Category: satellite radio

Canadian satellite radio
While the United States initiated the satellite radio evolution, Canada is now hot on their trails. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) began hearings in 2004 for applicants ready to develop Canadas first satellite radio broadcasting. The Canadian satellite radio industry received quite a lot of interest and in the end three main applications were filed: XM filed one in partnership with Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius filed an application with Standard Broadcasting and the CBC. The third application belongs to CHUM Limited and Astral Media and to many came as a surprise. That was mostly because CHUM Limited and Astral Media came up with a different solution that that proposed by Sirius and XM Radio. CHUM applied for a subscription radio service that is to be delivered through the already existing terrestrial DAB transmitters. In other words, the transmitters would be the ones receiving the satellite transmission, from where they would continue the broadcast to consumer owned receivers. While the CHUM Limited and Astral Media proposal offers an entirely Canadian approach, the first two bring in a blend of US based technology and Canadian broadcasting channels. XM Radio and Sirius had a slight advantage in the fact that the coverage area of their satellites already existed in parts of Canada, so a small audience was already using their services.
Three satellite radio services for Canada

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved all three applications in June 2005, but with a series of conditions imposed to the three solicitants. Here they are as required by the CRTC:
A minimum of 8 channels must be produced in Canada and for each Canadian channel 9 foreign channels can be broadcast.
At least 85% of the content on the Canadian-produced channels (whether musical or spoken word) must be Canadian.
At least 25% of the Canadian channels must be French-language stations.
At least 25% of the music aired on the Canadian channels must be new Canadian music.
At least 25% of the music played on the Canadian channels must be from up-and-coming Canadian artists.

The three companies had to accept these conditions as they are part of the Canadian broadcasting regulations. The US companies and their Canadian partners began negotiations for tilting the rules in their favor. One of the main offers of both the Sirius and XM Radio partnerships was that they would play 50% French content as opposed to the 25% required by the CRTC. AS a results of the negotiations, XM Radio received 5 channels of National Hockey League Play-by-Play in addition to the channels they already had XMs part of the deal was to cover the Canadian National Hockey League games. The fact that the US satellite industry giants were both allowed to broadcast on Canadian territory determined CHUM to appeal the decision. They motivated their action by saying that the two US companies would simply suffocate CHUM with their presence in Canada, not allowing any room for development for the all-Canadian company. CHUM also complained about the deals that were cut with the two US companies. As a response, Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius Canada said that CHUM is in fact trying to obtain monopoly over the Canadian satellite radio market for themselves.
Todays Canadian satellite radio
One of the main complaints of the people of Canada was that the CRTC decision did not require sufficient Canadian content. This made the broadcasters come out with promises of additional French and Canadian content. The Canadian Federal Cabinet accepted the CRTC decision on September 10, 2005. XM satellite radio was launched on the 29th of November 2005 and Sirius was next on December 1. Monthly subscription rates are $12.99 for XM with a one time activation fee of $19.99 and $14.99 for Sirius, without any activation fees. Both companies are expecting rapid increases in the numbers o subscribers, although, in spite of the extra Canadian content they added to their air time, there are still quite a few voices protesting against the potential monopoly the two companies may get to in the near future.

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The advantages of satellite radio

One of the great advantages of satellite radio is the fact that the programs are not interrupted by commercials. This is because the providers income comes from listeners and not from advertisers. Satellite radio services offer around 70 programs of commercial fee music channels each and you have a great variety of choices, from mainstream rock, hip-hop and dance music to folk music, opera, blues and many more.
Another great thing about satellite radio is the absence of static. You can be driving from the West Coast to the East Coast in the United States of America and you will not get any static at all on the way. The satellite radio signal is digital, which means that you will get crystal-clear sound wherever you go.

