• by Erik Sass , November 6, 2006

Seeking to make HD terrestrial digital radio more attractive to consumers, the HD Digital Radio Alliance is launching a holiday ad campaign promoting Circuit City, the first "big box" retailer to offer digital sets. The campaign, set to launch November 13th, will also promote Radio Shack's rollout of digital radio sales in new markets, as well as other alliance partners like Amazon, Cambridge SoundWorks, Crutchfield, Tweeter, and JVC. JVC has introduced a new dashboard model that costs less than $200, considered a key price point that could spur greater sales.

Like earlier campaigns promoting HD radio, the new initiative uses free airtime provided by stations that are members of the HD Digital Radio Alliance, allowing the industry to blanket the country with promotions. Each member station will air 150 ads per week.

HD radio sales haven't been as quick as the industry consortium hoped--reflected in manufacturers' offer of up to $100 in rebates on certain radio models. But in the long run, the new technology seems well-positioned versus its main competitors, subscription satellite services Sirius Satellite Radio and XM.

Over the last three months, the subscription services have begun to see new subscriber additions slow. In the third quarter, Sirius Satellite Radio added 440,000 new subscribers versus 285,000 for competitor XM. Both figures were substantial drops from the second quarter, when Sirius added about 600,000 and XM added about 400,000. Sirius remains the smaller of the two in total subscriber base, with 5.1 million versus XM's 7.2 million.