The Infinite Dial

This week's announcement that XM Satellite Radio's fall TV campaign will be tagged to, as the press release puts it, "the joy of discovery" is interesting for a number of reasons. Three years ago, discovery was supposed to be the magic bullet for satellite radio, but after the first two million subscribers or so (all of them, seemingly, adoring consumer press writers) the emphasis switched to cherrypicking the best of terrestrial radio's content, instead of just counter-programming it.

But in recent months, some of those consumer press stories have been a little less adulatory. Some have focused on satellite's slower growth. Some have pointed out, correctly, that the offerings are a little less exotic than they used to be. The marketing for HD Radio's collection of HD-2 stations has tried to position those channels as similarly adventurous. And these days, discovery is a lot of what sets satellite radio (or terrestrial radio, for that matter) apart from the iPod.

To see the new spots, click here.