Satellite radio tuners receive, along with the actual radio programs, an influx of metadata that consists of information regarding song title, artist, radio program and radio channel. This means that your satellite radio receiver will display all the necessary information about what you are listening to. For instance, if you hear a great song and you want to know which artist sings it, you just look at the receivers display.
All satellite radio programs are uncensored. This is one of the reasons why artists like Howard Stern chose to move their shows on satellite radio. You can also listen to your favorite hip-hop songs without the interruption of those annoying beep sounds.
Satellite radio programs also offer information about local traffic and weather conditions. The information is very detailed especially for those who live in big cities. If there is a major national calamity and other terrestrial radio stations will not work, you can always count on getting accurate information from satellite radio program. You can also listen to satellite radio online on your computer.

If you still are not convinced on why you should pay money for something that you can get for free, think about how much time you have wasted listening to commercials and all kinds of other boring stuff on terrestrial radio programs. Traditional radio is not free, despite the popular belief. It is time-consuming and irritating because you have to listen to five minutes or more of commercials so that you can finally hear a song you like. The satellite radio subscriptions are very affordable and, for around 13 dollars per month, you get exactly the programs you want, which you can listen to wherever you are, at the best sound quality.

Satellite radio is great for you especially if you travel a lot. If you are traveling across the United States of America, for example, you can listen to the channel or channels you want during your whole trip, without losing signal or getting static. If you have a traditional radio, you will have to keep changing channels every hundred miles, but if you are using satellite radio you do not have to do that because the geographically availability of programs is not a problem. Satellite radio subscribers will soon get the chance to watch video programs as well. Both Sirius and XM services have announced their intention of introducing in the near future a variety of video satellite channels that will have some of the great advantages that are currently available to satellite radio: commercial free programs, great quality of sound and vast geographical availability.

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Satellite radio Q&A

Q: Overview of satellite radio
A: Satellite radio means pay-radio or it may also be called a subscription radio. It is a little bit like the traditional one, but it has more programs than it. Its available in Africa, Asia and Europe due to the services provided by WorldSpace and in North America by Sirius and XM Radio.

Q: What are the advantages of this new radio?
A: Youll have a wide variety of programs that includes music channels (rock, modern rock, alternative, classical, pop, hip-hop, country, jazz, electronic, Christian, Latin), weather, news, traffic, sports and entertainment channels, no commercials included. All musical channels are commercial free.
This radio has a clean, digital signal and it has almost the quality of a CD. It has no static and no interference.
You can get satellite radio not only in your car, but anywhere you like: in your house, in an Rv or boat so that you can enjoy the programming variety that this radio is offering whether you are relaxing in your sofa, if you are in a vacation or if you are in your car on a business travel. The only thing you must do is to properly install the equipment that you need.
Purchasing the equipment, you will also have information which will be displayed on the radio receiver about channels, music, songs and artists.

Q: What about disadvantages?
A: Unfortunately, Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. Territories cant receive the satellite radios signals.
There are no local stations, but you will have local traffic and weather channels provided by XM and Sirius.

Q: What does provide XM and Sirius radio?
A: There a few differences between them. For example, the XM provides more that 150 channels and the other one more than 120 channels. The first has two Nascar racing channels, Major League Baseball, PGA TOUR coverage, plus ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-10 football and basketball coverage and the Sirius has Live NFL, NHL, and NBA play-by-play, plus English Premier League soccer and college sports game. But they have the same price $12.95/Month

Q: How do I install satellite radio?
A: There are a few things that are necessary to get satellite radio.
First you need a satellite radio antenna that picks up the signal from communicational satellites and then delivering it to you.
Then you need a satellite radio tuner that passes the signal from the radio antenna to the receiver. There are three basic types of radio turners. There are the Plug-and-play satellite radio tuners that can be used in the car or at home or with a portable boombox wherever you have satellite signal and they only need one subscription. There are three types of Satellite radio tuners for the car: universal tuners, “Satellite radio-ready” in-dash receivers and in-dash receivers with a built-in satellite radio tuner. The last basic type is the Home satellite radio tuners perfect for using them in-door.
The third item is a satellite radio receiver which helps you to select channels and categories, to view various songs or artists information.
Last but not least is a subscription to XM or Sirius radio that must be acquired in order to receive programming.

