Category: Radio

Introduction

Continuous advancements, innovation and evolution in technology have always been a part of human beings throughout the ages. The pace has rapidly increased especially during the last two hundred years beginning with the industrial revolution. This is true in the field of mass communication also. Mass communication in the modern age began with the newspapers and other print media. The discovery of the radio was followed by television. The movies also had made its appearance by this time. Other developments included the gramophone and the tape recorder. The development of information technology gave a major fillip to the mass communications field. Everything from printing to broadcasting underwent a major evolution due to this. IT also brought in new recording media like the floppy drive, CD’s, DVD’s, hard disks, pen drives etc. Advances in technology also brought about changes in the format in which voice or data was recorded. It started with magnetic recording and moved on to digital recording as in the case of CD’s, DVD’s, pen drives and other similar recording devices. One of the technologies that appeared was the MP3 format of storing and recording audio, video and data. Broadcast media also underwent a tremendous evolution. The appearance of cable television, direct to home broadcast and the satellite radio were the main components of this evolution. Some of the above mentioned technologies became redundant as new ones were developed. Examples are the floppy disk and the tape recorders. The floppy disk is almost redundant where as the tape recorder also will soon follow suit. its use in professional broadcasting may continue for some more time especially in less advanced economies. Two items which became very popular were the MP3 format and the satellite radio. This was mainly due to the technology involved due to which quality and adaptability was enhanced to a great extent. This paper will be an analysis of the MP3 and satellite radio with reference to its use and popularity among eighteen to twenty four year olds in the United States.

The research question in this case would be as follows. The research will be done with respect to the uses and gratification theory. Other relevant theories will also be discussed briefly. The study will include a literature review and research using primary and secondary methods of investigation. There is a doubt that secondary data with regard to this topic may not be available in sufficiently large volume. If that is the case only reliance of primary methods of data collection will be done.

Are the youth of this country aged between eighteen and twenty four, motivated to use the MP3 more than the satellite radio?

Literature review

It is proposed that literature review will be done in the following manner. A brief history of the evolution of both the MP3 and satellite radio will be given. This will be followed by an explanation of the uses and gratification theory and also any complimentary or contradicting theories. The motivation to use the MP3 over satellite radio or vice-versa will be done with reference to the uses and gratification theory. After a brief discussion of the findings, the paper will move on to the methodology and data collection part.

History of MP3

The concept of compressing data for easier transmission was the basic idea that later developed into the MP3 format that one sees today. The practical difficulties in transferring large volume of data (audio) were the primary reason for the ultimate development of the MP3. Prof. Dieter Seitzer of the German university of Erlanger-Nuremberg and his team were the first to successfully develop a format that could compress audio data so that it could be sent though phone lines. The work on this concept had started during the early 1970s. The primary users were the major broadcasting companies of that time. The Erlanger-Nuremberg University later teamed up with the Fraunhofer Institute for further developing the codec. “Incorporating contributions by Hannover University, AT&T, and Thomson, the Fraunhofer team improved the OCF algorithm which yields a powerful new audio codec called ASPEC (Adaptive Spectral Perceptual Entropy Coding)”. (1991, The history of MP3, MP3, MP3). ASPEC was proposed to the Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) among fourteen other codecs for it to be set as a standard format codec in 1988. “The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is a working group of ISO/IEC in charge of the development of international standards for compression, decompression, processing, and coded representation of moving pictures, audio and their combination.” (Who we are, MPEG). The MPEG proposed that MUSICAM (one of the fourteen proposals) to merge with ASPEC with the resultant codec having three layers. The third layer was practically the ASPEC itself. It was the association of MPEG and the third layer ASPEC based codec (MPEG and audio layer 3) that eventually led to the name MP3 in an internet poll. The final MP3 codec can reproduce the original recording or sound in such high quality that it was even fit for professional broadcast. The compression ration also made the files much smaller without any loss in quality. MP3 format is now used in a wide range of applications that include both hardware and software. Some of them are given here namely, the Apple iPod (and other portable players, CDs, computer applications like Windows Media Player, mobile phones etc.

History of satellite radio

Compared to MP3, the satellite radio industry is relatively young. It had its beginnings only during 2001 in the United States. This was despite the fact that licensing and bandwidth (in the S band) was provided for sale for satellite radio transmission by the FCC in 1992 itself. Two companies namely Sirius and XM paid a total of 80 million USD for the rights to broadcast digital radio signals in the United States. (Satellite radio, Page 91, Roger L Sadler, Electronic Media Law, Published by Sage, 2005).

Both these companies have leased or own two or three satellites to which digital signals (usually scrambled) are sent. These signals are bounded back to receivers (owned by individual listeners) that unscramble the signals and provide digital quality stereo signals through their speaker sets. Currently XM and Sirius have merged to form a single entity called Sirius XM Radio Inc. a move which was widely opposed by terrestrial radio transmitters as being monopolistic. The company’s signals can only be received in the US and as of now, the signals of Sirius cannot be received on XM based sets. The reverse also holds good. There are estimated to be nearly 18 million subscribers (combined) for the merged company.

Worldspace – The world’s first digital satellite radio: Worldspace Satellite Radio began digital satellite radio services way back in 1990 itself. The company was founded by an Ethiopian born visionary mainly for providing education through radio for the poor countries in Africa and Asia. The company later began music, news, sports and other programs and has an international customer base covered by the footprint of the two company owned satellites. “Its broadcast footprint covers over 130 countries including India and China, all of Africa and the Middle East and most of Western Europe”. (Company Overview, Investor relations, Worldspace).

Uses and gratification theory

The media, whether it is in electronic or print form is thought to be all powerful, with the power to influence the listener or reader to sway or dance to the tune it plays. The tune may be social, political or may deal with any other line of thought. But the uses and gratification theory states that this is not the case. The theory simply states that consumers of mass communication (listeners and readers) choose the medium they want according to the uses it provides and the gratification the individual (or group) derives from using the media. “The uses and gratifications (U&G) theory originated from the functionalist perspective on mass media communication. It was first developed in research on the effectiveness of the radio medium in the 1940s.” (Uses and gratification theory and attitudes towards the web, Xueming Luo, Uses and Gratifications Theory and E-Consumer Behaviors: A Structural Equation Modeling Study, Journal of Interactive advertising, Vol 2, Issue 2, 2002, Published by The American Academy of Advertising). This choice can only be possible only if there is a relative abundance of media available to choose from. The choice of media now available for a consumer to choose from has been briefly mentioned in the introdcuction. It is clear that the consumer is the winner in this case. The choice available (subject or topic wise) specifically in the case of MP3 and satellite radio is also huge. Even though limited to audio, the consumer can choose from a variety of topics like music, sports, news, education etc. The choice does not end there because there are many sub-topics in each of the above main items mentioned above. For example, there is a choice of classical, western, pop, rock, blues and jazz etc that a consumer can choose in the music. The fact that there are more than a hundred channels available from Sirius XM radio and about eighty available from Worldspace is a proof of this choice.

The case with the MP3 format is left to the individual listener. He or she can download, record or buy any of the choices mentioned above. For example, the listener can record a classroom session by a teacher on an MP3 device and listen to it at his leisure. There is also a logic behind why people choose a particular gratification need. According to McQuail et al they are Surveillance, Personal identity, Personal relationships and Diversion. (Uses and gratification approach, Paula M. Poindexter , Mike Conway, Local network TV news show significant gains, Newspaper Research Journal, Vol. 24, 2003). Surveillance is a person’s need to understand what is happening in the world (according to individual interests and tastes). Personal identity is how a person sees himself and also how he identifies with other persons who is seen, heard or read in the media. The more a consumer can identify, the more the chance that he will select that media. Media can be a powerful substitute for human company, especially if the individual feels isolated. This aspect is referred to personal relationship. Diversion simply means an effort for a change or temporary escape from stress, the real environment etc. The uses and gratification theory has been criticized as being too individualistic. It does not say anything of the influence media has on the society (or part of a society, like family, social groups etc) as a whole, all of which can influence the individual’s choice of media. A person may listen to a program just because everyone else in his group is doing it.

Other theories of mass communication

Many theories of mass communication have evolved over the years, some complimentary and others contradictory to the uses and gratification theory. One of the oldest recognized theories is the Bullet or Hypodermic Needle theory which was propounded during the 1930s a decade before the uses and gratification theory. “The Bullet Theory holds that the mass media are so powerful that they can ‘shoot’ or ‘inject’ their messages straight into the viewer’s head”. (The Frankfurt School and the Bullet or Hypodermic Needle Theory: 1930s to 1950s, Page 1, Media communication theories).

This is obviously a direct contradiction to what was said in the uses and gratification theory. The needle theory does not take an individualistic view and considers the consumers to be passive masses. During the 1970s, the Reinforcement theory of Joseph Klappers also became well accepted. This theory fundamentally agrees with the uses and gratification theory in the sense that media has only very little influence on its consumers. It is only a small influence among many others like attitudes, behaviour, society, family friends, colleagues etc. “Therefore, media content reinforces individual disposition and is chosen based on its congruence with existing beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.” (Selective Exposure, Niche, and Involvement Theories, Mohan J. Dutta-Bergman, Complementarity in Consumption of News Types across Traditional and New Media, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Vol. 48, 2004).

The Agenda Setting Function theory is of the opinion that the media has the power to make consumers think about a particular topic and make it seem important. (The Agenda Setting Function, Communication relevant theories, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, US Department of Energy). But it does not have the power to tell us what to think. In other words media can give a person ‘food for thought’. The media can provide agendas on which consumers individually and as a group can think about and discuss. The Postmodernism theories that are in vogue today (developed in France during the 1970s) seem to agree with the uses and gratification theory in the sense that it is the individual who makes the choice of media. But it goes a little deeper by saying that each person may perceive a news item or song or an article differently according to his background and mental makeup.

Hence, it can be said that the basic tenets of the uses and gratification theory is still relevant even after 60 years of its introduction.

MP3, satellite radio and uses and gratification theory

It has already been mentioned that there is abundance of choice for the listeners of both the satellite radio and the MP3. As per the uses and gratification theory, there is no particular advantage that favors either of the mediums. This can be discussed with the four reasons for seeking gratification that has been mentioned when reviewing the theory. Surveillance is possible for both MP3 and the satellite radio due to the wide variety of subjects and topics available. Both are audio mediums and a listener cannot view any image though it. Hence the concept of personal identity, personal relation and diversion is also similar. So a motivation to use either of these media can only be understood be discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of both.

Relative advantages and disadvantages of MP3 and satellite radio: The MP3 media is practically under the user’s full control. He or she has the choice to record, download or buy the abundant resources available from shops and the internet. The user can also record a private conversation or a classroom session and listen to it later. An example would be the podcast. “Podcasting includes Webcasting, where people listen to files through their computers, but podcasting takes the next step of pushing sound files to subscribers with portable MP3 players such as the iPod for listening on the go”. (Podcasting: Why is internet audio suddenly popular now? Page 68, Steve McCarty, Spoken Internet to Go: Popularization through Podcasting, The JALT CALL Journal, 2005, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 67-74 Copyright © JALT, Japan Association for Language Teaching). Creating an MP3 file is considerably less expensive when compared to creation and transmission of a satellite radio program. This will definitely create a larger number of such files giving listeners more choice (uses and gratification). To compensate, it can be said that all programs will be professionally made and will be of very high quality (content and technical aspects) in the case of satellite radio. Both mediums require some device for listening. MP3 requires a player, mobile phone or computer while satellite radio listeners need an appropriate receiver and player. The only advantage is the relative cost which may vary depending on the object used. For example an MP3 player will be much less expensive than the satellite radio equipment whereas a computer or mobile can be more expensive. But it should be noted here that no one buys computers or mobile phones primarily to listen to audio. They are just additional features that can be made use of to listen. The MP3 media can be stored whereas in principle, satellite radio content is heard live. (But it can also be recorded using some compatible recording device). Users have no choice in selection of a song or a news item in the case of satellite radio. All they can do is switch channels for a general topic in the hope that a particular song or news item or any other audio is available. MP3 users can only listen to files they have in their possession at a particular time though they have a choice of deleting or adding new content. Satellite radio listeners have this advantage of listening to new content almost every time they switch on their sets. There is an element of pleasurable suspense here.

