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 Stern’s 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, it’s 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 don’t 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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Playboy Satellite Radio

As we can see, satellite radio is no longer a field reserved for a very small group – anyone with enough interest and financial power can participate in the digital radio revolution. Playboy Satellite Radio is one of the newest and most dynamic radio channels you can access on satellite broadcasting. Since it was launched in March of 2006, the Playboy Satellite Radio has been a huge success. Today, as Christie Hefner recently announced on the air, Playboy Satellite Radio boasts a number of over one million subscribers on the Sirius network. One of the most impressive things about this is that the Playboy Satellite Radio channel does not come as default to Sirius subscribers and they have to select it. This is why a one million opt-in number is something amazing, especially since the regular opt-in rates are much smaller than this for other types of broadcasting. In order to choose the Playboy Satellite Radio program users have to call Sirius or opt in for it on the Sirius website. ........

What does the success of Playboy Satellite Radio say

Well, let’s look at it this way – if Playboy, a brand name associated by 99% of the public with something visual, can now convince over a million people to tune into their programs, it seems that they have discovered a very interesting niche there. The Playboy empire was built on the visual presentations they make and converting this “almost entirely visual” brand into something that attracts radio users is amazing. Of course, the main Playboy brand elements are still present in the radio broadcasting, but ensuring that their traditional symbols stay unaltered is a much more difficult task. Many analysts believe that the initial success of Playboy Satellite Radio is more a fad than something that will last for years to come. That’s because the Playboy name has an irresistible attraction to many and a lot of conversions were made based on this power of magnetism alone. Another important factor that made Playboy Satellite Radio so popular is the fact that it was offered for free to users in the beginning. The curiosity factor and the fact that the Playboy name is something cool and modern made many users opt in to receive its transmissions. Some believe that after the initial magnetic attraction will start to wear off, the impressive one million subscriber list will gradually start to decline.  

What the users think of Playboy Radio

Some of the most interesting reactions to Playboy Satellite Radio can be found today on message boards, forums and personal blogs. Many users have come up with interesting explanation to why Playboy Satellite Radio was such a huge success so far and many have predictions regarding its future. One forum user wrote that “In all honesty, if XM came out with a free optional channel I could activate online, I would do it immediately. Even if it was a home decorating channel or something. I'd just want to know it was there if I needed it.” This is an interesting view on the large subscription numbers and it might indicate that many activated Playboy Satellite Radio just because they could, not necessarily because they listen to it frequently. Another forum poster tells us about his personal experience with Playboy Satellite Radio: “I opted in out of curiosity. I was actually very surprised just how entertaining this channel really is. The morning talk show is good, but Night Calls with Christy Canyon & Ginger Lynn is awesome!” Another idea that has been spreading around the Internet is that having a song play on Playboy Satellite Radio or appearing in a talk show is the “audio equivalent” of appearing in the pages of the Playboy magazine. In other words, if you are not sexy, successful or interesting enough to appear in one of Playboy’s pictorials, articles or interview, there’s always the Playboy Radio to turn to.



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Satellite radio costs

Everybody has heard about satellites. But how many people heard about satellite radios? Satellite radio is a subscription radio service. It’s somehow identical to cable television, with the difference that it provides a wider range of stations not available on a standard AM / FM radio. There are many questions to be answered about satellite radios like “How does satellite radios work?”, “What kind of equipment should I purchase?” etc. but in this article I will try to answer a question that first pops up in everybody’s mind: “HOW MUCH DOES SATELLITE RADIO COST”?  This is a tricky question because the cost of  a satellite radio is divided in two: installation (or activation) costs and the monthly subscription fee.

Activation costs

Activation costs refers to the amount of money that are to be spent on a XM or Sirius Satellite Radio to start the service. Although you can find many promotions that allows you to save up money, the activation costs vary, being able to make the activation by phone or by World Wide Web. To be more precise, if you activate your satellite by phone, you will pay $15.00 if you choose Sirius Satellite or $14.99 by choosing XM and, as for WWW activation, the cost of goods is somehow lower: $5 with Sirius or $9.99 with XM. As for the monthly subscription costs we will discuss this below, but, before that, I must say that recent media campaigns are dramatically dropping the prices for installation and activation, both on Sirius or XM, in some cases even offering free activation.