If you want to have the best quality sound in your car you can choose between these three options:
1. in-dash receiver with a built-in satellite radio tuner
2. “satellite radio-ready” receiver connected to an external satellite radio tuner
3. Plug-and-play satellite radio tuner connected to your car stereo’s auxiliary input.

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What is satellite radio

Satellite radio is often considered one of the biggest improvements in broadcasting since the introduction of the FM band. Satellite radio is also called subscription radio or pay-radio because it is only available trough subscription to one of the satellite radio providing companies. Satellite radio follows a concept similar to cable television by providing a very wide range of programs which are not available in the traditional FM or AM format for a fee.

Satellite radio uses satellites to deliver radio programs to subscribers. The radio signal is broadcasted from Earth based stations to communicational satellites, which then redirect the signal to satellite radio receivers. The radio signal is broadcasted by communication satellites to a much larger area than traditional terrestrial radio antennas. For example, satellite radio is available al across the continental area of the United States. Satellite radio is available now in most parts of the world trough services provided by companies like WorldSpace (in Europe, Asia and Africa), Sirius and XM Radio (in North America). The radio signal you receive using satellite radio is digital, which means that it is always clear and static-free, which is one of the great advantages of satellite radio. Another great thing about satellite radio is that it is almost completely commercial-free.

To begin listening to satellite radio you will need the actual satellite radio (also known as tuner or receiver), a satellite radio antenna (which is often incorporated in the satellite radio) and a subscription to the service you choose. There are several types of satellite radio from which you can choose. One of them is the dedicated car or home radio, which play trough your car or home stereo. A second option is the plug-and-play radio, which can be used in your car, as well as in your home by paying a single subscription. Your third option is the portable radio, which has rechargeable battery, a built-in antenna and you can listen to it wherever you go using headphones. The radio signals offered by different satellite radio companies are proprietary, which means that you will need different hardware for receiving, decoding and playback, depending on your subscription. Each satellite radio receiver has its own serial number called Radio ID. When you get your subscription, you will also get an activation code for your receiver. Besides the actual radio programs, satellite radio transmits metadata that contains the name of the artist, the title of the song or program, as well as the name of the channel. This makes it easier for you to decide which channel to listen to and which program to choose.

Satellite radio services provide the subscriber with more than 100 programs that vary in content from rock and jazz to rap and classical music. But satellite radios utility reaches far beyond listening to your favorite music without the interruption of those annoying commercials. Satellite radio also offers exclusive sports programs, cultural and educational shows, news and talk-shows. Some of the celebrities that have moved their shows from free radio to satellite radio include Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Bob Edwards and Martha Stewart. Unlike terrestrial radio, satellite radio is not affected by bad weather or even calamities.

At first, many people wondered why they should pay for radio if they can get it free. However, satellite radio attracts more and more people every year due to its great advantages: no commercials, extensive reach, theme programs and exceptional quality of sound.

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Sirius Satellite Radio overview

Together with XM Radio, Sirius Satellite Radio is one of the two main providers of digital radio broadcasting in the United States. Sirius Satellite Radio currently broadcasts on over 120 channels with a variety of broadcasts including music, talk shows, news broadcasts and different other forms of audio entertainment. Sirius Satellite Radio covers the entire US territory. The high quality of the broadcasting signal produced by using the most advanced digital encoding technology makes the transmission clear and accurate. The fidelity of the sound transmitted digitally is much better than any analog radio provider can offer. The noise disturbances often associated to FM and AM broadcasts are now eliminated and the transmission is clear and almost identical in quality with the original track. Sirius Satellite Radio holds one of the two FCC approved licenses for delivering digital radio in the United States. The digital radio broadcaster only shares the field of Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services (SDARS) with Sirius XM Satellite Radio Inc. Here is some more information on the Sirius company:
Corporate headquarters: New York City, New York
Date of launch: July 1, 2002
Satellites in service: 3
Available satellite radio channels:120
Monthly subscription cost:$12.95
Sirius Satellite Radio is truly an impressive corporation. Located in the heart of New York City with a huge recording studio situated in the Rockefeller Center, Sirius Satellite Radio has a huge library of over 2 million music tracks. The quality of the transmission is very high as it is in the 128kb/sec format which is similar to CD audio quality. The company uses digitized signals through the PAC encoding technology, providing high fidelity broadcasts all over the United States.