Discussion of literature review: It would be difficult at this stage to come to a final conclusion. But it appears that MP3 is more versatile in terms of choice of use and is less costly. This is because MP3 player is supplied free with the mobile phone or computer. Prices Stand alone MP3 players are also much cheaper than satellite radio equipment. Quality wise there will not be much difference in a good quality MP3 file and satellite radio broadcast. But because many MP3 files are not created by professionals, satellite radios score consistently on this point. On the whole it may appear that MP3 may be more motivating to use when compared to satellite radios.

What motivates college students, ages 18 -24, to use MP3 players as opposed to traditional or satellite radio?

Objectives of the study

The broad objective of the study is to identify and analyze the factors which motivate the college students in the age group of 18 to 24 to use Mp3 player or traditional radio. However, the following specific objectives can be outlined as below:

1. To ascertain how many students in the said age group use music system.
2. To know how often they use the system in a day.
3. To ascertain whether girls or boys use the music system more.
4. To analyze the factors that motivate them to use music system
5. To know how many students prefer Mp3 player to satellite radio.
6. To analyze what motivates them to use Mp3 as opposed to satellite radio.

Research Methodology

The present research is both a quantitative and qualitative one. Quantitative methods are used to analyze data collected from respondents (students who are of the age between 18 to 24) and reach at meaningful conclusions. Qualitative methods are used to collect data which are not meant for any analysis.

Data Sources

The present study relies solely on primary data. Primary data are collected directly from the respondents by survey method. Secondary sources are not used for any data which are meant for analysis. For quantitative analysis, the method chosen is survey method. Sample survey is chosen because of the time and cost constraint of complete enumeration method. For the qualitative part of the study, in-depth interview of the focused group is conducted.

Sample Design

The Sample Method requires drawing of a certain number of respondents from among a large population. The population is comprised of student users of both MP3 players and traditional radios who are in the age group of 18 to 24. The students in a city are taken as the universe of the study. They are divided as five different groups based on the college where they study. All these groups are considered for forming the sample for the study. Such a classification is made to avoid the homogeneity in the nature of data. When the population taken is students from one college alone, the data collected are likely to exhibit same features, which would have affected the quality of research. The population for the focused group also, attention is paid to ensure that it is comprised of all these divergent groups. Population for the study does not comprise of general public and people who use neither Mp3 player nor traditional radio. The population for the present study belongs to the finite group because the number of students who use MP3 player or satellite radio in a college can be easily ascertained.

Sampling Procedure

The first step in the sample selection is the determination of number of units to be included in the sample, called the sample size. For deciding the sample size, first the researcher must know what the population frame is? Once it is understood, finite or infinite, the next task is how the required sample units are drawn from the known population. This process is called sampling method/procedure. The sampling procedure used here is Simple Random Sampling Method because, it is the most popular and reliable sampling method from the point of view of data accuracy. For forming sample under the Simple Random Sampling Method, Lot Method is used, which is simple and easily carried out as opposed to any other method. Random Sampling method allows equal chance for all the units in the population to be included in the sample, which results in the avoidance of chance of personal bias. When the data is free from the personal prejudice of respondents, the objectivity of research can be maintained and meaningful conclusions can be arrived at.

Sample Size

The number of units to be included in the sample is known as sample size. The sample size is formed as a percentage of the universe, which is the total number of population. Since the population is certain and finite, 10%, which the researcher thinks fit, of each group in the population is selected to form the sample size. The selection of sample is done in two stages:

1. In the first stage, the total population is divided into five groups, such as students of five different colleges. Students in the age group of 18 to 24 may or may not be using music system. However, in the random selection, such students are not avoided. These five groups of students from different in a city are taken as the population. The details of the number of students in the said age group can be had from the college office on request.
2. In the second stage, a certain percent of sample from each group of population was chosen uniformly to form the Sample for the study. The sample size is fixed as 50, which is formed by taking 10 units from each group of population regardless of the size of the group. The following table exhibits how the population is determined and sample was drawn so as to form the sample size.

Population from five different colleges in a city and the formation of Sample Size:

In addition to the above, a focused group of 10 students who are regularly using either mp 3 player or satellite radio is also sleeted for an in-depth interview. This is suggested because apart from the general opinion on the relevant topic, regular users can give reliable, accurate and unbiased data. This group is formed from the same colleges who do not belong to the first group. Therefore, the sample size of the study is 60.

Data Collection Instruments

The selected students who may or may not be using mp 3 players or satellite radio constitute the sample for the study. Data are collected directly from the respondents by using a questionnaire. The study has two types of respondents; the first group consists of 50 respondents selected from various colleges and a focused group of 10 students taken from the same colleges for an in-depth interview. For the first group a well structured questionnaire is drafted seeking the relevant data for the purpose. Open questions are avoided maximum so as to ensure maximum participation. For the second sample of 10 students an interview schedule is prepared with open and closed questions.

Analysis and Interpretation

The data collected from the respondents are coded and analyzed using the Microsoft Excel Wok sheet. For the purpose of calculation Simple Percentage Method is used. The analyzed data are tabulated and are presented below:

Table No.1. The College wise classification of Respondents

The above table exhibits the number of respondents taken from five colleges. College 2 has the maximum number of students having the age between 18 to 24 because; uniform rate is applied for forming sample from the population.

Table No.2. Gender wise classification of Respondents

Table No. 2 shows the sex wise classification of respondents. Of the 60 respondents, around 64 percent are male. This shows that majority of the users of either Mp3 and/or satellite radio is male. Only 34 percent of students in the city are using music system.

Table No.3. Income wise distribution of Respondents

Table No. 3 exhibits the distribution of respondents on the basis of income. When 50 percent of the students fall in the category of below 1000 $, 25 percent and 20 percent come in the 1000 & 2000 and above 2000 category respectively.

Table No.4. Table showing type of music system owned by the respondents

The above table exhibits the type of music system owned by the respondents. It is clear that around 67 percent students have Mp3 and 27 percent have satellite and a meager percent students have both mp3 and satellite radios. This data reveals that a lion part of the respondents prefer mp3 to satellite radio.

Table No.5. Table showing the frequency of usage of music system

The above table shows the number of hours respondents hear programs from their device. Around 54 percent students use the device for 2 to 4 hours a day. It is also clear from the table that around 13 percent respondents hear programs for more than 8 hours a day.

Table No.6. Table showing the preference of respondents of mp3 and radio

Table No. 6 shows the preference of respondents between mp3 and satellite radios. Around 67 percent prefer mp3 to satellite radio. It reveals that mp3 is more popular among the students as a music system.

Table No.7. Table showing the reason for using Music System

The table exhibits that the main reason for using music system is that they love music. Out of 10 responded to this question, 8 are using music system because they love music. The remaining 20 percent take it as a means of relaxation or enjoyment.

Table No.8. Table showing the reason for using Music System by Rank Method

(Reasons: a. Relaxation, b. Love Music, c. Education, d. Singer, e. Matter of prestige)

Table No. 8 exhibits the reasons for using music system under Rank Method. For the sake of convenience, certain codes are used with English small alphabets to indicate the rank of reasons on the basis of importance according to respondents.

Table No.9. Table showing the reasons for the preference of Radio to Mp3

The above table exhibits the reasons for the preference for satellite radios to mp3 music player. Majority of the respondents prefer radio to mp3 on account of education programme being broadcasted by satellite radio. Out of 14 responded to this question, 5 prefer their radios because, they have been gifted by their beloved.

Table No.10. Table showing the reason for using Radio by Rank Method

(Gift by your beloved, b. Low Cost, c. Effective, d. No programming needed e. Like traditional, f. Education, g. Live Programs)

Table No. 10 shows the reasons for using Radio by Rank Method. The method uses a coding system for convenience. The codes are given by English alphabets representing the various reasons arranged in the questionnaire from a to f. The data reveals that 52 percent belong to the second code, which describes the order of importance of reasons for using satellite radio.

Table No.11. Table showing the reasons for the preference of Mp3 to Radio

The above table shows the respondents’ preference of mp3 to satellite radio. Eighteen out of 24 respondents responded to the question opine that they prefer mp3 to radio is because the former can be used for enjoying own choices.

Table No.12. Table showing the reasons for using Mp3 by Rank Method

(Cost Effective, b.Gift by your beloved, c. Own choice of songs, d. Like modern/sophisticate, e. My friends have similar)

Table No. 12 exhibits the reasons for using mp3 under Rank Method. The method uses a coding system using English alphabets from ‘a’ to ‘e’. Each code represents a specific sequence of preference of respondents.

Conclusion

The study of preferences of college students to use MP3 instead of satellite radio has been completed here. A review of literature included a history of MP3 and satellite radio, theories of mass communication which mainly dealt with uses and gratification theory. A comparative analysis of the two technologies with the above theory was also done. Due to lack of sufficient data on motivation to use MP3 or satellite radio, a methodology using primary sources of data was done. It was found that the students were motivated to use the MP3 more than the satellite radio. The main reasons given were choice of selection of matter, friends having similar technology and to a certain extent the lower cost. Friends having similar technology will enable students to swap files adding to the allure of using MP3. It can be said that college students aged between 18 and 24 are more motivated in using the MP3 and MP3 devices when compared to the satellite radio.

Questionnaire

The radio and television industry came into existence much later than the print media in the United States and elsewhere. When advertisers began actively using television and radio as a medium of advertising, data about popularity and viewership were hard to come by. In the case of print media, circulation figures were considered to be enough evidence about readership levels. This not was possible when rating TV and radio show popularity. “Since 1930, when a group called the Co-operative Analysis of Broadcasting conducted one of the first audience surveys for radio, several individuals and companies have attempted to provide syndicated audience information.” (Wimmer & Dominick, 2005). This particular area is now dominated by two major corporations namely Nielsen Media Research and Arbitron (local market radio). This paper studies the Nielsen Media Research Company, its history, products, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Examples of measurement, data, and its collection methods will also be presented.

Nielsen Media Research

History

The Company has its origin way back in 1926 when it was founded by an engineer named Arthur C Nielsen and was called A. C. Nielsen Company. The company was one of the pioneers in market research. The group was split into AC Nielsen and Nielsen Media Research as a strategic move. In 2001, both these companies were acquired by a Dutch corporation called VNU. The present name of the group is The Nielsen Company. Apart from the United States, the company operates in forty other countries across the world. (About Neilson, 2008).

According to the website, Nielson Media Research has the following sister corporations namely Nielsen//NetRatings (internet activity research), Nielsen EDI (box office research), Nielsen NRG (Hollywood), Nielsen ReelResearch (TV program and advertising material research), Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen VideoScan, and Nielsen BookScan, Nielsen Monitor-Plus and Nielsen Outdoor billboard viewership). The headquarters of Nielsen Media Research is located in New York and its operations headquarters is in Florida. Apart from this, the company has regional offices throughout the country.

Products

The Company provides products and services to the following categories of customers. They are advertisers, broadcast networks, local stations, Hispanic stations, Hispanic networks, and national cable networks.

It is to be noted that all of the following information (unless otherwise indicated) has been sourced from the relevant pages on the Company website.

Advertisers

Nielsen offers a comprehensive range of products and services to advertisers. The company states that their flagship product is Ad Views®, which is a software that provides advertising activity (of competitors also) in 210 markets across the country. It will help to analyze the ROI of an advertising campaign. Other products include Galaxy Explorer (comprehensive viewership), KeepingTrac (ad airing verification), NPOWER (audience behavior), Quick Views (competitor ad spend), Place Views (ad placement), Print Views (analysis of magazine advertising), and Sponsorship Scorecard (analyzing sports sponsorships).

Other customers

Three of the above-mentioned products are available to broadcast networks namely Ad Views, Galaxy Explorer, and Place Views. Nielsen Media Research provides data from the 19 Spanish broadcast stations in the country. This data is also useful for advertisers and who is Spanish as s medium of advertising. For Hispanic networks, the company offers everyday ‘tracks and trends’ in-network as well as cable broadcast. This is done for both Spanish and English advertisements and programs. For cable networks, comprehensive data is provided about viewership, rating, audience characteristics, etc.

Reports

A very wide range of reports are provided by Nielson Media Research and they are too numerous to be listed here. The company provides a total of 64 different types of reports. Their frequency varies from daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. Some reports are produced during selected months in a year. Due to this large number, only a few selected ones will be given. The African American Study and DMA Planners Guide are examples of selected month reports. The Network Primetime Feature Film Directory and NSI Directory of Stations are examples of yearly reports. The NHIH Spanish Cable Pocket pieces and Up-Front Buying Guide (UFBG) are examples of quarterly reports.

