Meant to Be Free?

Jeff Jarvis thinks he knows why satellite radio is having trouble:

: It’s still not clear whether the Web is meant to be free. Hell, it’s still not clear what the Web is meant to be.
But our expectations of free v. fee are quite clear for other media — and some new businesses are ignoring that consensus at their financial peril.
: Exhibit 1: Sirius Radio, one of two satellite radio companies, just announced that it has to raise a whopping $600 million to stay in business until it has enough customers to make money. And why is that? Because radio is meant to be free. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay almost $300 for a radio (XM, the competitor, in this case) that I can play only in my car and then pay another $12.95 per month for what is free and plentiful — and they don’t even have Howard Stern. Would I rather listen to radio anywhere and for free for the price of hearing some commercials? Yes. Radio is meant to be free……