The Sirius satellite

The three Loral SS/L-1300 commercial satellites used by Sirius deliver constant digital radio broadcasting to Sirius subscribers. As with most commercial satellites, the Loral SS/L-1300s orbit above the Earth at 22 300 miles. Very similar to XMs satellites, the Loral SS/L-1300 commercial satellites have a more inclined orbit which allows them to cover an even more extended area. The elevation angle of 60 degrees is more generous than the regular 45 degrees used by geostationary satellites. Since one of the most problematic aspects of satellite radio broadcasting is the line of sight which can be easily interrupted by landscape or buildings the Loral SS/L-1300 commercial satellites have a slight advantage over their competitors, since they have a clearer line of sight. The three satellites used for broadcasting slowly orbit around the Earth and only two of them are functional at any time. This is because Sirius only has two transmission frequencies and by alternating satellite transmission they can eliminate interferences while also having a spare satellite to put to use in case something goes wrong with one of the others. The 3 satelites take turns broadcasting when one of them leaves the footprint of the continental U.S. another picks up the broadcasting transmission. Since the more inclined orbit provides better coverage, Canada and Mexico are also well covered by the digital broadcasting. This is an interesting feature of the Sirius satellite radio, as it enhances the benefit of not having to switch radio stations during long trips or while traveling outside US borders. Sirius has also announced a collaboration with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Standard Radio Inc. This would allow anyone in Canada to benefit from Sirius services while using any of the Canadian English and French channels.

Sirius broadcasting

Because the broadcast signal used in satellite radio transmission is so strong, you only need a small receiver in order to be able to listen to it. By using small omni-directional antennas you can take your digital radio programs wherever you are either on the road or at home. The technology used is similar to GPS devices and the receivers dont require pointing. Some of the new features of satellite radio refer to the extended broadcast information abilities, and the transmission can supply information on artist, music title or genre. One of the developments Sirius is working on is streaming video broadcasting something that will probably become available to the general public soon after the technology and broadcasting methods become secure enough.

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Sirius and XM Satellite Radios

There are two major companies that offer satellite radio in America: Sirius and XM.
XM was the first company that offered satellite radio. It has two satellites named Rock and Roll and it has its studios in Washington D.C. Sirius Radio has three satellites and has its studios in New York As the XM was first, it has 3,2 hundred thousand, but Sirius brings competition with 1,1 hundred thousand subscribers in the present time.

Satellite radio is by far the best radio ever, making the AM/FM radios look old and dying even. This new era of radio has a lot of advantages that will please you at the maximum.
As the income comes from the subscribers not from advertisements, there are no commercials, no one is saying what to buy, no one is promoting their channel and no one is interrupting you from listening to what you want, where you want. There a lot of choices in want to listen to as both XM and Sirius have a big programming variety that includes music channels of world music(pop, rock, classical, rap, hip-hop, opera, country, western, jazz, dance, blues, Latin), weather, news, traffic, sports and entertainment channels. Local weather and traffic channels are available only for major cities in the U.S.A. provided by the two companies and every five minutes you can hear updates. The best thing in all channels is that there are uncensored. So, you can listen to uncensored stand-up comedy and hip-hop channels, at least for now.

The satellite radio has a very good sound quality, no static and no interference, a quality that may be compared with the one of a CD. The radio is based on a go/no-go system based on the strength of the signal. So, weak signal may cause dropouts.
You can easily get information about songs and artists right on you satellite radio receiver that can also help you select channels and categories. This makes it easier for you to choose the exact channel or song you want to hear. So, whenever you are wondering what song or channel you are listening to just read the information that the receiver shows.

