US radio giant Clear Channel will partner with Microsoft in a huge deal to provide a national data service using HD radio signals.

Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the new service will be called MSN Direct HD and will be an extension of Microsoft’s current low speed subcarrier data service that offers news, traffic, weather and stock market quotes.

The current system has a very poor takeup rate with only a limited number of compatible devices on the market, mostly smart watches, however HD radio offers a new opportunity for receiver manufacturers to incorporate the new system into car radios which are starting to appear with HD tuners.

The significantly higher data delivery speeds will also allow far richer content to be delivered to the consumer. Bitrates around 64k bits per second have been mooted, although a data rate that high will limit the number of multicast HD audio channels.

340 Clear Channel stations are currently broadcasting HD signals, with a nationwide footprint. No financial terms of the deal were released.