My opinion would be that most stations are using it as a mean to get over the reception/audio issues of AM radio, as most Canadian HD2/3 stations are AM rebroadcasters or if they are ethnic stations, they are leasing their HD2/3 side bands to different ethnic music operators (similar to SCMO operations). Is it gonna be successful? I'd look at how "successful" the technology actually has been in the states. Most stations in the US use their HD side channels as a way to get around regulatory restrictions such as getting extra FM rebroadcasters or discounts in paying licensing fees for their internet broadcasts (ie, most of iHeartRadio exclusive channels are HD2/3 stations). Similarly in Canada, although the CRTC regulates the market more strictly than the FCC, they see the technology as a way to get around FM/AM reception issues or sell additional ethnic programming. Personally, I would prefer if HD operations in Canada had more exclusive twist to it, like it did in the US when it first launched in the mid-2000's, with many exclusive music programming (and how DAB stations are in Europe). Unfortunately, due to the price of the HD Radios back in those days, the technology never took off and companies decided it was better to use it as a means to complement the old FM/AM technology and/or to bypass regulatory rules. Folks gotta see content worth investing in, like satellite radio has, in order to have it to become successful. I was in Rochester, NY recently and one of their stations owned by Entercom, 97.9 WPXY, has a really cool HD2 exclusive station with a Modern AC format called
[email protected] (nowhere to be found streaming online). Too bad these exclusive stations are not common and hard to find as well. Back in Toronto, 93.5 CFXJ whose owners recently became Stingray, has submitted request to ISEDC that they are going HD. Does this mean there will finally be exclusive music content produced from Stingray on HD Radio? Only time will tell!