The big dilemma facing broadcasters is this: You need to offer commercial-free HD2 channels to fend off satellite radio but if it's commercial-free, where's the revenue?

There are several answers to this. One is to charge for text messaging such as traffic or weather updates. For example, you might be able to subscribe to instant traffic updates for, say, $2.99 a month.

But here's another possibility. I saw one article yesterday that mentioned pay per listen as a possible source of revenue. One example of this would be concerts. I have little interest in paying $89.50 to see Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in concert at Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheater, but I would be happy to pay $9.95 to hear the concert live or even on a one-day delay.

I think this is one area where radio could take a lesson from pay-per-view TV. Maybe millions of people around the country won't pay $59.95 to see a championship fight bu thousands will. And thousands times $59.95 adds up to a pretty nice hunk of revenue. Ditto, $9.95 times thousands = a nice source of revenue for HD2 broadcasters.

So what do you think? Would you be willing to pay for special events on HD Radio?

BTW: There are now more than 300 stations broadcasting HD2 channels.

Douglas Hanna

Douglas Hanna is a retired advertising and marketing executive. Over the course of his 30-plus year career, he created sales-winning advertising and marketing plans for a wide variety of clients. Hanna writes extensively about family finances, old time radio and the Internet. He is also the webmaster of a site devoted to a new technology called HD Radio.