Worldspace - living up to its name

Sorry folks, I cannot believe that Worldspace is going to last much longer. They are using a technology which is now out of date and now focussing on Italy, a country already saturated with radio.

Their 3rd quarter results released on November 8th said


The Company ended the quarter with 177,644 subscribers worldwide, a loss of 12,689 from the close of the prior quarter, reflecting loss of subscribers in India and the planned cessation of marketing efforts in Europe ahead of the company's efforts to test and subsequently commence mobile service in Europe. In India, the Company lost 8,713 net subscribers during the third quarter of 2007, reflecting reduced marketing in that region, ending the period with 164,902 subscribers in India, 19% higher than at the end of the third quarter of 2006.

After bumping along at around 4 dollars, last Friday's price was US$1.98. Could it be that analysts are finally joining me in the ranks of the unconvinced that this satellite project will ever turn the corner?

Stock in the last 3 months (Reuters website). tick, tick... I wonder how they will decomission these satellites? Just let them burn up I suppose. In the meantime they are burning about 7 million dollars a month on providing unlabelled audio from the sky. Yes it has a channel ID, but no information on the individual programmes.



What is even more revealing is the picture taken over the last 5 years. This is an out-of-business model I am afraid. And we've been saying so all along - the problem with Worldspace is that it is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.