TampaRLX-SH

I am sure you are all getting your notices from XM about the merger. It states we will not experience any change in our current service. However, it hints that we could also enjoy the benefits of Sirius programming in the future.

I am curious if XM & Sirius recievers are capable of reading each other signals? Any hardware gurus out there know if our exisiting recievers / head units would need modifications?

I love technology for the 6 months until it becomes obsolete.

ssim3

While there is no concrete answer, we have found a couple pieces of evidence that Sirius and XM may be able to keep the current radios of today and still offer all of their content to both sides. First, at Select Satellite Radio, the group that is in charge of making a dual-radio in order to ensure the FCC stipulation that they develop one, states this:

“It is acknowledged that SIRIUS, XM and their manufacturing partners already produce receivers that permit end users to access all Satellite Digital Audio Radio systems in compliance with FCC interoperability obligations.”

It appears that this implies radios today can receive the entire satellite digital audio radio services(SDARS, the technical term for satellite radio) spectrum.

Sirius, in their merger Q&A, mentions this:

“Will the radio I have now be compatible with new services?

Your current radio will allow you to enjoy all SIRIUS programming. And in the future you will be able to receive enhanced programming.”

What this means is not clarified, but it could be that you will receive XM programming down the road with your Sirius radio. Both sides seem to be stating that you won’t need a new radio to receive their programming with this so called enhanced programming after the merger takes place.

Furthermore, for the first 6 months or so, XM used the same codec that Sirius does, Perceptual Audio Coder(PAC), before they switched over to AACplus in April, 2002.

So, right now we have two questions that need to be answered:

1) Do XM’s newer radios still decode PAC?

2) If so, does it mesh with the evolved version of PAC that Sirius uses?

If the answer to both is yes, then it looks like there is a strong chance radios will be able to pick up both services down the road. This of course assumes that the merged company broadcasts solely in the PAC codec.

This also lends itself to how this enhanced programming may be setup and what the companies mean by offering tiered programming. Imagine the situation where you have a radio that is capable of receiving programming from the full spectrum. You like more of what “Sirius” is offering, so you sign up with a “Sirius” radio paying your $12.95. However, you really want MLB, Fungus 53, and Air America from “XM”. You can now pay an additional $6.99 as a secondary subscription rate to receive all this and more on the “XM” tier. This is an approximately $6.00 savings for those who already subscribe to both services.

Posted by BenDee on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 9:44 pm.
Filed in Sirius, XM, Satellite Radio, Merger |

from sirius backstage

neuronbob

If the merger goes through, I hope it means that finally I can get the national NPR feed, which is only available on Sirius. The XMPR station sucks bollocks, it's the only thing I'm disappointed about XM for (other than their removing "The Flow"....but that's another story). Thank goodness I have a good NPR local affiliate to listen to.