Services

Nielsen Media Research also provides a very wide range of services too numerous to be listed here. A few examples are given here. The National Agency, Broadcaster, and Syndication Services (NABSS) give the audience estimates of programs that are broadcast nationally. Nielsen Station Index (NSI) provides information like the top-rated program broadcast during a particular time slot. The Nielsen Television Index Hispanic (NTIH) provides viewership and other data for Hispanic programs. Nielsen Analytics provides a wide range of information like content delivery and consumer media technology.

Other Products

The Company delivers a total of 39 products (including the ones mentioned above. All the products are related to the television, movie, and cable industry. Nielsen also provides information and statistics of the gaming industry which includes computer, online and mobile games.

Measurements

Nielson Media Research uses many methods in arriving at their research conclusions.

• Viewership ratings %:Audience X 100

Universal estimate

(Audience is the actual viewership and universal estimate is the total population.)

• Households using television rating % (HUT): No of households with TV sets in use X 100 Total households in the country/market
• Persons using television: No of persons viewing TV X 100

Total no of persons

• Share of audience: Ratings X 100

HUT

• Average audience projection: Ratings X Universe (total)
• Viewings per viewing household: Persons projection X 100

Household projection

• Cost per rating point: Average unit cost X 100

Rating %

• Cost per thousand: Media cost x 1000

Impressions

Sample: A sample report of one of the many reports produced by the company is given below

Data collection methods

There are two primary methods through which Nielsen Media Research collects information for its huge database. They have a database of 10, 000 households with a population of 18,000 persons who have agreed to provide details of their viewership patterns and behavior to the company. This household and population have been statistically selected to represent the national-level population. At present these are limited to the smaller markets. These diaries are periodically mailed to the company. This data called listener diary for radio and viewer diary for television also provides the demographic information about the respondents. (Albarran, Chan-Olmsted & Wirth, 2006).

Another more practical method is the passive electronic metering set up in the homes of the respondents. called the people meter, it automatically records the name of the broadcaster, the number of minutes viewed, channel changes, etc automatically. It even assigns separate buttons to each member of the household. When the set is switched on a light flashes reminding the viewer to press his assigned button. Mid-sized market households are provided with a set tuning meter which only provides information about set tuning only. (About Neilson, 2008).

Careers

The Company has a good career rating from other organizations. It has been rated as one of the most diverse companies in the country by Diversity Inc. It has also been rated as one of the best companies to work (IT section) in by Computer World. The company offers a wide variety of careers that includes sales, research, software development, product support, etc.

Analysis of Nielsen Media Research

• Strengths: There are a lot of strengths associated with Nielson Media Research. It has a long history of being in the field and is also one of the pioneers in media research. It has a global presence and is a part of a huge multinational with many sister concerns. It has a virtual monopoly in the field of television and radio ratings at the national level. The company has a good career rating which will help in attracting the right talent. The company’s financial performance is also quite strong.
• Weaknesses: Nielsen Media Research has been associated with a company that has been in the field for seventy-two years. As such there are no direct weaknesses within the company. But two areas could undermine the company’s effectiveness and credibility in the future. It should be noted that the company had started when there were only a few radio and television channels in the United States. The situation has changed drastically over the years. The number of the above-mentioned media has risen dramatically. The cable TV industry also has gained prominence. Population diversity has also increased. This has resulted in making the data gathering process highly complex. This has been compounded by the arrival of the internet, electronic games, and mobile marketing. According to a company executive, “the size of a typical database product Nielsen delivers to clients has increased by a factor of ten about every four years, not to mention the complexity and enhanced client usability needs of those products”. (Neilson media augments IT strengths, turns data into dollars, 2008).

If the company does not gear itself technically to handle this volume, its effectiveness might be at stake.

The next issue which is more serious is concerned with methods it employees to gather data. There have been criticisms that the company’s sample population is not representative of the Hispanic and other ethnic groups in the country. This could result in faulty research results. There have also been objections to the actual methodology used in gathering data. Moreover, some “critics suggest that the company is unresponsive to its clients and is trying to push poorly developed technology and faulty sampling methods”. (Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 2007).

A bill has been introduced in the Senate which if passed will require compulsory certification of research methods carried out by private companies. The certification will be done by an accredited council before any results can be sold.

Solutions

Nielson Media Research will face many problems if it does not respond to the above challenges. One way to handle information overload is to develop or invest in new technology. They could also try and go for more outsourcing. At present Nielsen is already outsourcing some of its functions. The second issue is more serious. Steps should be taken to see if the data collection methods are flawed. If so, they should be immediately corrected. The Company should also take the initiative to certify its products even before regulations have been passed into law. This will also encourage other companies to follow suit.

References

About Neilson. (2008). Nielson Media Research. Web.

Albarran, Alan. B., Chan-Olmsted, Sylvia. M., & Wirth, Michael. O. (2006). Handbook of Media Management and Economics. 627. Web.

Journal of Competition Law and Economics. (2007). 3 (1), 49-96, Oxford University Press.

Neilson media augments IT strengths, turns data into dollars. (2008). Outsourcing Center: An Everest Group Company. Web.

Wimmer, Roger. D., & Dominick, Joseph. R. (2005). Ratings research. Mass Media Research. 341. Web.

Mass media is widespread at present and radio is one of the well-known types of mass media. The content of the material that we hear on the radio nowadays differs from the quality of the material that was recent. The most valuable reason is that present time radio is owned by large corporations and syndicates and they make a potential influence on what we hear on the radio today. The most important problem of new owners is that they make a great impact on the content of the material that is spoken on the radio i.e. great number of business news, financial and economical life of this or that country. But they do not pay any attention to the needs and wants of the population in general and the constant listeners in particular. It is important to mention some historical facts about radio in the US. The first commercial radio station in the U.S., such as KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, appeared in present-day life in 1920. The first constant old-time radio shows had begun by 1922. In the late 1920s, musical programs had very popular shows including opera, big bands, jazz, classical, popular and modern music (Brady 1).

Because of the diversity and complexity of the region, the conversation must touch upon the problem of changes, functional uses, and the appearance of the new types of communication (Sussman 133). Let’s have a closer look at Canadia’s first local all-news radio station. The beginning of Canadian broadcasting developed certain American flavor. All the chiefs tried not to allow the U.S. influences on their programs, but despite this news radio and television programs, U.S.-based, fast-paced video, and increased ownership concentration are becoming more usual and everybody can admit this state. The United State’s all-news pioneers together with Westinghouse Broadcasting CHFI’s owners helped Canada’s first local all-news radio station, CHFI, to appear in June in Toronto to the wider population, and now it has the great plan to provide a local all-news channel in Toronto. They took the idea of this project after New York 1 News in Manhattan (Sussman 133).

The proclamation and the statement of the news vice president and the executive editor of CHFI touched upon the problem that their company’s emphasis had been that if it had a great experience in the U.S., they had a chance to look at it, and he also claimed that.

When they decided to go into all-news radio they discussed it with Westinghouse and they agreed to help them. Their top people helped train their news and sales staffs. They even borrowed a little from their all-news slogan, ‘Give Us 22 Minutes We’ll Give You the World.’ Their slogan is ’20 Minutes of News Every 20 Minutes (Sussman 133).

There are a lot of clients on this all-news radio station and all of them state that the radio helps to improve their newscast and reporting. The main impact on the quality of the radio material is that new radio owners i.e. corporations and syndicates, in the opinion of the majority of listeners, take great advantage of the business and economical side of the news. As there are many clients from all over the world being the representatives from different companies and wishing to promote themselves. If the company invests money in its own radio or announces its own radio syndicate, then, as many people think, this company will provide the listeners with the information about the business, economical or financial situation of the company; and this firm will not have any wish to supply the listeners with great amount of different music, music news and other entertainment material as the majority of the listeners want to hear. The influence of the corporation owner’s on the radio material can have also the positive sides and the negative ones.

The positive side is that the co-owners of the radio station have more opportunity to invest their money in the development of other different projects and as a result of this to increase the level and the popularity of the station itself. But the bad side will appear itself when these new invested projects have only business side without any enjoying project. The example of the next radio station owner will show the different information they provide to the listeners; and this information is one of the most useful thing of the radio station within the corporative chief in our modern society.

This corporation provides the radio listeners with information and helps them to be entertained without any commercial news and advertisements. There is one station, i.e. National Public Radio (NPR), that proclaims itself as an independent, private, not-for-profit organization proposing and syndicating news, music, and cultural radio programs to more than 850 independently operated noncommercial member stations. The shows that it broadcasts include news programs “Morning Edition” and other things such as cultural programs like Fresh Air and World Cafe. It was founded in 1970; NPR receives private grants from government agencies and donations, dues and independent rights (Adelson 9).

The plus of this company is that its radio supplies the listener with various kinds of information: from the business news to the relaxing music and entertaining programs with different shows. So, in such a case it could be stated that the majority of the listeners would be satisfied with such a radio program, because most of them wish to know all the possible information all over the world; not only the business news, the advertisements or the situation with the financial crisis of the world, but also such kind of information with the help of which the listener could enjoy yourself and get a relax.

Debut Broadcasting Corporation, for example, is the media and Entertainment Company has the syndication of Motown 50: The Radio special and the affiliation of Emmis Communications.

Motown 50: The Radio Special has the celebration of the golden anniversary of the Detroit record label that transformed the face of popular music against the backdrop of revolutionary era in American history. This Radio Special also targets the other radio stations and all together they have the purpose to make the great project to honor American’s 50^th anniversary with remembrance of the artists’ songs and personalities that build the legend and take the pleasure for many listeners (Adelson 9).

It is very important to mention that none of the co-operative radio station rejected the project, they only were very glad to participate because of the importance of this period for American culture.

From the above mentioned it is necessary to make the conclusion that the impacts of the corporative radio owners have both positive and negative factors. There are some stations, for example National Public Radio, that do not pay so much attention to the promotion and increasing the status of their own company by the means of different advertising, news about this or that companies and so on, but they try to make as many projects on different topics as they can to reach more and more listeners in a week. In spite of this, there are also Radio stations which under the influence of their owners have the aim not to satisfy the priorities of the listeners but to satisfy the clients of their owners who invested money for the advertisements and different programs that touch to the sphere they work in.

Works Cited

Adelson, Andrea. “The Business of Public Radio.” New York Nimes 1999: 9.

Sussman, Gerald. “Who Speaks for Asia: Media and Information Control in the Global Economy.” Journal of Media Economics 1999: 133.

Brady J, Richard. “The History of Old Time Radio” 2009. Enzinearticles.com. Web.

Introduction

BBC Radio is a business division of British Broadcasting Corporation that was established in 1927. The radio station was meant to meet the domestic and international needs of the listeners in Anglophone countries. Its popularity grew after the First World War as it was considered to provide accurate information about the progress and the events during the war. The Second World War also provided this corporation to gain popularity both locally in Great Britain and among the international audiences (Scales, 2015). After the war, it became one of the most important tools used by the West to sell their ideologies to the rest of the world.

This made it necessary for the firm to broadcast in various other languages to reach a larger audience within the international community. It grew very fast to become the largest broadcaster in the world, using over 27 languages. In the twenty-first century, BBC Radio has been faced with stiff competition as numerous radio stations emerge in regions that it previously dominated. This increasing threat in the market has forced this corporation to come up with ways in which it can protect its market share locally and internationally.

The management of BBC Radio realized that the needs of its clients in terms of the content of information presented to them were getting highly diversified, especially across people of different ages. The aging population had different content needs from the middle-aged population. The teenagers and young adults had a taste that was very different from that of the middle-aged and the elderly members of society. At first, the BBC tried to balance the needs (Petridis, 2011). With the knowledge that teenagers spend most of their weekdays in school, programs meant for them were pushed to the weekends. The middle-aged members of the society were served early in the morning and in the evening after work. The elderly had their programs during mid-days because it was assumed that most of them are retired hence spend much of their time at home. This strategy did not deliver the expected success. After careful market research, this firm realized that the best way of meeting the needs of its diversified audience is to come up with a series of radio stations that target different classes of audiences. Currently, this corporation has a series of radio stations available in analog, digital, and online platforms.

