Date:         Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:57:06 -0500
Reply-To:     caverat <caverat@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         caverat <caverat@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: SIRIUS or XM?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

-- IMO, both of these companies will be successful.  Listeners will make their
-- choice based on two factors:

-- 1 - Equipment.

-- 2 - The few differences in programming.

-- In category #1, XM is way ahead and probably will be until (IF?) Sirius can
-- close the gap on the number of subscribers.  Big electronics companies are
-- not going to put a lot of R&D dollars into Sirius development unless the
-- market is there.  Face it, guys like the cool toys.

-- In category #2, it's a little more clear cut: if you want NASCAR or
-- something else exclusive to Sirius, you get Sirius.  If you want Baseball,
-- etc., you get XM.

If you are a major league baseball fan and like to listen to the regular season games then you definitely want XM.  If you are a playoff only type of listener then both XM and Sirius will broadcast those games.

As far as the equipment goes, XM's main current advantage is that it went with a chipset design that was already proven and was quicker to shrink down to a more consumer friendly design.  Their system is very similar to the approach implemented by WorldSpace ( www.worldspace.com ).  Satellite radio was available in Africa and Asia before it was here.  Sirius went with a newer chipset design that is supposed to be more advanced in several aspects.  There is a reason XM has over 1500 terrestrial repeaters while Sirius only has around 100.  It has taken longer to shrink the components down and to take care of items like heat and power requirements.  Equipment size is something that won't be an issue much longer.  It is my understanding that Sirius actually has more receiver manufacturers behind it then XM.  When the Sirius video-enabled receivers come out in a year XM's receiver advantage will erode even more.  Video to the back seat is coming to satellite radio soon.  That is supposed to be something that the Sirius design is better able to provide.  They have indicated a desire to broadcast stations like Nickelodeon to keep the soccer mom's kids quite in the back of the mini van.  The automobile manufacturers want to push this because DVD display units are options more customers seem to like these days.

Here's a link to a several-year-old article that describes the different systems - http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/jul01/dig.html#f2