Now you can get satellite radio wherever you like, eventough at first it was design only for car use. With the right equipment you can easily have radio, but it depends on you whether you subscribe at XM or Sirius. Unfortunately, you cant use a satellite radio turner for both XM and Sirius. There are three types of turners depending on where you want to listen to satellite radio. The Plug-and-play turner can be used out-door wherever you like as long as you have a portable boombox that can receive the signal. There are turners especially made for using them in cars and the home satellite radio turners for using them at home.

Both companies want now to offer a video service. This is planned to happen in the second half of the year 2006 and will include at first two video programs designed for children. Satellite radios’ prices start at about $75.A subscription costs 12.95 per month wherever you want to subscribe as both XM and Sirius radio charges the same. There a couple of discounts like you can get satellite radio for a year at $9.95/month or Sirius is offering a subscription for a lifetime at $500.

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Features of the XM Radio

XM Radio provides over 150 programs that include music, sports and entertainment, traffic and weather channels.

The music area has the largest number of channels. Here are 68 music channels that you can enjoy and where you can listen to your favorite music whether is from the 60s, the 90s or its the new released music. There are music-by-the-decade channels that include the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s songs which are mostly pop/rock outlets, the Top 20 channel, Love Songs, Movie Soundtracks, Show Tunes, MTV, VH1, and a Global hits channel. For those you prefer new music there is the Unsigned channel and the XMU channel. The last one can be compared to a college station. If you are a jazz fan, XM offers you live music from the Blue Note club and the B.B. King Club in New York City.

There are entertainment shows on XM radio hosted by Tom Perry, Snoop Dog or Quincy Jones. Comedy shows may be found on the High Voltage channel where shock jocks Opie and Anthony do their job now uncensored. In totally, XM has three comedy channels including a family comedy channel. Beside these, there are more radio channels like Playboy Radio and Public Radio hosted by Bob Edwards which includes a line of NPR shows that you can enjoy whenever you like.

If you are a sports fanatic you can choose from a good variety of channel dedicated to sports that are provided by XM radio. This includes college football and basketball, NASCAR and Major League Baseball. You can easily listen to the Bowl Championship Series to find out which team is going to the next level, the NCAA Division I football champion.

With a subscription from XM, you will have 38 channels of sports, news and talk channels. For example, ABC News & Talk, BBC World Service, CNBC, Court TV, C-Span, CNN, CNN Headline News, Discovery Channel, E Entertainment, two ESPN channels, Fox News, NASCAR Racing are a few talk station to which you can listen. Local weather and traffic channels are provided too and in totally, they are 22 channels.

Sound clearance depends on the subscription you have. If you have satellite radio from XM, the sound has more quality than the one from Sirius, but still you cant say that is the same as a CD. You can say that the sound is somewhere between the sound of a CD and AM radio. Hopefully, in the years that will come, the sound quality will improve.

As this technology appeared so did a new line of hardware that can match peoples desires.
And XM has new things to offer like the Delphi XM MyFi which is a small receiver, actually the smallest in the world that can include up to five yours of XM content to which you can listen anywhere you like. Another is the Delphi SkyFi2 which has a TiVo-like 30-Minute Replay feature so, you can rewind, push the pause button or just play it forward to hear music, news or anything else you stored on the it. This equipments are also produced by Sony, Alpine, Pioneer and of course others.

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How does satellite radio work?

Satellite radio is one of the biggest improvements in broadcasting since the introduction of FM. Satellite radio signal can be broadcasted for more than 35,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) with complete clarity and high quality sound. You will never get static interferences while listening to over 100 radio channels. The idea behind satellite radio has appeared in 1992, when the United States Federal Communications Commission granted a spectrum of the S band (the 2.3 GHz frequency) for Digital Audio Radio Service. The license to broadcast in that band was allocated to Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio in 1997. Now there are three companies that provide satellite radio in the world: Sirius and XM in Northern America and WorldSpace in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Each of these companies offer different broadcasting systems, since the radio signal of each is proprietary. This means that you will have to buy different hardware depending on your subscription to one of these companies. However, there are three components common to all satellite radio services: the satellites, the ground repeaters and the radio receivers. Different satellite radio companies broadcast the radio signal in different ways. For instance, XM satellite radio uses geostationary satellites which have orbits that are synchronized with the movement of Earth. These satellites are located above the equator. In order to allow subscribers to receive crystal-clear signal despite obstacles such as buildings, hills or bridges, XM satellite radio service has installed a network of repeaters antennas that receive the radio signal from the satellites and retransmit it to the subscribers receiver Sirius, on the other hand, uses satellites that have unique elliptical orbits around Earth. These kinds of orbits allow satellites to get higher in the sky than geostationary satellites and this prevents loss of signal. This is the reason why Sirius has fewer terrestrial repeaters than XM.