Views on BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is one of the radio stations owned and operated by British Broadcasting Corporation that started its operations on September 30, 1967. It primarily uses English as its mode of communication. BBC started this radio station following the pressure from the market to come up with a station that specifically targeted the youths. This market segment had been ignored for a long time both locally and internationally, but their relevance to this firm was becoming more conspicuous. Its content (music and newscast) was primarily meant for the youth aged 15-29 years. This radio station became a huge success in 1970 not only among the local audience but also internationally. It has been restructured over the years to meet the national and international legal requirements in terms of the content it provides and the program timing to correspond to the age-appropriate requirements. It is currently available both in the analog and digital platforms. Currently, it has a 6.7% market share in the United Kingdom.

According to Thornham and Popple (2014), one of the most important factors that define the popularity of a given radio station among a given group of audience is the type of music it plays. BBC Radio 1 plays a mix of popular current songs, especially hip hop, rock, rap, house, drum and bass, electronic, dance, pop, and dub-step, and even gospel. Most of its presenters are always keen to identify and play the latest hit songs irrespective of their genre. This has enabled it to remain appealing to a wide group of teenagers and young adults. This strategy was based on the belief that even people of the same age bracket may have different preferences in terms of music. The station has short Newsbeat bulletins after every one hour. It also has a number of programs meant for its target audience locally and internationally. BBC Radio One has been successful in understanding the needs of its audience and providing services that meet these needs in the best way possible.

Views on BBC Radio 1xtra

Founded on August 16, 2002, BBC Radio 1Xtra was largely seen as an offshoot of BBC Radio 1 that had been very successful. This radio station was meant to fill the market gap that was not taken care of by its sister station. It specifically broadcasts in the United Kingdom. The management realized that in its attempt to reach out to the international teenagers and young adults through Radio 1, the local population was ignored. People aged 15 to 30 years living in the United Kingdom are its primary audience (Sharp, 2011). It is only available on the digital platform and specializes in urban music. Some of the common types of music commonly played in this station include hip hop, dub-set, bass-line, drum and bass, R&B, gospel, house, soca, dancehall, and UK funky. The choice of songs is always based on their popularity in the market. It has a market share of about 1% in the United Kingdom.

BBC Radio 1Xtra is exclusively English in its content and programs it runs. It provides its audience with a 24-hour music output that is punctuated by news beats, news bulletins, and speech that is designed specifically for its target audience. Its presenters are particularly keen to understand the current affairs in the country that affect its target audience either directly or indirectly. Inasmuch as BBC Radio 1Xtra has not been able to match its sister station in terms of the number of its daily audience, it has been a success. The industry is currently flooded by many other radio stations which are increasingly becoming niche broadcasters. Kildea (2014) says that convincing the United Kingdom audience to change their loyalty from the stations that they are currently using is not easy. That is why the slow growth of this firm in the market is justifiable. However, it is important to note that some of its programs are very closely related to the programs offered by its sister station.

Comparing and Contrasting BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra

Similarities between BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra

These two sister radio stations share a number of factors in common. The first similarity between these two stations is the age bracket of their target audience. They both target teenagers and young adults aged 15-29/30 years. This explains why the content of their broadcasts is also very similar. They both offer a wide range of popular urban music to their audience. Dub-set, house, dance, and hip hop are some of the types of music common at both stations. Both stations are dominated by music programs throughout the day, punctuated with news beats and news bulletins, and sometimes speech (Melanie, 2015). In fact, they have both been described as 24-hour music stations.

Most of the talk shows in both stations focus on youth affairs and trends in the society that affects them either directly or indirectly. They both seek to empower the youth by providing them with information that is relevant to their development. The two stations, which are both available in the digital platform, have been keen on involving their audience in defining the content of their programs. They encourage their audience to choose their preferred playlist by voting for their best songs on a regular basis. Topics of discussion are in most of the cases generated from the audience who share some of their challenges and experiences in life. The strategy of engaging their audience actively has made them very popular among their target audience (Kershaw, 2014). Both of them are fully owned and operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Differences between BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra

BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra have some fundamental differences which are worth noting. First, BBC Radio 1 broadcasts to an international audience while BBC Radio 1Xtra broadcasts to a local audience within the United Kingdom. This difference means that while BBC Radio 1 will try to have a global perspective when choosing the content of its programs, especially the music, news, and talk shows, BBC Radio 1Xtra will focus on content relevant to the locals. The above analysis also shows that BBC Radio 1Xtra specializes in urban music. On the other hand, BBC Radio 1 focuses on a wide range of music, only dedicating one program coming late at night for urban music (Rogers, 2013). The popularity of these two radio stations is also different. While BBC Radio 1 is popular among people aged 26-32, BBC Radio 1Xtra is very popular among the younger population aged below 24 years.

The difference in the age bracket of the main target audience of these two stations also creates a difference in the content of what is discussed. For instance, while most of the discussions at BBC Radio 1Xtra on how these teenagers can gain self-confidence and acceptance among peers, BBC Radio 1 focuses more on issues about families, financial security, and forces that affect the economy. BBC Radio 1Xtra is available exclusively on the digital platform while BBC Radio 1 is available both in the digital platform and analog frequencies. The operations of BBC Radio 1 are only influenced by both local and international laws. Besides abiding by the existing laws in the United Kingdom about the content of its programs and time appropriateness, this station must also understand and abide by the laws put in place by individual countries where services are available. On the other hand, BBC Radio 1Xtra are only bound by the laws and regulations put in place by the government of the United Kingdom.

Personal Opinion Usage of Cultural Talk

The two stations’ usage of cultural talk shows is almost similar given that they target people of almost the same age bracket. BBC Radio 1 talk shows always focus on family issues and finance. These are the primary factors that influence young adults. Most of them are just married, with young kids, and lack financial security. The station’s main purpose is to make these individuals understand how to deal with their situation without despair. Some people often gave up when faced with such serious challenges in life. Through the talk shows in this station, they get to learn about the culture, values, and socio-economic norms of the society that gives them hope. Sharing these challenges makes them realize that they share common problems with many other people across the world. They realize that others are going through worse situations. This knowledge gives them the strength to fight on and achieve success in life.

The usage of cultural talk in BBC Radio 1Xtra has been of benefit to the teenagers in understanding how to deal with the issue of low-self esteem and acceptance among peers (Savage, 2015). At this critical stage of development, these teenagers would want to be noticed, appreciated, and accepted among their peers. Some may go to the extreme by engaging in drug abuse and in criminal activities to gain acceptance. These stations offer them advice and ways of earning respect and acceptance among their peers and the rest of the society without necessarily engaging in activities that may harm them. It offers them parental guidance that most British teenagers lack due to the heavy work schedule of their parents.

References

Kershaw, L. (2014). The Bird and the Beeb: The facts of life at the BBC. Liverpool: Trinity Mirror Media.

Kildea, P. F. (2014). Benjamin Britten: A life in the twentieth century. London: Penguin Books.

Melanie, M. (2015). BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra launch 1 million hours.UK Fundraising. Web.

Petridis, A. (2011). G2: Arts: Liked Tinie Try this lot: Does Radio 1 still has the power to make – and break – new bands? As it night-time ‘specialist’ DJs take over its prime-time shows, Alexis Petridis talks to the people behind the playlists. The Guardian, p. 19.

Rogers, J. (2013). The death and life of the music industry in the digital age. New York : Bloomsbury Academic.

Savage, M. (2015). Stars gather for BBC Music Awards. BBC News. Web.

Scales, H. (2015). Spirals in time: The secret life and curious afterlife of seashells. London: Bloomsbury Sigma.

Sharp, R. (2011). Radio 1 boss: our DJs’ picks turn listeners off. The Independent, p. 8.

Thornham, H., & Popple, S. (2014). Content cultures: Transformations of user generated content in public. New York: I B Tauris.

Introduction

Since most organizations now have an online presence, it has become important for them to design good websites so that their online users can access their products and services. As such, it is important to ensure that the general design, links, graphics, text, navigation bars and buttons are easy to use and understandable. Most radio stations now have an online presence and using their websites, listeners can listen to podcasts on different programmes. In addition, users can also follow news by the hour and leave their comments as well. Both the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the National Public Radio (NPR) have websites from where online listeners can listen to the different programmes, news, and debates featured by these radio stations. This report is an attempt to compare and contrast the BBC and NPR radio websites. In this case, the report shall describe the key design and navigation features of the two websites. In addition, the report also analyzes the elements of the two radio stations that appeals to him.

Comparing And Contrasting

BBC Radio Website:

In terms of the design features of the BBC radio website, the background has not interrupted the text used. In addition, the text used is easily readable. There is also a perfect hierarchy of the contents of the website. The text columns are a bit narrow and consequently, the user can be able to read the text without straining. In terms of graphics, the website does not have big buttons, and for every graphic link, a matching text link has been included. For example, under the BBC Radio 1 link, there is a text link that when you click on it, it leads you to the various programmes in that particular radio station (BBC Radio 2011). The general design of the website is also very good, and the webpage opens up pretty fast.

The different pages can also be downloaded quickly. Graphic elements such as subheads, photos, and pull quotes, among others have been used well and as a result, it is easier to break up large text areas. There are no observable dead links on the BBC radio website. Accordingly, the different links used on the different pages are in a good working condition. The BBC website is also compatible with different browsers, including Internet Explorer, Opera, and the AOL browser, among others. This means that regardless of the browsers one has, he/she can easily listen to and follow programmes on the BBC radio website.

For any website, a good navigation design is vital because it enables users to access the site contents with relative ease using the most logical and intuitive structures. A well designed website enables users to visit key pages from where they can access the contents of the website. This not only enables the users to meet their needs, but also those of the business or organization. One of the simplest but effective techniques is by having a page module in the website which displays the extract or summary contents of the different pages of a website.

The BBC World Service website has such a news module on its home page (BBC Radio 2011). The module contains such items as news, weather, sports, TV, Radio, travel, and many more. For example, when a user clicks on the news icon, he/she is taken through the latest news on the website in the world of technology, business, art/entertainment, sports, health, and many more. This is beneficial to the users because they are normally encouraged to read more on the areas of their preference. The module contents are dynamic such that whenever there is a new story that has been prepared by editors in any of these aforementioned subcategories, it appears on the site automatically.

NPR Radio Website:

Like the BBC World Service website, the NPR radio website also has a navigation bar on its homepage from where users can choose the radio station to listen to, read the latest headlines news, access arts and life stories, and sample the latest music (NPR 2011). The homepage for the NPR radio has also utilized graphic design well, just like the BBC World Service radio website. For example, one does not have to strain to read the text because it is easily readable.

In addition, whenever you click on a link to a page, it opens up pretty fast without delay. Both the BBC World Service and NPR websites uses the top horizontal navigation bar design. Consequently, users can utilize it as the main site navigation menu. The navigation items on both sites are button-pushed, or tabbed-shaped. Unlike the NPR website, some of the BBC website navigation items are button shaped. The use of the top horizontal bar navigation has its own drawbacks, in that the user is normally limited in terms of the number of links to use without having to rely on sub-navigation. This is a disadvantage to such sites as the BBC World Service website because it has multiple pages and is normally visited by millions of users daily. The users are forced to resort to the use of sub-navigation, and this is an involving procedure.

Another similarity between the BBC World Service and NPR websites is that both have used the breadcrumb navigation technique. Breadcrumbs are very important when using a website that has multiple pages because a user cannot get lost easily since they can always find their way back to the home page. Breadcrumbs also functions as a secondary navigation tool, in that they aid in supporting the primary navigation system of a given site. In case for example, a user is on the BBC Radio 1 section and he/she wants to return to the homepage, all that the user needs to do is to click on the suitable breadcrumb navigation item and he/she will be redirected back to the homepage. Another similarity between the BBC World Service and the NPR websites is the presence of search navigation. This tool suits the two websites well, bearing in mind that they have multiple pages with loads of contents that users have to navigate through. Using the search navigation tool, users can go to a specific section of the website (for example, the sports section on BBC World Service website) without having to traverse though the other sections.

What I Like

BBC Station Website:

What I like about the BBC World Service website is the ease with which one can get to a desired website. This has been made possible by the use of proper navigation tools, in addition to the proper design of the website design features. It is also very hard for a user to get lost in any of the website pages because all that one has to do is to click on the breadcrumbs icon and he/she will be redirected back to the homepage. The home page of the BBC radio website has a navigation bar that enables the audience to not only see what is on radio, but also to listen to the various stations of the BBC World Service online. In addition, the navigation bar also allows listeners to listen to any programme that they might have missed. Also, listeners can use the navigation bar to examine information pertaining to a given programme, such as the names of guests, or the music played. By clicking on the Now On Air view on the main homepage, one can listen to any station that he/she desires. At the top of the homepage, there is also the product navigation bar that allows one to easily switch from one station to another.

