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05-05-2003, 09:32 AM
Satellite Radio's Sirius Launches All-Gay Channel
Tue Apr 15, 8:04 PM ET Â*Add Entertainment - Reuters Industry to My Yahoo!
By Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fledgling Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a nationwide radio channel aimed at gay audiences, seeking to add subscribers in a previously untapped market.
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The all-talk channel dubbed OutQ features around-the-clock shows about news, entertainment and politics for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender listeners. http://www.lasvegashotboats.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif
"What we are trying to do here is give the gay community a town meeting place, if you will," said Sirius vice president of programming, Jay Clark.
OutQ is the first radio channel formatted exclusively for gay audiences -- 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week across the United States. Sirius hopes it can boost subscribers by targeting a small, potentially lucrative market that has yet to be served in such an exclusive way.
Joining Sirius officials at the news conference was gay activist and entertainer Harvey Fierstein (news), who has long complained he had few outlets to tap for information about the gay community.
He said fixing that problem was important for people who live closeted lives and do not want to have gay magazines or newspapers delivered to their homes. With radio, they can listen in the privacy of their house or car, Fierstein said.
"To be able to turn us on and hear our community, and (for us to) help them build self-confidence to the point where they can come out and be themselves, what a great thing," he said.
BOOSTING SUBSCRIBERS
Larry Rebich, vice president of programming and market development, said Sirius believed OutQ could bring "in the tens of thousands" of new clients between now and the year's end, but he declined to be more specific about a subscriber target.
Sirius, which launched only last year, currently has about 30,000 subscribers and has struggled to meet financial obligations. Just last month, it completed a $1.2 billion recapitalization by swapping debt for new common stock.
In its most recent, fourth quarter, it reported a loss of $134 million compared with $84 million one year ago. Costs have gone up due to its launch and Sirius did meet its subscriber growth goal by the quarter's end.
Sirius aims to have 300,000 customers by the end of 2003, and each subscribers pays $12.95 for a basic monthly package of some 100 channels, or "streams," as Sirius calls them.
Its competitor, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., claims more than 500,000 subscribers. It launched in 2001.
Steve Mather, a Los Angeles-based financial analyst with Sanders, Morris, Harris, said he did not think a single channel could significantly boost subscribers on its own, but that OutQ did represent an opportunity to combine customers in disparate, local markets into one, large national audience.
National gay magazines and syndicated radio shows do claim substantial audiences. Glossy magazine Genre boasts a readership of some 250,000 with 72 percent of that from subscribers and 28 percent from newsstand sales.
Nationally syndicated Aware Talk Radio, a roughly half-hour show based in Chicago, reaches some 1.5 million listeners nationwide and recently spawned a sister show, Life Outside.
Moreover, gay people tend to be early adopters of new technology, said Bob Witeck, whose Witek-Combs Communications specializes in marketing to the gay community.
"They are inclined to spend a little more to get something tailored to them. They don't want pandering, but they do want something that speaks to them directly." Witeck said.
Tue Apr 15, 8:04 PM ET Â*Add Entertainment - Reuters Industry to My Yahoo!
By Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fledgling Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a nationwide radio channel aimed at gay audiences, seeking to add subscribers in a previously untapped market.
Â*
The all-talk channel dubbed OutQ features around-the-clock shows about news, entertainment and politics for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender listeners. http://www.lasvegashotboats.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif
"What we are trying to do here is give the gay community a town meeting place, if you will," said Sirius vice president of programming, Jay Clark.
OutQ is the first radio channel formatted exclusively for gay audiences -- 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week across the United States. Sirius hopes it can boost subscribers by targeting a small, potentially lucrative market that has yet to be served in such an exclusive way.
Joining Sirius officials at the news conference was gay activist and entertainer Harvey Fierstein (news), who has long complained he had few outlets to tap for information about the gay community.
He said fixing that problem was important for people who live closeted lives and do not want to have gay magazines or newspapers delivered to their homes. With radio, they can listen in the privacy of their house or car, Fierstein said.
"To be able to turn us on and hear our community, and (for us to) help them build self-confidence to the point where they can come out and be themselves, what a great thing," he said.
BOOSTING SUBSCRIBERS
Larry Rebich, vice president of programming and market development, said Sirius believed OutQ could bring "in the tens of thousands" of new clients between now and the year's end, but he declined to be more specific about a subscriber target.
Sirius, which launched only last year, currently has about 30,000 subscribers and has struggled to meet financial obligations. Just last month, it completed a $1.2 billion recapitalization by swapping debt for new common stock.
In its most recent, fourth quarter, it reported a loss of $134 million compared with $84 million one year ago. Costs have gone up due to its launch and Sirius did meet its subscriber growth goal by the quarter's end.
Sirius aims to have 300,000 customers by the end of 2003, and each subscribers pays $12.95 for a basic monthly package of some 100 channels, or "streams," as Sirius calls them.
Its competitor, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., claims more than 500,000 subscribers. It launched in 2001.
Steve Mather, a Los Angeles-based financial analyst with Sanders, Morris, Harris, said he did not think a single channel could significantly boost subscribers on its own, but that OutQ did represent an opportunity to combine customers in disparate, local markets into one, large national audience.
National gay magazines and syndicated radio shows do claim substantial audiences. Glossy magazine Genre boasts a readership of some 250,000 with 72 percent of that from subscribers and 28 percent from newsstand sales.
Nationally syndicated Aware Talk Radio, a roughly half-hour show based in Chicago, reaches some 1.5 million listeners nationwide and recently spawned a sister show, Life Outside.
Moreover, gay people tend to be early adopters of new technology, said Bob Witeck, whose Witek-Combs Communications specializes in marketing to the gay community.
"They are inclined to spend a little more to get something tailored to them. They don't want pandering, but they do want something that speaks to them directly." Witeck said.