If the story checks out then that's kind of a downer for everyone that thought they were listening to feed back from someone out there. Truth is that even if there is some intelligent life out there capable of sending out a signal they might be so far away that we will never live to hear it!
I believe we are not alone, even in this galaxy, but the distances involved and how fast a signal becomes noise, makes the possibility to get in touch, just by luck, so small. You have to know where to look and even then, there are many variables and technical difficulties.
Edited: Morfeas on 3rd Mar, 2016 - 2:37am
Without even considering other galaxies what about our own? There are countless stars and planets in it that might have intelligent life. The thing is closer to our center it gets very bright with the concentration of suns and we are on the outskirts where its darker. Usually if there is a search for other planets the search starts in the immediate vicinity. Also beings in high sun clusters are likely to be way different than what we might know.