One can also use the Programme Finder button to access the programme page and once there, you can obtain programme information or get a certain programme that you have missed. The navigation tool also allows users to locate the desired content via the schedule. One can also easily navigate through programmes through the categories section because of the inclusion of a Categories link. The link leads the user to the categories index page. Alternatively, in case the user has decided to click on say, Radio 1, he/she will get be able to directly access the categories that are deemed as the most important for that particular radio station. In addition, the BBC World Service website has an allowance for the user to choose the language that he/she wants to read the contents in. This shows that the website is very multilingual. It also offers the user multiple ways to listen to the various programmes, such as via the Internet, using the iPlayer, Podcasts, and schedules.

NPR Station Website:

What I like about the NPR website is that one can actually add listen to audio stories on their station of choice, and also add such stories to his/her playlist using a media player of choice. This means that even when you have not logged in to the NPR website, you can still listen to the audio stories that you downloaded to the media player. One can also listen to hourly news via podcasts. In addition, the website also has a link to social media. What this means is that with just the click of a button, you can be redirected to your social media of choice. This way, the staff and journalists at NPR are able to engage with the members of the public. Users are able to explore Facebook posts YouTube videos, and the latest tweets. This means that users can follow NPR on social media for the latest developments.

Conclusion

A website is a useful tool that companies with an online presence can use to market their products and services to their online users. Both the BBC World Service and the NPR uses website to engage their online listeners. In this case, the navigation and website designs of the two websites are important because they dictate the flow of traffic to these sites. The general design of the two websites is good, meaning that users can be able to navigate through the different website pages with relative ease. This is important because with so many options to choose from, users should not strain to get what they want from the website. In particular, the BBC World Service website allows users to choose the language that they would want to view the websites. This means that even for listener in France, he/she can still listen to their favourite program in French. The two websites have also made use of the latest technology to connect users. For example, there is an allowance for mobile application, listening to news on podcasts or the iPlayer.

Bibliography

BBC Radio. BBC World Service. 2011. Web.

NPR. National Public Radio: News & analysis, world, US, music & arts. 2011. Web.

This episode of “this American life” speaks of how the entire American housing system went into deep mess to a point of almost crumpling. It begins with what can be seen from the narrations by the people involved as a desperate measure by mortgage firms to make huge profits. This makes these firms start giving loans to anyone in need regardless of their financial status. The desperation causes extremely devastating effect as at some point we see 23 dead individuals being approved of mortgages.

What props out surprisingly from this episode, is how an officer with one of the lending institutions speaks of knowing and fully understanding the kind of lending they were undertaking at his organization as being extremely risky but since everyone else was pursuing the same, making it a hugely viable idea. This clearly indicates that there was no research on the part of these institutions concerning the feasibility of the new venture in lending. The main aim of going into this line of lending was because the risks involved were low and there would be high profits.

These firms though appear to have made very many critical assumptions prior to beginning this line of venture (Zandi, 2009). First, it was assumed that any individual who was willing to own a home would be able to repay his mortgage without getting to the point of foreclosure. This led in to poor lending formulas which were thought to be able to bring in large profits. Secondly, the institutions assume that even if these individuals were unable to service the mortgages, the houses would now belong to the firms. This is thought as an advantage to the firm as prices of houses never go down thus the firm would own a house with more value than what they purchased. It turns to be disastrous in the end when the government intervenes and slashes the interest rates in order to save its citizens from bankruptcy.

One thing that comes out very clearly from this episode is that mortgage firms are only concerned with their own profitability and are in no way interested in people owning homes. Giving mortgages to individuals without a proof of financial security was meant to lure many people in to the scheme. Since the firms get paid their fees in percentage of the sales, this was a good move as large volumes translated to large fees.

Most of the people who had been lured into these mortgages realized too late that what had initially appeared to be the perfect plan into home ownership was actually a scheme that had plunged many of them into high debt. The government acted appropriately upon realizing that those loans could not be serviced through the original terms that had been agreed upon. By forcibly reducing the repayment interest rates, the government saved a lot of people from the agony that they were about to face when their homes would be auctioned or repossessed by mortgage firms.

Though this final move by the government did not help improve the economy, it did come as a relief for the many persons who were owed by mortgage firms and were not in a position to pay up. Thanks to the government, those individuals were let to retain their houses.

Work cited

Zandi, M. (2009). Financial Shock. Boston, Massachusetts: FT Press.

In line with Chijioke (2007) As an organization mainly considered as an African Private Sector, Econet is a telecommunication industry offering wireless technology services and products concerning the key areas relating to the mobile and fixed telephony industry, internet data transfer and satellite communication in nine different countries globally.

The group has its headquarters in South Africa. The other operational offices are in Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Zimbabwe New Zealand and United Kingdom. The systems in various countries are fully stand-alones with management of individual broadband at the local scenes of each country. The parent of the Econet is Essar Communication Holdings with 49% sares.

In Africa, the most dominant business and economic characteristics of mobile telephony are mainly internet services, data streaming or exchange services, transaction systems and sale of mobile handsets. Other services include the old system of landline telephony services.

Entry into the mobile telephony business is not an easy one as there are many barriers encountered by investors. These barriers could be government policies barriers such as monopoly over telecommunication services or long procedures involved in acquiring license to operate from most of the African governments. The financial barriers also hinder prospective investors from entering new markets and compete with already established companies in these markets niche.

Another major barrier to the entry into the market is opinionated interference by the political elite in the host government so as to safeguard their interest in the industry i.e. some prominent government official are shareholder in some telecommunication companies and so they will never welcome new players in the market with open hands.

Their wish is for monopolization to enjoy better profit margins for their investments. One cannot put aside the poor telecommunication infrastructure backbone in most African countries among the barriers, as this would mean telecommunication companies would need to put various resources in order to have proper network coverage.

Earlier on, strategic group map of telephony market in Africa was poor and no companies had invested in communication as these industries faced monopoly. Later on, with the modernization of telecommunication facilities and new technologies such as the recent implementation of the fibre optic cable to link Africa to Middle East, more players have shown interest in this sector.

This has attracted more companies into the market making services and goods competitive, affordable, reliant and fast. It can now be said that, strategic group map of telephony in Africa is growing rapidly and becoming populated with communication services that are more mobile oriented coming in through the various service providers.

According to my personal opinion, the strategic groups, which are enjoying favourable positions, are those that took an early advantage of the emerging market in Africa and as a result, these companies have cut themselves a good share of the market in most counties. Also strategic groups that went it consortium with potential like mind companies have positioned themselves favourably.

Among the resource strengths that Econet has, is its offers of full telecommunication services and it never limits itself to telephony package, competitive prices for their range of products and services. Due to this, Econet was able to become second largest mobile operator in Nigeria in 2001.

The ability of Econet to venture into new markets either in partnership or not like in Botswana, Lesotho, Nigeria, Kenya and many more are some of its key strong business points. The weakness of Econet among other competitors include over dependent on already self established markets as it had earlier done when it was over depending on Zimbabwe market, where it commanded the huge market.

Lack of funds has been a weakness to Econet as it has left out a lot of opportunities due to lack of initial capital for instance, Econet was unable to increase it shares when it had a 5% holdings to 33% in the consortium of 21 partners due to lack of funds. This also makes the Econet network coverage and services poor due to lack of superior and quality network equipments.

Single branding, to my opinion is another weakness, as any failure in any market will tend depict the will fail again in a new market.

The most promising markets for Econet is probably in the countries with big populations and lesser mobile service providers and definitely, this needs accompaniment of proper marketing strategies. Threats on the future well being of Econet include lack of funds to cater for it future undertakings or expansion programs and failure to acknowledge that mergers in some markets is crucial.

Major wireless mobile service provider’s have an upper hand in Africa market than Econet but from the case of Econet in Nigeria where it able to become the second largest mobile service provider despite losing the opportunities of leading in the market, definitely Econet’s strengths still look favourable compared to its key rivals.

By entering into partnership with other companies, Econet has been able to add up their stakes in those companies hence take up controlling stakes through its internationalization. Econet’s alliances seem to offer future advantages in the country markets, where they competes by giving Econet a leverage to be able to compete with major competitors.

For example, when Econet had to enter into an alliance with Vodacom to access the Vodacom’s resources and thus increase its network coverage, which was their weakness, at that point. Through such a strategy, Econet was able to serve the growing population. Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi, New Zealand and Nigeria are some of the country markets where Econet has strategic alliances has had accomplished success.

To compete best in Africa’s emerging markets for mobile telephony services, Econet should first continue to offer a wide range of products and services as they have always done, this would enhance its popularity. The company will equally gain more in monetary terms from these range of service and products.

Secondly, their products and service should be affordable and always available in the market. Econet should also invest in improving their network coverage in country markets, so that subscribers do not have to face inconvenienced or jammed unclear network converges. Econet has to embark on marketing of their products and sensitizing even the mobile users in the grassroots levels on reasons why they should be using their products and services.

In the countries where Econet is a competing firm, the recommendation would entail to have the top management team embarking on a massive market campaign, provision of quality services and always availing of services and products to consumers at most affordable rates possible.

Another recommendation would be that the company should pursue international expansion with a multi-branding strategy, investing more the profits like stock exchange, to find funds future expansion endeavours and upgrading of current communication infrastructure for better service provision.

Being a full communication service provider was the initial aim and strength of Econet, which has seen it come this far despite all challenges involved on the mobile telephony industry and therefore the company should continue offering complete communication packages.

By investing in stock market and other profitable projects, Econet can generate more profit, which will be crucial for financing its growth and expansion. It is equally important to keep financial partners into consideration as well, for assistance in case of shortage of funds.

References

Chijioke, E. (2007, January 26). Recent Socio-economic Developments in Nigeria. Web.

History, Development and Growth

David Margolese, born in Canada, is the pioneer of satellite radio enterprises (Jones and Hill, 2010). At the age of around twenty years, Margolese discontinued his studies and started a paging company.

David would later turn his concentration to cellular phone enterprise but failed to obtain funding from venture capitalists who failed to see any chance of growth in the cellular phone business (Jones and Hill, 2010). According to them, the cellular phones would remain a preserve of the rich, especially the Chief Executive Officers of large corporations and ambassadors.

Margolese fought on until 1980 when his efforts bore fruits. He brought in Ameritech who agreed to invest funds in Cantel, a company owned by Margolese. Later on, he joined hands with among others, Ted Rodgers of Rodgers Communications to start Rogers Wireless, the biggest telephony firm by 2001 in Canada. Margolese became a venture capitalist at the age of 31 when he traded his interest for $2 billion (Jones and Hill, 2010).

As a venture capitalist, Margolese met Robert Briskman, a former technician with NASA and the chief of operations at a fallen satellite-messaging firm called Geostar. Briskman and some of his former workmates at Geostar had started a company, Satellite Radio CD, but were short of funds required to commercialize the invention (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Initially, Margolese invested a paltry one million US dollars before making up his mind that his future lay in the satellite radio enterprise. He changed its name to CD Radio. As much as he liked the idea of satellite radio, he had to overcome several hardships.

It would be costly to set up a profitable radio enterprise, the Federal Communications Commission had to be persuaded to grant airwaves to satellite radio and it would be costly to purchase special receivers and the difficulty of converting potential clients to buy satellite radios yet they has the terrestrial radios. Advertising would be costly and risky too (Jones and Hill, 2010).

As earlier envisaged, it took long for the Federal Communications Commission to accede to CD Radio’s request. The delay resulted from the opposition from National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which viewed satellite radio as a potential killer to local radio services. Overall, Federal Communications Commission agreed to auction the spectrum in 1997 and sold them to CD Radio and XM Radio (Jones and Hill, 2010). CD Radio changed its name to Sirius Radio.

