Bridge: HD Radio Will Impact Satellite Growth; Wi-Max in Cars by ’08

Bridge Ratings has downgraded its subscriber projections for XM while revising figures upward for Sirius.
Barring further changes in consumer brand awareness, product preference and retail and auto sales, the company believes Sirius will surpass XM subscriber counts by 2009. The compiled data indicates that at this point, projected subscribers to satellite radio should reach 34 million by 2010 and 60 million by 2020.
However, projections for HD Radio’s growth have HD improving to 26 million by 2020.
Bridge says the advent of HD and increasing growth of Internet radio will slow original growth projections for satellite radio.
Yet that gain may be short-lived, as Internet radio will greatly benefit from pervasive Wi-Max or wide-area wireless access, which will bring Internet radio to portable devices, including car radios, by 2008.