Tracking HD Radio Progress

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 3/9/2009

Number of stations: By early 2009, 1,877 HD Radio stations were up and operating in 241 markets, reaching 246 million people, or 85 percent of the U.S. population, according to HD Radio developer iBiquity Digital. Of the 241 markets, 197 are in the top 200 markets.

The number of stations is up from more than 1,615 stations in February 2008 and only 675 at the end of 2005. About 1,200 more stations have committed to making the conversion in the future, iBiquity said.

The total number of commercial and educational stations in the U.S. is about 13,500.

Installed base: Since the launch of the first HD Radio in 2005, the installed base in the home and car grew to almost 1 million at the end of 2008, up from 340,000 at the end of 2007, iBiquity said. The installed base includes HD Radios installed by automakers at the factory or by their dealers.

Multicasting: By early 2009, 871 digital FM stations were multicasting a total of two to three programs simultaneously, up from only 66 at the end of 2005. A total of 107 stations in early 2009 were multicasting three programs simultaneously. The multicast stations operated in 95 of the top 100 markets reaching 204 million people, or 70 percent of the U.S. population, iBiquity statistics show.

Product availability: By the end of 2008, 78 HD Radio products were available from at least 32 consumer electronics companies, excluding automaker-supplied products. That’s up from more the 60 products in January 2008 and only 25 in 2006, iBiquity said. In 2005, only one product was available, a tabletop radio.

In 2008, the number of home audio and aftermarket car audio suppliers offering the technology grew by at least nine, and at least two more companies will join them in 2009, according to TWICE surveys.

Retail availability: In early 2006, sales were limited to a few specialty outlets, but today HD Radio products can be purchased in more than 14,000 stores nationwide and online, including Best Buy, RadioShack, Crutchfield and Wal-Mart, iBiquity said.

OEM availability: By the end of calendar 2008, the number of automaker brands offering HD Radio in select models grew to eight, in some cases as a factory-installed option and in others as a dealer-installed option. The brands are BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Lincoln, Mercedes, Mercury, Mini USA and Volvo.

In calendar 2009, Toyota’s Scion brand will join Jaguar in offering HD Radio, bringing the number of brands offering HD Radio to 10, iBiquity said. Audi and Kia have also committed to offering the technology in calendar 2010.

Volvo will be first automaker to offer HD Radio as standard equipment, beginning March 2009 in almost all of its models. Jaguar’s XK follows in mid-2009.

iTunes Tagging: Of about 1,600 FM HD Radio stations in early 2009, most delivered song and artist metadata, and about two-thirds of those transmitted iTunes-tagging UFID codes, iBiquity said. These stations transmit UFID codes on their multicast channels as well. Another 200 HD Radio stations are AM stations that could send metadata and UFID codes if they broadcast music.

The UFID codes identify the song, whereas tagging artist and title metadata in the station’s program service data signals could present consumers with multiple versions of the same song when they try to download the broadcast song through the iTunes store.