XM Gets Sirius

XM Gets Sirius

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 12th, 2008

XM Satellite Radio today announced a new lineup with 170 channels from the merger of both XM and SIRIUS. They mixed in new channels and shows with some of the old. Here’s the new line up.

Same deal with Sirius. It will include more than 130 channels of premier music, sports, news and entertainment from both SIRIUS and XM. Sirius added 11 new channels to their lineup with dozens of new shows and on-air personalities.

The new lineup went live on 11/12/08. The new channels are available online. All subscribers with SIRIUS Everything or SIRIUS Everything Plus packages have complimentary access to SIRIUS Internet Radio. If you do not have one of these packages, you can purchase an online-only SIRIUS Internet Radio subscription for $12.95 per month.

You can also add Premium XM channels to your SIRIUS subscription for a few dollars more per month.

Since XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio use different satellites with incompatible technology, current satellite radio receivers cannot receive both satellites. Newer radios are expected to receive both. Orbicast covers the beat.

While XM operates from geosyncronous space, Sirius operates in an elliptical orbit (perigee of 23975 km and apogee of 46983 km), inclined at 63.4 degrees.

Satellite radio uses the 2.3 GHz S band for Digital Audio Radio (DARS) in North America and generally shares the 1.4 GHz L band with local Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) stations elsewhere. Local repeaters enable signals to be available even if the view of the satellite is blocked, for example, by skyscrapers.

Sirius uses 12.5 MHz of the S band between 2320 and 2332.5 MHz. XM uses 12.5 MHz between 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz. Presently, music is compressed to 44 kbps; voice, 20 kbps; and 16 kbps for low quality audio such as traffic and weather.

XM uses terrestrial repeaters to fill in coverage and better reach inside cars and buildings, a sore point with local broadcasters who say their 2000 watt repeaters have popped up everywhere and unfairly compete with “free” radio.

Satellite radio companies say combining resources will reduce duplication and save everyone money. They claim that competition from terrestrial HD Radio (via IBiquity), iPods, Wi-Fi streaming radio, mobile television (via MediaFLO, ICO’s Mobile Media or Dish Network’s 700 MHz DVB-SH service), cell phones and Mobile WiMAX (featuring both unicasting and broadcasting) will effectively prevent monopoly pricing.

A WiFi table radio, for under $200 could be the best deal. I bought a Grace table radio for my 90 year old mother. She loves it. It works great and has no monthly charges. You can select from over 10,000 streaming stations. It uses your WiFi connection. No computer required.

source : dailywireless.org