Dan Grimes wrote: > If the HD encoding/decoding were an open format and public > domain, I would be all for "forcing" HD radio. However, > the encoding is proprietary and licensed. If Ibiquity were > to be required in the receiver, why shouldn't XM receivers > be required as well? I sympathize completely with your point. It would be easier to swallow if HD Radio were an open, royalty-free standard. However, the counter argument is that no one is saying that HD Radio is compulsory. Congress is trying to make it so that *if* the merged XM Radio and Sirius receivers are sold, *then* HD Radio has to be part of the package. It's not like they are mandating HD Radio in all radio receivers. Also, I think we need to view this mostly as applies to cars. That's where the buyer has much less control over his realistic choices. Remember how tightly XM Radio and OnStar products are bound. All of the digital radio standards in question are proprietary and licensed. So, when you have exclusive agreements such as those between certain automakers and one particular proprietary and licensed system, which is a walled garden to boot, my contention is that these "will inherently distort the normal incentives to cost reduce and further improve the [] product offering" (quoted from the original piece) far more without HD Radio added in the mix. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.