Typical costs for a car dedicated installation

If you want to install a satellite radio into your car you are to consider buying a new satellite-ready car stereo if you don’t have one. Although many local dealers offer built-in car satellite radio, there is still the problem of having a satellite radio receiver. And these, as you may notice, cost money. It is possible though to use the existing car stereo that does not support satellite radio. How? There are two known ways of connecting the receiver to the available non-satellite radio car stereo. First, by using the radio inputs (usually the CD) and installing a control unit for tuning up the satellite radio streams. The second method consists in installing a satellite radio receiver, which broadcasts the satellite radio signal on a FM frequency. The place where you can install the receiver depends: under the seat, in your trunk, etc. taking care of connecting the receiver to the satellite radio antenna mounted on the car’s exterior.
So, there will be a minimum cost of $350.00 and a maximum of $600, like below:

Receiver    $75   - $125
Radio         $125 - $250
Antenna     $60.00
Labor           $80.00
Activation $10

Costs for a dedicated home installation

If you choose this option, that means you will have to install a dedicated stereo receiver unit, which in some cases is similar to regular AM / FM receivers. As an additional cost, you will have to buy an antenna, which can be found at a price of $60. Here is a short review of the approximate price of installing a dedicated stereo receiver unit:

Receiver   $150 - $300
Antenna    $60
Activation $10

Costs for a Portable Unit

Portable units gives you the ease of using you brand new satellite radio wherever you want, but, in every room you will have to own a home kit (antennas, output cables and power supplies). The price for this option is around $400.

Receiver         $120
Home kit        $140
Boombox x2  $100
Activation      $10

Subscription costs

As for the subscription costs, it depends if you own a Sirius or XM Satellite Radio.
Subscription costs for a Sirius Satellite Radio are paid monthly where the charge is $12.95, with a low adjustment is you subscribe to a year or two. The highest number of Sirius radios that can be activated are three for $6.99 each per month. Business subscriptions are $24.99 per month. Another interesting thing is that for $499.99, Sirius is offering a life time subscription.
On the other hand, if you have a XM Satellite Radio, you will have to pay a monthly charge of  $9.99. Still, some channels are to be paid separately, like Playboy Radio, which costs an additional $2.99 per month. Commercial and Business Subscriptions cost $24.99 per month.



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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. It’s 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: You’ll 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 can’t receive the satellite radio’s 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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Satellite radio quality and content

There are two important characteristics that recommend satellite radio as a service most people would like to have in their vehicles or homes: quality and content. When talking about quality we mostly refer to how clear the sound output is from satellite radio when compare to terrestrial radio broadcasts. Content, on the other hand, refers to the quality of the transited material. This is where the two giants in the satellite radio industry – Sirius and XM Radio – battle it out. The quality of the receivers and the technologies they both use are similar, but the difference can be made when it comes to exclusive high quality content. Let’s have a look at both the satellite radio quality and content characteristics:

Broadcasting quality

The broadcast quality is, when put in numbers, of 128kb/s 44.1khz for both digital radio service providers. This is the equivalent of CD quality. Although the coverage of satellite radio, which is far superior to what any terrestrial radio station can deliver, is an important factor, the quality of the sound is what brought Sirius and XM Radio more subscribers. There are many similarities to the way digital television worked or how cable TV has over 80% of the US population as subscribers, although they can receive free programming using UHF and VHF antennas. It’s the same with satellite radio – although one can get free terrestrial radio, satellite radio comes at an affordable price and offer a broadcasting quality that is superior to analog radio. Also keep in mind that satellite radio is commercial free – and this is huge selling point.
The high analog-to-digital conversion quality means that there will be no sound interferences, hissing sounds and other audio disturbances characteristic to FM and AM transmissions. This is mostly obvious when listening to music on your satellite radio system. The bass is much stronger and accurate, while the high sound levels are crystal clear. There is also a stronger mid range of sounds that you will consider to be more robust and accurate than what terrestrial radio produces. Although someone with a trained ear will tell you the music quality is not exactly as good as CD quality, it is extremely close and for the largest majority of users this difference is not even noticeable.