Both firms planned to offer over close to a hundred channels. Sirius Radio intended to dedicate 50 channels to commercial free music while the rest would offer advertising space on the rest of the channels. XM intended to offer between fifteen and twenty channels free of commercials and seven minutes per hour space for advertisements on the rest of the channels. In addition to commercials, the two stations introduced a subscription fee of between ten and twenty US dollars (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Sirius and XM Radios intended to put satellites in elliptical orbits at over 20,000 miles above the earth. The satellites would have a useful life of around fifteen years and with that in mind, both stations kept spare satellite in case of any failure by the existing ones. On 16 February 2000, the two companies signed a pact to design a unified standard for satellite that would enable customers to tune in to both stations from one radio. Such unified services kicked off in 2004 (Jones and Hill, 2010).

The two companies would later install repeaters in various cities and establish recording studios. XM established three such studios each in Washington, D.C., New York and Nashville. Sirius established its studio complex in New York City. XM got an exclusive pact with General Motors and Honda to have the satellite radios set up in new cars while Sirius collaborated with Ford and DaimlerChrysler.

General Motors committed to initially do 1,240,000 set ups and thereafter, 600,000 per year. Honda would ship 400,000 cars installed with XM Radios in 2005 (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Concerning capital, XM raised around 2.6 billion US dollars from investors as well as strategic partners in January 2004 while Sirius raised 2.5 billion US dollars by 2004. Much of the funds raised went towards setting up of infrastructure with XM spending 470 million US dollars for three satellites, 267 million US dollars for setting up repeaters systems and 130 million US dollars on control equipment (Jones and Hill, 2010).

XM Radio launched in early 2001, a year behind schedule, backed by advertising campaign worth over 100 million US dollars. XM Radio charged a fee of 9.95 US dollars per month per subscriber. Sirius launched its services in July 2002 and charged a subscription fee of 12.95 US dollars per month per subscriber with the justification that its services were free of commercial adverts.

XM Radio led Sirius Radio with a very big margin with XM Radio boasting of 347,000 to Sirius’ 30,000 by close of 2002. Sirius had installed 133 repeaters in 92 localities while XM had 800 repeaters in 60 areas at the close of 2003 (Jones and Hill, 2010).

XM Radio maintained its leadership over Sirius Radio by surpassing the 500,000 subscribers mark in April 2003 and projected over one million subscribers by the end of the same year. Sirius had slightly over 100,000 subscribers by mid 2003 projecting 300,000 subscribers by end of the same year.

Concerning sales, XM was way ahead of Sirius thanks to General Motors aggressive selling (Jones and Hill, 2010). General Motors launched the satellite radio in 25 out of 57 models and intended to push the number to 44. The company had projected sales of 800,000 fitted with XM’s radio in 2004 and 1.1 million in 2005.

On its side, Honda sold 200,000 and 400,000 cars fitted with XM radios in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Toyota, Volkswagen and Audi also collaborated with XM and the radios were available as options in their cars (Jones and Hill, 2010). Overall, DaimlerChrysler committed to install 550,000 radios by mid 2007 while Ford planned to begin factory installations of Sirius Radios by end of 2007(Jones and Hill, 2010).

In 2001, Sirius suffered a blow when the CEO, David Margolese resigned abruptly. Luckily, though, Sirius converted 700 million US dollars in debt and 525 million US dollars in stock to equity. In addition, the company got a lifeline when three of its initial investors agreed to pump 200 million US dollars in cash (Jones and Hill, 2010).

In 2003 and 2004, both companies made milestones in their differentiation deals. Sirius brought in the National Football League for a seven-year deal to exclusively broadcast football matches costing Sirius 188 million US dollars in cash and 32 million US dollars more for warrants. XM signed a deal in 2004 signed an eleven-year contract worth 650 million US dollars with Major League Baseball granting exclusive rights to XM to air matches (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Internal Strengths and Weaknesses

Since their take off, both stations realized continued growth in revenues. This is because they offered premium services, which found ready market by an audience that was yearning for a break from the tradition of terrestrial radio stations. The terrestrial radio stations had stuck to the same format and had a limited geographical radius after which the signal would fade.

Statistics revealed that 48 percent of the existing FM and AM stations used three formats in their program – country music, news bulletin and sports, and adult content for modern times. In addition, the number of programs was limited and this meant most artists could not get a chance for airtime (Jones and Hill, 2010).

The duopoly in the satellite radio systems created by the Federal Communication Commission comprising of Sirius Radio and XM Radio meant that most of the customers would either choose one of the other. In later process, the two merged to form Sirius XM Radio thus having the whole market. Handled well, the duopoly or monopoly could cash in and realize great sales. This is because the conventional FM and AM stations no longer appealed to the audience (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Deriving from the issue of the traditional television versus the cable television and premium movie channels, it was evident that subscribers were willing to pay for the premium services. Statistics showed that more than 69 percent of TV households subscribed to basic cable television and 20 percent who subscribed to satellite television (Jones and Hill, 2010).

The duopoly got able financial and strategic investors. XM landed an exclusive pact with General Motors and Honda while Sirius had an exclusive pact with FORD and DaimlerChrysler.

Such exclusive deals enhanced distribution of the two radios through the manufacturers who among other things agreed to either fit the radios or work with dealers for customers who chose the radios. XM reaped so much from the deal since General Motors fitted 1,240,000 radios initially and was to fit 600,000 radios per year from 2004 to May 2007 (Jones and Hill, 2010).

In addition to the exclusive deals, the radio companies got strategic investors and financial investors. XM had General Motors, Hughes Electronics, Clear Channel Communications, American Honda and Hearst Communications as strategic partners. Financial investors for XM included Columbia Capital, Madison Dearborn Partners, Baystar Capital and Eastbourne Capital. XM Radio raised 2.5 billion US dollars by 2004(Jones and Hill, 2010).

The companies landed exclusive deals from sports associations. In December 2003, Sirius signed a seven-year exclusive pact with the National Football League to air soccer matches, a pact that cost Sirius Radio 188 million US dollars in cash. In October 2004, Sirius signed another five-year exclusive deal with Howard Stern which cost Sirius Radio around 500 million US dollars (Jones and Hill, 2010).

In October 2004, XM Radio landed an eleven-year exclusive pact with Major League Baseball, which offered XM Radio exclusive rights to air matches through satellite. The matches included the famous World Series. During the same period, XM Radio started a channel for Opie and Anthony who had been off air due to profanities. This channel increased the revenues for XM Radio with 1.99 US dollars per month per subscriber (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Though the companies experienced delays in launching their satellite Radio, they adopted strong structures that were able to broadcast as envisaged. This gave the subscribers a reason to continue with the subscriptions because at no place does the case study point out to defective facilities (Jones and Hill, 2010). Sirius Radio solved some initial problems and business continued operating smoothly regardless of the time lost.

The number of subscribers continued to increase steadily for the two stations. XM Radio, which launched seven months ahead of Sirius Radio, had 347,000 subscribers by the end of year 2002. It hit the 500,000 mark the following year and projected one million subscribers by the end of 2003. Sirius projected a subscriber number of 300,000 by the end of the year 2003(Jones and Hill, 2010).

Internal Weaknesses

In as much as the motor manufacturers provided a channel of distribution, the two companies over relied on them instead of looking for other ways from the beginning. As such, it became risky for the two radio stations when sales in cars went down.

The slowdown in sales turned out into a great crisis in 2008 as austere measures regarding credit in the United States of America led to a drastic fall in car sales. For instance, projections for 2008 forecast sale of 13.5 million cars compared to 16.1 million in 2007. Worse still, the forecasts for 2009 pointed at sales of 13.1 million cars (Jones and Hill, 2010).

The decrease in car sales meant decrease in sales of radios since the car dealers were the major distributors for satellite radios. This was a weakness for the two companies since they chose one major distributor (Jones and Hill, 2010).

The two companies concentrated so much on satellite radio and failed to engage in differentiation of their services. This is a weakness because customer preferences change with time and just as people got used to conventional FM and AM radios, they could still get bored with the satellite radios. Technology is changing rapidly as seen with the launch of internet radio and a possibility of the same on motor vehicles too (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Another weakness was in the penetration strategies. The use of auto dealers at the beginning yet people were yearning for satellite radio even in the homes was a bad move. The companies would have used more dealers to penetrate the ready market (Jones and Hill, 2010).

In comparison with the internet technology, satellite technology seems obsolete and stations entrenched in it might find it hard to continue in business in the near future. A combination of the two types of technologies would go a long way in assisting the satellite radio stations a chance of survival and growth.

It should also be important to note that the radio stations took too long to launch giving way to other innovations to launch. In fact, the satellite radios became a favorite of the middle-aged people as the young people preferred to listen to iTunes through their iPods (Jones and Hill, 2010).

After the merger, unfortunately, the share price fell from a high of 3.4 US dollars to a low of 0.40 US dollars per share as the market capitalization for the new firm went down to 1.2 billion US dollars. Such a trend could lead to a delisting from the stock exchange and this would make it extremely hard for the company to raise capital from the public (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Opportunities

Although using auto manufacturers was as a risk, the company should have increased the number of manufacturers. Top among these were Nissan and Toyota companies. These two companies had initially granted XM Radio the dealer option for installation of the XM Radios while Toyota had given Sirius Radio the same option.

These two auto manufacturers are among the fastest growing in the industry and it would be prudent for the merged company to strike a pact with Toyota and Nissan for possible factory fitted radios (Jones and Hill, 2010).

The merger realized between XM radio and Sirius radio is an opportunity for the new firm to extend and expand its business since expenses for running the businesses as separate entities has gone down considerably. As such, funds previously used for recurrent expenditure like salaries could pay for advertising and other promotions (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Since the internet radio is a reality and a competitor to Sirius XM Radio, the company should venture into internet radio too and quickly utilize the Wimax technology for car radios. This will assist the company in retaining its customers as well as tapping the young generation, which does not prefer the satellite radio (Jones and Hill, 2010).

There is another opportunity of collaborating with the FM and AM stations that are so numerous in the United States of America. Sirius and XM Radios did it at some point in their history and it would be beneficial if they ventured even more. Sirius XM could offer to allocate some channels to the FM and AM stations for a fee and this would only mean more revenues of the new company, Sirius XM (Jones and Hill, 2010).

There exists another opportunity of working with companies like Apple to enable Sirius XM stream through the internet. In future, such collaboration would see Sirius XM extend its reach outside America to the whole world and reach the young adults.

Since there is no limitation for channels, Sirius XM can still come up with more premium programs like free music programs to retain the existing clients.

Threats

Internet radio is a real threat to satellite radio since the era of smartphone offers subscribers more choices for radio other than the terrestrial and satellite (Jones and Hill, 2010). The digital age could also embrace internet radio more than the satellite radio. Internet radio is available in any region in the world unlike satellite, which is also limited by geographical distances. In addition, all a client needs is a computer and internet connection and proceeds to utilize the computer while listening to the radio at the same time.

Terrestrial radio is another threat for Sirius XM (Jones and Hill, 2010). Previously, it was not a real threat but with the entrance of consolidators like Clear Channel Communication, the battle is slowly shaping up. Clear Communications Channel has utilized economies of scale concept and designed a branded format for radio programs and its pop format is picking up so well. Terrestrial radios are in the process of moving towards digital broadcasting and this would really challenge Sirius XM Radio.

The emergence and development of satellite television and cable television systems is another threat to Sirius XM (Jones and Hill, 2010). These systems providers are offering digital radio programs as part of their normal offering of television services and the radio programs come at no extra cost.

Demography poses a threat. The young people are more inclined to digital products while the satellite radio appeals to the middle aged. This implies that the digital products have a longer future than the satellite radio (Jones and Hill, 2010).

SWOT Analysis

Sirius XM, formerly two separate radio stations, has exhibited more strengths than weaknesses in their history. Federal Communication Commission’s decree of allowing only two companies to buy the spectrum granted them a duopoly and later a monopoly after the merger. Monopolies can thrive very well in business if there are proper structures and avoidance of complacency. The subscriber number continued increasing rapidly with the inception of the two companies and should continue rising if the management works on the weaknesses.

Sirius XM should harness the strength of the presence of strong strategic and financial investors well enough to sustain the business at all times. The company needs to seek for more deals to increase premiums for the business to grow. The company can turn its weaknesses into strengths as well. The issue of poor market penetration calls for trained sales and marketing team with proper coordination. The team should focus on opening up new markets and creating rapports with existing and potential distributors, as well as getting new customers.

They should have set targets against the company overall targets. The same team should enable the company overcome the weakness of over concentrating on auto manufacturers for distribution purposes as they acquire alternative routes for distribution. Sirius XM should upgrade the relatively obsolete technology to modern levels to compete effectively with other players in the industry.

