Decency Standards Driving Listeners from Terrestrial to Satellite (Motley Fool)

Motley Fool, June 16, 2006
Bush Loves Satellite Radio
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz (TMFBreakerRick)

The Christian Coalition and President George W. Bush seem like unlikely catalysts to spur subscriptions for the sometimes randy satellite radio stars XM (Nasdaq: XMSR) and Sirius (Nasdaq: SIRI), but that's the way it's likely to play out. Bush recently signed legislation that raises the fines tenfold for indecent transmissions through free radio and television broadcasts.
Oh, Janet Jackson, what has thy right breast done?

This is no laughing matter to terrestrial heavies like Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) and CBS (NYSE: CBS), which have been slapped with fines in the past. It's just so very telltale that as radio and television networks have paid the fines and scrubbed their content clean, satellite radio is looking to close out the year with nearly 15 million subscribers.

Way to go, conservatives! How many more radio fans will line up for satellite receivers (as terrestrial radio gets euthanized) and ultimately get exposed to even raunchier streams? That's out of the frying pan and into the deep fryer, my friends.

Of course, you can't realistically police what folks elect to pay for, like satellite radio and cable movie channels. Fears that the government will also whitewash premium content, whether it's gagging Howard Stern or bleeping the bejeezus out of The Sopranos, seems about as likely as wiping retailer shelves clean of mature video game titles and CDs with parental advisory stickers.

It wasn't decency standards that drew the mainstream to trade in their rabbit ear antennas for cable and satellite television subscriptions. Breadth of content was the key driver. That has also been the major component of the satellite radio migration, with each network offering dozens of commercial-free music channels. But now it has a helping hand from legislation that is likely to drive even more notorious on-air personalities, and their fans, to satellite radio -- in the footsteps of popular acts like Stern, Opie & Anthony, and Bubba the Love Sponge.

XM? Sirius? Somebody give Janet her own Rhythm Nation channel on your airwaves. You owe her that much after all that she's done for you.

6/16/2006 11:13:00 AM

SSG Has Merged. You Can Read All Of The Latest SSG Content By Clicking Here

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

SSG is not a Financial Advisor. Read Disclosure: HERE

--------------------------------------------------------