Wall Street Week/Fortune

[Damon Cassell]

> > And you completely reject that premise out of hand?
> >
> > No discussion.  It's absolute nonsense?
> 
> Right now it certainly is.  They weren't talking about what might be 5 to 10
> years down the road.  They were acting like satellite radio is serious
> competition for traditional radio NOW.  A discussion of what might happen is
> one thing but they were acting like it has already happened.

If satellite wasn't a threat to the industry, why is the industry
itself now airing it's own anti-satellite scare ads? You know, like
the ones I've heard on Entercom stations?

Satellite is to radio what the MP3/iPod craze is to the recording
industry. MP3 came out of nowhere and blindsided the record companies.
It's a serious threat to their business model. XM and Sirius both went
on the air, what, 3 years ago? And they are now mentioned in the same
breath along with MP3 and iPod. This is a huge threat to the radio
industry. Well, in reality, the biggest threat to radio is radio
itself. Radio will go down trying to save a failed business model,
probably with lawsuits and anti-competitive legislation. Like the way
they are trying to force the FCC to prohibit satellite radio from
providing traffic updates. Same silly games the recording industry
plays.

Damon