Satellite radio services have digital broadcast centers where a huge amount of music in digital format as well as CD format is stored. Radio programmers have the task of selecting which song has to be played at which time. There are also a lot of studios managed by digital radio companies where artists perform live. All songs and material are transmitted to the satellites in digital format so that the signal contains very high quality sound. The signal is encoded by the satellite and then retransmitted to the repeaters antennas, which then transmit it to the radio receiver which decodes it and plays the sound. The entire process is very quick and reliable. Satellite radio would not be possible without digital compression. Digital compression is a technique that uses sophisticated algorithms to compress as much material as possible on the available bandwidth. Once you make a subscription to a satellite radio provider you will need the appropriate radio equipment. Traditional radios cannot decode the signal received from satellites so you will need special equipment.

The popularity of satellite radio has exploded due to many technological advancements that enabled manufacturers to offer the receivers at very attractive prices. The fact that satellite radio is commercial free for many of its channels is also a major selling point.

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The basics of Satellite Radio

Broadcasting digital radio via satellite is not something new and concepts of doings this have been with us for a few years. From the early days of satellite radio, companies like Dish Network have offered digital audio channels as part of their programs. The breakthrough in popularity of satellite radio, however, happened just recently, when the technology became more permissive. Satellite radio was very rare on moving locations, such as boats or cars, mostly because there was the need for some expensive equipment a tracking dish. This was a strong deterrent which kept satellite radio quite unknown by the general public. Today, however, one can receive digital audio satellite broadcasts by using a small, GPS-like antenna. This greatly increased the feasibility of the satellite radio systems and more and more vehicle owners began considering satellite radios as a good source of music and news.

The birth of satellite radio in the United States

When the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated a spectrum in the “S” band (2.3 GHz) for the broadcasting of digital radio services in 1992 no one thought the amplitude that the system would take in the future. From the initial Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS) things progressed until two companies were given licenses to broadcast digital radio in 1997. These two were American Mobile Radio (today known as XM Satellite Radio) and CD Radio (presently called Sirius Satellite Radio). The fact that satellite radio is nationwide makes it a very attractive media channel, both for commercial and non-profit organizations. The two companies that initiated the development of satellite radio saw the huge potential it had, since it wasnt confined by the limitations of other terrestrial broadcasters.

Benefits of using satellite radio

Here are some of the most noteworthy benefits of having a satellite radio system:

* No more geographical limitations since the radio program is broadcast through a satellite you dont have to switch radio stations every time you leave a certain coverage area.
* The digital quality of the satellite radio has some amazing benefits on its own. There are no noise disturbances that were traditional to FM and AM broadcasts. The transmission is crystal clear and satellite radio receives some valuable points when broadcasting quality is concerned.
* Analog radio stations simply cannot broadcast the full range of sounds available through digital satellite radio.
* Both XM Radio and Sirius Radio can be picked up on all the US territory and they are also available in some parts of Canada and Mexico.

Satellite radio technology

Each of the major satellite radio services uses its own equipment to broadcast the signal to their clients. The competition is tight and customers have to pick sides in order to benefit from satellite radio broadcasting. You have to choose your preferred company and purchase adequate receivers for that particular company. Both XM Radio and Sirius Radio provide their clients with different ways of receiving their services. The field where most competition takes place is in the negotiation with the major automobile manufacturers. Both XM Radio and Sirius Radio have deals with the auto industry giants in order to offer their services and equipment as optional on the car models they produce. Other partnerships were created with audio equipment manufacturers, who now offer satellite radio transceivers and matching headsets. The most recent shock in the satellite radio universe was caused by the production of portable MP3 player-like satellite radio receivers.

