard Stern on Sirius or "Opie and Anthony" on XM. But for traditional broadcasters concerned about the impact of satellite radio in the marketplace, the most striking figure may be just how much regular radio the typical satellite subscriber listens to. Satellite radio listeners devote a weekly average of 33 hours, far more than the 19 hours per week the non-satellite crowd spends. Those who listen to XM or Sirius, however, spend more time listening to old fashioned AM/FM radio (about 14 hours) than either satellite (10 hours, 45 minutes) or Internet radio (8 hours, 15 minutes). This all plays into Sirius Chief Executive Mel Karmazin's argument for allowing the merger with XM that "Consumers have a huge array of choice." Broadcast industry representatives are lobbying to thwart the deal, but the industry might do well to figure out how to capitalize on the passion for radio that satellite subscribers apparently have. <snip> chicagotribune.com