Content

So now that we know how good the technological side of satellite radio really is, let’s have a  look at how broadcasters are trying to improve the quality of the content they provide. One of the most interesting approaches was to fight for obtaining exclusivity over some transmissions. For example, negotiations have been carried out between XM Radio and MLB in order for the satellite radio provider to obtain exclusivity rights to broadcast all MLB games. In an interview to WSJ, Edison Media Research's President Larry Rosin declared that "it is probably inevitable that baseball radio broadcasts will go to a 100% subscription model... It will happen because there's too much money in it not to do it." Today, around 23%  of XM subscribers are signed up to receive the MLB transmissions, so there is real potential in such a venture. Of course, this would be a terrific blow against terrestrial radio and the two sides are engaged in combat while you are reading this. Of course, content quality can also be increased by having the best people in the industry work with satellite radio. Both Sirius and XM Radio know that someone who pays $300 for a receiver and $10 - $12 each month for a radio service wants to get the best content out there. Surprisingly, when it comes to music channels, the difference in content quality between satellite radio and terrestrial radio is made in one main topic – commercials (or rather, lack of commercials on satellite radio). Since most of XM Radio and Sirius channels are in-house productions and only a small percentage are retransmits of terrestrial radio, this becomes an interesting aspect to consider.



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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 can’t 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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Sirius Radio specifications

Sirius Satellite Radio has more than 150 channels available with the subscription that they provide. This includes 65 commercial-free music channels and 56 sports, news, talk, entertainment, local traffic and weather channels.

Music channels seem to be numberless, but unfortunately they aren’t even tough there are plenty of music stations that please every person no matter what gender of songs he or she likes. So, there are country music channels that include New Country, Classic Country, Alternative Country and Bluegrass. For hip-hop lovers, Sirius satellite radio has 4 channels: Hip-Hop Nation, Shade 45, Wax and Back Spin and not to mention the other streams where you’re ears will be delighted with house, club mixes, electronic a, disco, R&B, reggae and not to forget rock(classic, alternative, mellow, metal, blues) music. For classical tastes, there are three channels: classical pops, chamber music and classical voices. But if you are a jazz type of person you can relax by turning the radio on one of the six-channels of non-stop jazz.

There a lot of music programs that are hosted by international and national artist like Eminem, David Johansen Steve Van Zant, the Rolling Stone’s producer who can be listen on the Underground Garage channel.

Sirius has a beautiful collection of uncensored comedy that is available to you. You only have to tune into Sirius’s stream Raw Dog where you can listen to George Carlin, Margaret Cho, Cheech and Chong, Eddie Murphy, and Chris Rock 

In the sports area, Sirius Radio has a terrific collection of channels and only enumerating those takes a lot of time. But here is a sum-up: the NBA, the NFL and the NHL. And besides this, Sirius wants to bring to you tournaments of men’s basketball games, the lineup of 27 college hoops programs and the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and for the ones who love cars, in 2007 they will have the possibility to listen to all NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races.

Besides entertainment, Sirius has a series of news and talk channels: ABC News & Talk, BBC World Service, BBC Mundo, Bloomberg, CNBC, Court TV, C-Span, CNN Headline News, Discovery Channel, E Entertainment, two ESPN channels, Fox News, Hispanic Talk, Radio Disney, Sirius Trucking Network, the Weather Channel, the liberal network Air America and more. Besides this, it also includes a gay/lesbian news and talk station.

It seems that Sirius tries to satisfy as many demands they can, judging by the wide variety of programs. And having all of these advantages, Sirius is a really determined challenger for the XM.

In comparison with the XM, the Sirius satellite radio has less quality in sound and the XM’s stereo separation is wider. So, we all hope for improvement.

In terms of gadgets, XM has more technology than Sirius radio. There are no MyFi’s, but instead Sirius has the XACT XTR1 that is a limited portable version of the MyFi. And Sirius has no turners with TiVo-like features as the equipments provided by XM. There are companies like Alpine, Audiovox, Blaupunkt, Clarion, Delphi, Jensen, JVC, Kenwood, Sanyo, and Tivoli that produce Sirius hardware.  




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