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XM Sees Satellite Radio Built Into Myriad Gadgets
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. is investing in ways of building its pay radio service into gadgets ranging from MP3 players to video game consoles in an effort to boost its reach and subscribers, chairman Gary Parsons said on Wednesday.
"We would see the ability for consumer electronics manufacturers to perpetuate the availability of XM's service down to clock radios and DVD players," XM chairman Gary Parsons said at a Banc of America Securities investors' conference on Wednesday.
XM and rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. are battling for subscribers in the nascent market, with products that provide nationwide music, talk and news stations for a monthly fee. In order to get the broadcasts, a consumer must buy a satellite radio player, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
Consumers might be more inclined to sign up for service if it were already enabled in popular devices like digital music players or mobile phones.
"Much of our effort goes toward helping others design, build, and implement XM functionality so in fact it becomes very pervasive," he said. "(Satellite radio ubiquity) comes not by us trying to put out (lots) of new products, but for us at a core technology level to make it so easy for others to put out those products, that they do it as part of a normal course."
Shares of XM rose 53 cents or 1.7 percent on Wednesday to $31.48 on Nasdaq, while Sirius shares rose 23 cents or 4.3 percent to $5.61.
Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.
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