Concerning differentiation as a weakness, the company can venture into other lines of business for stability’s sake. Such lines would involve coming up with clothing lines targeting the teams they work with like soccer leagues among others.

The weaknesses at Sirius XM are easily surmountable and this means that the company is still competitive and if proper strategies are in place, the company has a very high chance of becoming profitable. The issue of low share price needs adequate advertising coupled with the sales and marketing campaigns to convince potential investors to own the company through purchase of shares.

Concerning the threats the company is currently facing, with certainty, the company is able to turn threats into opportunities. The company should venture into internet radio too and harness the internet to promote the satellite services through advertisements on the websites.

The company should update its official website often to show any new feature on the satellite radio as well as the premiums charged to create awareness. The company should also engage Wimax technology to provide radios to cars for the generation that is not comfortable with the satellite radios.

Sirius XM should engage the cable television and satellite television providers for a possible collaboration in their programs. For instance, Sirius would sign an agreement with cable television in which the cable television would air Sirius XM’s programs at a fee paid by Sirius XM so that the programs remain free to the clients purchasing the cable television systems. Sirius XM radio would better engage the satellite television for putting up their advertisements through the satellite television.

Terrestrial radios are a threat to Sirius XM but these are potential partners in the business. The companies have a chance of getting their programs broadcast through the satellite radio as they do advertisements for Sirius XM (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Turning those threats into opportunities combined with the existing opportunities show that the company should engage in designing strategies for better business. The opportunities are numerous and include the presence of strong strategic and financial investors, more auto manufacturers like Toyota and Nissan, and differentiation of services.

Corporate-Level Strategy

Corporate level strategy refers to strategies that deal with the wide and long term investigations of the type of business the firm is in or wants to be and how it wants to get where it intends (Business Dictionary.com, 2013). To accomplish its goals, a firm may decide to venture into new line of business, or boost the current performance through various ways, merge or acquire related companies or coming up with priorities on how to invest the available resources (Business Dictionary.com, 2013).

Sirius XM Radio is a satellite radio firm based in America, with over 100 radio channels. The company delivers its programs through 800 plus gadgets including car radios, home radios and office radios (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013). Currently the company’s broadcasts are available through the internet at the company’s website: Sirius.com and through the Sirius XM Internet Radio (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013).

Sirius XM’s mission is to acquire maximum subscribers and maximum possible revenues. Its goals include influencing people’s attitude towards subscribing for radio services. The company endeavors to convince people why it is worth to pay premium for radio programs in the best possible way.

The second goal relates to enhancing the client experience so that the client gets better services all through (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013). The company also aims at increasing the number of conversions from trial customer to subscribers. Overall, the company targets to minimize the number of subscribers who disconnect the company’s services by stopping their subscriptions (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013).

Sirius XM works in all ways to enhance revenue accruing per client as well as minimizing costs accruing from marketing. In other words, the company aims at reducing overall costs as it increases revenues from clients (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013).

The company aims at communicating with the customer from the day the customer subscribes to the rest of their subscriptions with Sirius XM to create and sustain a rapport that depicts that Sirius XM understands the customer throughout the client’s full cycle with the company (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013).

To accomplish this, the company will afford the appropriate offer to the appropriate client at the appropriate time while at the same time avoiding the equating of offer to change in prices. The second way is to have a deep understanding of the clients by getting a 360-degree outlook of the client’s relationship with Sirius XM Radio (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013). Lastly, the company shall collect and use improved client knowledge to prognosticate points of change and keep the customer’s history intact.

Sirius XM pursues related diversification as its corporate strategy. This resulted mainly from the competition the company faced from terrestrial radio, internet radio, cable television and satellite television (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013). As such, they have currently taken up to providing broadcasting through the internet, and applications such as Apple App and through cellular phones that have the Android software (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013).

This is related diversification because the company sticks to the same business of broadcasting but uses different modes other than the satellite broadcasting (Business Dictionary.com, 2013).

This strategy is advantageous in that, it enables the company to stick to its core business while at the same time keeping up with the competition of the day. Since the company is experienced in the field, adopting new methods becomes relatively easy. It is a multi-business system, which provides information through broadcasting and also manufactures and sells radios through various agents.

As per the SWOT analysis, it is possible and already happening at Sirius XM. They have diversified into internet radio, and provision of broadcasts through cellular phones. They have strong financial and strategic partners who are willing to pump more finances into the business even when the business is not doing well which shows the level of confidence in the business.

The primary modes of distribution through the auto dealers should increase by bringing in other auto companies. The company is already doing so with companies like Toyota and Nissan and it is possible to negotiate with other companies like Audi (Jones and Hill, 2010).

Broadcasting and selling of satellite radios is broad enough and tasking and as such, Sirius XM is in a better position if it sticks to its core business and diversifies in related services instead of venturing into completely new businesses. As earlier, observed, signing exclusive deals with companies and athletics groups is better still.

The merger between Sirius and XM Radios was a good move since they consolidated the resources that each had. There are some teething problems like depreciation of the share. The remedy for such a problem is thorough sales and marketing campaigns and advertisements. In future, Sirius XM should try to acquire some terrestrial radio stations that would provide more local reach and enhance the awareness of the company.

Business Strategy

There are three types of business strategy, which include cost strategies, differentiated products and services strategies and focus strategies (Business Dictionary.com, 2013). Successful companies use cost strategy. It involves selling goods or providing services at relatively low prices a benefit, which accrues from taking advantage of economies of scales. Consumers benefits from savings realized from the economies of scale.

However, a firm relying on this strategy must retain some of the savings to boost its profits. Differentiated products and services strategies involves adding special features to an already existing product or service and charging customers for the extra features. Differentiation leads to increased profits that accrue from the premium charged (Business Dictionary.com, 2013).

Focus strategies is a combination of cost and differentiation strategies. As such, the firm engages in both cost strategy and differentiation strategy depending on the type of clients in a particular market. The firm must understand the market well before applying this strategy as it is risky if the market is complex. This strategy targets the urban middle class clients by providing such clients with a near perfect combination of cost savings and differentiated goods (Business Dictionary.com, 2013).

Sirius XM employs differentiation strategies as seen in its adoption of internet streaming and broadcast through applications like Apple App and android cellular phones (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013). This strategy aims at solving the various threats that the company has faced in the past. Such threats include that of demography where the satellite systems did not appeal to the young but to the middle aged only. This would have denied the company a future.

As such, Sirius XM differentiated into internet streaming. Secondly, the threat from cable television too pushed Sirius XM to differentiate to collaborate with Apple Incorporation to provide such streaming through their application and this too would assist to capture the young people (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013).

Sirius XM has also opened up different radio channels to cater for different tastes by different audiences. Such channels include comedies, talk shows, sports news, commercial free music channels and news bulletins.

Differentiation is what the company needed most to overcome the threats in the industry, which mostly came from the terrestrial radio stations, cable television, satellite television and internet radio. The strategy has worked well for Sirius XM because the company can now compete with any company in the same industry. They have a say in the latest internet radio technology and are available online throughout the world.

Further, the company is in a position to adopt focus strategy; it can combine both cost and differentiation strategy. The company can collaborate with cable television to offer their programs through the free programs that cable television provides to customers. Sirius XM would pay some fees to cable television so those customers who are not able to subscribe to the premium-programming can use the cable television to tune in.

In addition, the company would develop exclusive programs to already existing clients at a premium. Comedy shows and talk shows hosted by famous people like Oprah are likely to retain customers even at an extra fee as long as the company develops such programs even further. The Opie comedy show can be made more interactive to attract a greater audience but at an extra fee.

Structure and Control Systems at Sirius XM

Sirius XM Radio has five top management staff including the Chief Executive Officer, Executive President and Chief Content Officer, Executive President Sales and Operations, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Executive Vice President and General Counsel and the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, 2013).

The above corporate structure is lean and efficient. The presence of a Chief Executive Officer depicts a hands-on officer since this is an employee hired by the board of directors and is not one of the owners. As such, the Chief Executive Officer position is merit based and the board cannot easily manipulate him. It would have been different if a managing director, who would have been one of the owners chosen by the others to manage the business with limited or no skills for the job, headed the structure.

The business strategy adopted by Sirius XM of differentiation requires a person who does not have any conflict of interest and most Chief Executive Officers do not have such interests. Below the Chief Executive Officer is an Executive President who is in charge of content. Sirius XM is a broadcasting company and having such a senior person in charge of content shows that the company is ready to pursue the strategy from the top.

This person plans for broadcast programs. In addition, the officer also influences differentiation of products and services. This includes addition of new channels, improvement of existing ones as well as bringing in new programs on existing channels.

The presence of another Executive President this time for operations and sales is a show of commitment to the growth of the business. Any content designed by the content president and team needs to reach the potential and existing clients to advise them on such things as rates, the new programs, channels and so on. This team would work closely with numerous marketing relationships that already exist.

Again, the presence of an executive president is a clear indication that Sirius XM is committed to its strategy. There exists a department dealing with business development. This department is very crucial in any business and more so to Sirius XM Radio. Guided by an executive president, the department can really enhance business by coming up with new content and channels.

The department of human resources is a pointer to the fact that Sirius XM takes the issue of its employees with seriousness. However, the board should create another position to deal with systems on a technical level so that the content so improved does not lack structures for dissemination. This position would require a qualified technician who would double up as the coordinator for systems maintenance and work closely with companies that collaborate with Sirius XM to manufacture the radios.

This would ensure that such things as systems breakdown do not occur. In addition, such a department or person would also keep the company informed on the latest subcomponents that would make the system better. The same person would be in charge of all technicians in the industry with several assistants under him/her.

Sirius XM rewards its employees relatively well as well as its managers. This arises from the fact that the staff turnover rate is quite low. The management too rarely suffers from high turnover. With this in place, it therefore means that control systems at Sirius XM are intact and that the salary gap between the management and the employee is fair.

Recommendations

Sirius XM is a viable and profitable business, which can even be more profitable if the company puts certain measures. Concerning the inherent weaknesses of the company, it is proper that the company should continue engaging every available marketing relationship and avoid concentrating on any one of the m. as seen earlier, over reliance on auto manufacturers for distribution of radios suffered greatly during the 2008 financial meltdown as it led to lower sales of the cars.

The sale of cars especially from General Motors, Honda, and DaimlerChrysler as well as FORD affected the number of radios from the then separate entities of Sirius Radio and XM Radio. This was a bit risky for the company. Therefore, there is need to constantly spread risk through acquisition of several marketing relationships.

Secondly, the management at Sirius XM should seek exclusive deals with sports club to increase their justification for premium charges on their broadcast programs. Many young people who like sports are likely to subscribe to the company’s programming.

Sirius XM should keep pace with the unfolding Wimax technology, which enables subscribers to receive internet streaming through their car radios. In addition, the company should carry out research on how to enhance the internet radio to reach clients outside Unites States of America

Lastly, Sirius XM Radio needs to keep on updating its satellite technology and blend it with the internet infrastructure so that the young can accept to subscribe to their programs.

References

Business Dictionary.com. (2013). BusinessDictionary. Web.

Jones, G. and Hill, C. (2010). Theory of Strategic Management with Cases. 9th ed. Thomson South-Western: China, pp.173-185.

Sirius XM Satellite Radio. (2013). Corporate Overview. Web.

Technology has totally revolutionalized the manner in which we carry our day-to-day activities. The communication industry seems to be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the advanced technology since there are so many changes that have taken place.

Life has become easier and simpler with the technological advancements. The prepaid wireless industry is one of the industries that has emerged as a result of advancement in technology. This industry is highly competitive and this has seen many companies come up and stiff competition that is characteristic of this industry and has ensured that customers benefit greatly due to the high quality services being offered.

The focus of this discussion will be on some of the key players in this dynamic and highly competitive industry. The companies in focus are epay worldwide.com. Emida.net and eurekarevenue.com. This discussion will also look at some of the advantages that each of these services has and which of the companies is stronger.

Epay. Com is an international company whose main business is the distribution of payments solutions electronically. These services are instrumental in helping providers of various services reap maximally from the sales of their services as well as products.

With more than half a million selling points in various countries of the world like Spain, Ireland, Italy, India and Germany, epay.com has continued to deliver highly innovative and specific tailored services as far as making of payment by electronic means in concerned (Epay 3).