The future development of satellite radio

One of the main problems of satellite radio was addressed by the main satellite radio broadcasters. Since you need to be in the line of sight of the satellite to receive the transmission, different problems appeared with mobile satellite radio receivers, especially when different landscaping objects blocked the direct transmission. To solve this, land based devices were installed in order to eliminate the lack of direct satellite transmission. Another interesting aspect related to satellite radios is that they approached their service offers from a different perspective than traditional radio broadcasters. Instead of airing commercials they charge a subscription fee. For many people, this is actually the best alternative, since they get an almost 100% content broadcast (whether its music or talk shows) without the 10-12 minutes per hour of annoying commercials. In most cases, the monthly subscription for satellite radio is of around $12.

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Online streaming and the changes in the way satellite radio works

The recent development of satellite radio received a lot of newspaper and web page space, as well as plenty of attention from traditional media channels. There are a few things that are changing rapidly in satellite radio, changes that may or may not affect the future of the XM and Sirius Satellite Radio companies, as well as the consumers. A few major steps towards the dynamic development of satellite radio have given consumers and financial analysts different perspectives from which to analyze this phenomenon. With the MLB moving away from terrestrial radio and heading for digital radio transmissions, with a Playboy Satellite Radio channel that has over a million subscribers and several other impressive developments, we can say that satellite radio is on an ascending path. An abrupt one, filled with shock news and unexpected developments, but ascending nevertheless. An interesting idea is the one that XM and Sirius are working on a single receiver unit that can receive broadcasts from both major satellite radio broadcasters. Another event that rocked the satellite radio world was Howard Sterns online streaming on Sirius. His appearance on the Sirius Satellite Radio gave a new light on the Sirius company, as one that offers more than radios and broadcasting means as one that offers genuine content.

Terrestrial versus satellite

One of the problems XM and Sirius have had is with making the satellite receiver something desirable, cheap and effective. In the beginning the satellite receivers were large and expensive, and performed poorly on moving vehicles. Of course, the modern satellite receivers are much better, very small and compact and offer excellent reception in any area. The digital quality of the satellite radio has some amazing benefits on its own since there are no noise disturbances that were traditional to FM and AM broadcasts. Both XM Radio and Sirius Radio can be picked up on all the US territory and they are also available in some parts of Canada and Mexico. Since the direct line of sight from the satellite to the receiver may often become obstructed by landscape or buildings, land based devices were installed in order to eliminate the lack of direct satellite transmission The broad range of broadcast and the superior sound quality have taken satellite radio high in the preferences of the consumers. On the other hand, terrestrial radio has some strong points of its own. To begin with, its free and readily accessible to anyone. Also, terrestrial radio is so common, widespread and easy to use that anyone can enjoy it and most people dont find it hard to actually create their radio stations. Many people are reluctant to move on to satellite radio, which is more complex and complicated.

The end consumer the real winner

In this battle of the radios, the end consumer is the one that gets the most benefits. And since the competition got even more fierce when satellite radio started taking away subscribers of regular radio, things have gone one step further. Also, the competition between XM Radio and Sirius is in the benefit of the subscribers. An interesting aspect of the competition between the two satellite industry giants was realized by Interoperable Technologies – a joint effort funded by both Sirius and XM Radio, with the intention of bringing dual-subscription satellite radios to the general market. Analysts expect to see even more development in this direction, with XM Radio and Sirius entangled in a strange relationship, where they are working together on one project and battling it out on the satellite radio broadcasters market. In order to understand the way online streaming develops and the changes in the way satellite radios work we have to keep an eye open to the industry giants but also to the companies looking to obtain a license from the FCC. One thing is certain, however no matter if satellite radio or terrestrial radio come up with new ways of attracting customers, the end users are the ones who will always come on top.

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