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FISHER: XM/SIRIUS MERGER IRRELEVANT, THEIR FUTURE IS ONLINE: Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher says the end result of the merger between XM and Sirius is meaningless because their future is online, competing with broadcasters and other media companies. He believes satellite radio itself is “an interim technology, hardly likely to survive far into the next decade.” When the vision of universally-available internet radio becomes reality, “the enormous infrastructure the [satellite radio] companies have built over the past decade would become obsolete almost overnight…except for the programming.” As a result, satellite radio would be forced to transition online “and fight it out with the sounds and stories offered by Clear Channel, Pandora, CBS, NPR, BBC, local radio stations and news organizations around the globe.” Thus, Fisher writes, the FCC’s decision on the merger of XM and Sirius boils down to a choice between strengthening satellite radio for the coming “battle of the content providers” online, and assuring fair competition in satellite radio until its inevitable demise. “The right move — both to protect consumers and to position the satellite companies for the intense competition in the next phase of the great media shakeout — is to force XM and Sirius to enter the new world not fat and happy but lean and hungry.” Read his full column here.

SOMA-FM NOW ON iPHONES: Internet radio service SomaFM now supports streaming on iPhone and iPod Touch devices, announced the station’s general manager Rusty Hodge (pictured). Needing no additional applications, iPhone or iPod Touch users only point their web browsers to the SomaFM site for “an iPhone-specific site with links for both EDGE (32-56k) and WiFi (128k) streams.” An official press release is expected later today or tomorrow. SomaFM plays no commercials, relying on listener support to broadcast underground, indie, and electronica music online. Read Hodge’s announcement here.

HIPCRICKET PICKS UP SBS: Mobile marketing company HipCricket has added Spanish Broadcasting System’s radio stations to its Hispanic broadcaster and advertising client network. The partnership will allow advertisers to reach SBS radio’s listeners through text-message based promotions, allowing “brands to reach multiple markets with a single buy.” SBS brings HipCricket more than 7 million listeners in markets like New York, Chicago, and L.A. “At this point, it’s got the critical mass to be a really effective vehicle for brands and advertisers to engage the audience that they are trying to reach,” said HipCricket president/COO Eric Harber. For more, read Billboard’s coverage here.

RADIO’S DIGITAL STRATEGY LACKING COMPARED TO NEWSPAPERS’, SAYS JACOBS: Fred Jacobs, head of radio consulting firm Jacobs Media, sees a lack of digital strategy in radio, especially compared to print media. Borrell’s recent report on local advertising online (RAIN coverage here), finds newspaper “garnering the lion’s share of the $8.7 billion” spent on local advertising online in 2007. Jacobs believes their advantageous position comes both from developing online longer and from having a clear digital strategy. “The newspaper ‘threat’ is that they actually have an avenue to get healthy again,” he writes. Radio stations lack a similar digital strategy, Jacobs believes, and only when a “big-time strategy and a long-term map” is developed that “everyone understands at all levels” will radio make serious digital progress. Read more of Jacobs’ thoughts here.

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