The advantage of the prepaid services provided by epay.com is that customers are able to access an array of gift cards which are branded. With this concept of prepaid, retailers are able to come up with categories and destinations that are fully supported by experts from epay. Retailers also have the advantage of being able to distribute their services throughout the network.

Emida.net on the other hand is a company that operates globally whose main services include the making prepayments globally as well as value transfer market. This company operates in more than 30 counties in the whole American region and part of the African and Caribbean region.

The retail points supported by Emida.com are estimated to be about 46,000 with annual payment of the dollar being estimated to stand at $1.4 billion with estimates of transaction transacted by the company being estimated to stand at 180 million.

Some of the advantages that emida.com has included allowing international as well as domestic distribution of various products which are prepaid in nature and services that involve payments. Retailers, ISOs, service providers and carriers using emida.net also have the advantage of getting robust revenues.

Currently, emida.net is said to be leading as far as proving prepaid services is concerned. One issue that distinguishes emida.net from other companies is the fact Eureka has partnered with most of the well established carriers throughout the world and this has enabled eureka to a great extent to create a reliable network which has proven helpful to clients throughout the world.

This company also caters for long distance prepaid services and this has brought about convenience and customers are able to get value and the revenue goes up.

Any retailer or service provider who has subscribed with emida will also be in a position to offer all their customers, cost effective, convenient and safe options that they can implement to ensure that their financial needs are well managed.

Under the financial services provided by emida, your clients will comfortably be able to purchase stored value cards as well as prepaid debit and also foot their bills. Through these services, it will also be possible for them to make transfers of money to family and friends in convenient hassle free manner.

The kind of services that you will receive from Emida will ensure that the portfolio of your products is well built (Emida 2). It is common knowledge especially in the world today that payment of bills especially if they are hefty can prove to be very risky.

Besides the risk, the hassle involves is nothing to write home about. Having paid full recognition to the challenges that consumers experience in payment of bills Emida has come up with a way of making it easy for clients to foot their bills which is not only easier but also more reliable and convenient.

The payment solution provided by Emida ensures that you gain access to numerous billers from telecommunication to providers of utilities, insurance among others.

With this pay bill solution, all one needs to do is to make payments at a local shop and this helps eliminate the risk factor as well as one is saved the hassle of making the payments and also one is able to save time that would have been wasted in making queues.

For those customers who have subscribed to AT & T services, you can also make it easy for them through emida.com. Just like the bills, these customers subscribed to AT & T can also make payments through the local shops.

Eurekarevenue.com though it has been in the market for a fewer years compared to its competitors, it has managed to create a niche itself. This company is dedicated to making life easier for those who prefer the option of truncating using cash as opposed to using credit cards and cheques.

The platform created by Eurekarevenue has made it simple for customers the world over to enjoy prepaid services through electronic means and with a well established and robust network. The company has managed to partner with different well established and this has ensured that clients get convenient services within their reach.

Eureka revenue has various products that they offer which include the ERI web and the ERI terminal. The terminal is an effective simplifies of selling airtime of prepaid wireless. These terminals are used as they are provided by the company without the need to buy additional equipments (Eureka 1).

The only requirement is a telephone line and you will be good to go. The ERI web on the other hand works pretty similar with the ERI terminal just that in this case, one will require a computer with internet connectivity to enjoy this service

Comparing epay.com and emida. Net, it is clear that emida is stronger than its counterpart. This is not only in terms of the number of years that this company has been in existence but also the robust network that it has managed to establish ad the numerous reliable partners that this company has.

In addition, this company has managed to penetrate in more markets than epay thus making emida stronger in terms of popularity and client base. Prepaid wireless industry has without a doubt grown tremendously the world over.

Works Cited

Emida. Prepaid Wireless. 2011. Web.

Epay. Welcome to Epay. 2011. Web.

Eureka. ERI helps retail stores increase their revenue and foot traffic through prepaidwireless solutions. 2011. Web.

The marketing of a new product presents numerous challenges. Levinson, Levinson and Levinson [1] state that, “marketing is a very slow process”. The efficacy of a product may not save it from shoddy marketing. In fact, an inferior product may perform better if it is marketed better. In the field of robotics, the challenge increases significantly because of the various limitations robots have including the learning process normally required of the operator to deploy them effectively.

The robotic car designed in this project is a simple system having basic components and is ideal for simple uses. It holds a lot of promise for adaptation for various uses, but is ready to use for certain applications. Its major service offering for a client is that it can provide visual information from areas that are not easily accessible since it has a camera, which can also operate in dark locations on night mode. In other words, it is able to ‘see’on behalf of the operator, who watches from a safe distance.

Potential Applications of the Robotic Car

In its current design, the robotic car has many potential primary and secondary applications, which in the same stroke simplifies and complicates its commercialization. Shanklin and Ryans [2] point out that a “new product tends to be extremely complex and often has a number of potential applications”. The robotic car’s primary applications will involve using its features as currently designed without further modification, which will primarily be to collect visual information about a target area.

Secondary applications will involve using it as a carrier of separate specialised equipment for the collection of other forms of data. With modifications, it can be equiped with equipment sets such as probes, scoops, and drills to undertake some operations in remote locations. Multiple applications mean a wide range of potential clients, but it also means widely varying needs.

One of the significant applications of robotic cars of this nature is, “sending them where humans cannot or should not go” [3]. Examples of such places include harzardous areas where chemical polution has occurred, buildings engulfed in fire and smoke, hostage situations, minefields or the diffusion of bombs planted in buildings. In fact, space vehicles for exploration of distant planets use robotic cars. The design in this project satisfies investigative needs on terrestiral motorable surfaces.

By sending the robotic car to a chemical hazard, it is possible to determine the extent of spillage of a liquid or a solid pollutant. It can also work for gaseous pollutants if they are visible. The robotic car is able to collect vital information while the operator is at a safe distance. The car is able to collect information from a hostage situation without putting any law enforcement officer in danger.

Another possible application of the robotic car is for routine operations in industries. These operations include cleaning harzadous areas and collecting information such as temparature in areas, which are not easily accessible, or may pose some threat to man. The car can provide access to environments whose safety is in doubt, or can change without warning, such as inside collapsed buildings and unstable mine shafts.

The third category of applications for the robotic car is for sports and entertainment. Robotic car enthusiasts use them to race for sports or for playing ball games for entertainment. As steffoff [4] observes, ‘toy robots and sports robots offer various forms of entertainment”. The thrill of controlling a real robotic car provides a different experience compared to playing the more available virtual games. Such games serve to expand the interest in robotics by the players and spectators.

Target Market for the Robotic Car

The robotic car has potential customers in research laboratories, fire and rescue brigades, chemical plants and factories, police departments, bomb squads, mines and robotic sports enthusiasts. Kachroo and Mellodge [3] state that, “the usefulness of these little machines is only limited by your imagination”.

Each of these potential clients represents a different market segment, which has unique needs. The basic product design applies to each of these unique needs but specialised applications differentiate them. To develop the required robotic car for the needs of each segment, the four P’s of marketing, “product, price, place (distribution), and promotion” as presented by Shanklin and Ryans [2], provides the basis for consideration.

Product

The prototype needs further development and rigorous testing to eleminate all possible design flaws in order to present a high quality product to potential customers. The prototype has a lot of room for improvement to include other design considerations including interfacing controls to use a joystick instead of the current computer controls.

It also requires the design of a fail-safe system that can allow for retieval of the unit should it experience an adverse operating environment that may cause it to malfunction. Such environments include areas with radio interference and locations with extreme temparatures.

Potential clients can help meet the cost of R&D after development and demostration of the operation of a tailored prototype to meet the needs of each of the potential market segments. Discussions will follow to explore possible parnership for the development of a specilised vehicle tailored for the needs of the specific segment. Through this means, it will be possible to raise funds for R&D. if the needs of different segments compare closely, then a pooled system with contributions from different parties will apply.

Actual production of the product in sufficient quantities is possible by piggybacking on an established firm dealing with robotics, to eliminate plant set up costs. After the design of the segment specific models, it will be necessary to enter into a contractual relationship with a manufacturer to manufacture the car, or parts of it for subsequent assembly.

Issues to consider in such an agreement include patenting and financing of the venture. If there lacks independent funds, it may be necessary to sell the production rights entirely to a capable manufacter so that they proceed with the development of the product.

Since the manufacturers have already optimised production processes, it will lead to the saving of valuable time and finances on the cost of setting up a plant dedicated to the production of robotic cars, unless justifiable by demand. In this case, all other efforts will go to product development and testing. Performance of quality checks to guarantee product quality will form part of the production process. Levinson, Levinson and Levinson [1] observe that, “to be successful, you must offer a quality product or service”.

Pricing

Production costs will influence the pricing of the robotic cars, which will span the R&D phase, the marketing phase and after sales support for the product. These costs have not yet been determined. However, the nature of financing for the R&D component may influence the costs positively for the clients.

If a client is involved in this phase, they will receive discounted prices for the finished products. The production of the robotic cars’ fits best in already established manufacturing concerns. If one manufacturer cannot produce the entire robotic car, then it may be necessarry to consider setting up an assembly plant for the robotic car. This model is justifiable only by matching demand for the robotic car. Otherwise, the overheads may kill the project.

Promotion

Promotion for the robotic cars will include demonstrations in exhibitions on robotics and during target segment events. This approach takes into account that not all potential clients attend events on robotics. The promotion effort will include a website to display the potential applications of the robotic car together with testimonials from existing users. In addition, the promotion effort will include adverts on catalogues that target the market segments, which the robotic car will serve.

Promotion for the product will not be an end in itself. It will only be part of the entire process of getting a market share in a budding market. Butje [6] states, “Nothing is more killing for a product than a flashy introduction and a failure to deliver”. Quality controls present one of the key areas to focus on during production to ensure that the product lives up to the promise it offers during the promotion exercise.

Finally, the robotic cars will be availed through technological stores. It is expensive to set up an elaborate distribution network hence all effort will aim at using the distribution networks of established distributors dealing robotic equipement. Davidow [5] observes that, “the exposure the product gets through the channels of distribution is critical”.

Butje [6] adds that, “in order to reach the intended target market, the right sales channels must be chosen and developed”. Trying to set up a new distribution channel from the onset requires large capital, and a major logistical outlay, which the project cannot support at this stage.

Competitor Analysis

A key consideration in the production process is the place of the competition. The robotic industry has come of age, and to get a market share for the robotic car, it must have a strong selling proposition. Its key element is simplicity of operation. Its unique selling proposition is a ‘general purpose robotic car adaptable for a multiplicity of applications’.

Many competing products have specialised applications currently and as such, there is need to acquire a separate vehicle for every concievable need.

Unless the need for the vehicle is indeed a special purpose, for instance space exploration, there is no reason for acquiring a special purpose vehicle for simple needs that the simple robotic car can competitively meet. Its ability for operation by a normal computer makes it even more attractive since the user only needs to install the relevant software and is at once ready to use the car.

Future Direction

The future of the robotic car lies in the multiplicity of applications it can have. As the model stands, it has limitations on what it can to do beyond giving a visual output. It may also currently serve as a vehicle for carrying specialised equipment like thermometers. With the addition of more features, it is adaptable for specialised tasks such as diffusion of bombs.

A possible means would be to provide for the fitting of different tools onto it for specialised tasks. The addition of more cameras can enhance functionality by providing more views at any one moment. Other design considerations would be fireproofing the car for high temparature applications and enhancement of its operating range, to enable control over longer distances.

There is need to include a system overide which may allow for disabling the car or imposing a second line of control in the event that the primary control line is compromised. During operation, if the robotic car goes out of range while approaching a harzard to itself, the lack of an overide may cause it to proceed unhindered to the danger. Also in situations where there is radio interference, the car may spin out of control. If the car was undertaking extraction of a person in need, it may mean loss of life or serious injury to the victim.

Reference List

[1] J. C. Levinson, J. Levinson and A. Levinson, Guerilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.

[2] L. Shanklin, and K. Ryans, Essentials of Marketing High Technology. USA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1987.

[3] P. Kachroo, and P. Mellodge, Mobile Robotic Car Design. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005

[4] R. Stefoff, Robots. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008.

[5] W.H. Davidow, Marketing High Technology: An Insiders View. New York, the Free Press, 1986.

[6] M. Butje, Product Marketing for Technology. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth- Heineman n, 2005.