Radio Beams

Satellites are common enough in todays world. But how many have 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 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 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.

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.

The world of satellite Radios is divided between two major entrance and they are XM Radio and Sirius, They both work on different frequency and they require specific equipments for broadcast. Both the companies Sirius and XM radio have divided the market into two groups. Some of the people love the XM while the others swear on Sirius. The discussion on which is the best can go on without any answers.

People who enjoy Sirius and also like some of the programs of XM could not go from one satellite channel to the other and now they have good news in the sense that the introduction of Interoperable Satellite radio. They are receivers that can work with both the major players namely XM and Sirius and work as a single unit for both the radios.

Interoperable Technologies was founded in 2003 and is a join effort which is equally funded by both Sirius and XM satellite radios. They have joined hands to bring the dual subscription satellite radios in the market. Interoperable Technologies has started the dual-mode satellite radios and is doing lots of research and developments have come about in inventing a receiver which can transmit both the satellite radios in one unit. This was done mainly with the help of two major players and today, Interoperable Technologies has a deadline of bringing the developed receiver unit to the market. The monthly subscription price is estimated to be around $26 – for which you get over 300 channels from the combined broadcasting list of the two satellite radio operators.

What the people say…
Most of the people are very excited about the interoperable technologies and here are the things which some of the people said on the internet sites, forums and discussion boards.

“$26/month? A hell of a lot cheaper than cable TV.” One of the person said it on the forum. The person may be right but what is the need to pay $26.00 for over 300 channels which they will never listen to so many.

“Oh man! As a dual subscriber, this would be SO cool to have. Where do I sign up?” – on the other hand, of course, there are those people that don’t mind spending a little extra when they can get so much more.

“Cool idea if it ever comes to pass. Even though I only subscribe to Sirius, I would consider buying this with an eye on the future…” – for people such as this forum poster, the interoperable satellite radio system is the natural evolutionary step forward, so it is definitely worth looking into.

Many people are looking at the future and the future developments. While Sirius and XM are lucky as they have only two major players in the field. Nobody knows the future but for now both the players are ready to work with each other in order to consolidate their future. For people getting twice the program on a single unit is a major step and the research show that people are ready to receive the single unit as of now.

There will also be some interesting things to follow as far as exclusivity rights go, because each of the two broadcasters have their own original approaches to common things. Another interesting aspect to follow will be how the sales for individual Sirius and XM units will go after the dual receiver hits the market. For many, the combined efforts of Sirius and XM tend to look like a first step towards a large scale joint venture that will lead to an absolute monopoly of the satellite radio market.

Q: What is a Overview of satellite radio?

A: The Pay radio or the subscription radio is termed as Satellite radio. The radio is the same but it has more programs to choose from. It has three major players one which has services in Africa, Asia and Europe which is provided by WorldSpace and in North America by Sirius and XM Radio

Q: The advantages of this new radio?

A: The satellite ratio provides large variety of programs to suit each and every person they have music, weather channel, news, traffic, sports, entertainment and children channels to name a few. These channels do not have commercial. Most of the 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. The radio can be heard in the comfort of home or in your car and anywhere else. You can carry your radio where ever you go to picnics, trekking or in wilderness. The only thing you need is install the program properly on your equipment. The equipment has the display for the channels, music, songs and the artists.

Q: What are the disadvantages?

A: Most of the world receives the satellite radio but places like Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. Territories cannot receive the signal. They do not have local stations but they can receive the weather channels which are provided by XM and Sirius.

Q: What are the difference between XM and Sirius radio?

A: The few differences between the XM and Sirius radio are the XM provides 150 channels and the XM has 120 channels. The racing channels provided by both are different and the XM has Major League Baseball, PG Tour, ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-10 football whereas Sirius have live NFL, NHL, and NBA, English Premier League soccer and college Sports game. The only similarity is the price and they both charge $12.95 per month as their subscription money.

Q: Installing a satellite radio?

A: First thing you need is radio receiver that picks up the signal from communication satellites and delivers. A radio tuner is required which can pass the signal from the radio antenna to the receiver. The three basic types of radio tuners are the plug-and-play satellite radio tuners which can be used in the car or at home or with a portable boom box. For all this you just need one subscription. The other types include the universal tuners which is satellite radio ready receivers with a built in satellite radio tuner. The last one is the Home Satellite radio tuners which can be used at home.

The other item is a satellite radio receiver which can help in selecting the channels and categories with which the viewer can view the information of the songs and artists. You will need the subscription to receive the program.

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.

When the United States got its own satellite radio the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) also wanted to have one. They asked for applications for development of the Canada’s first satellite ratio broadcasting. They received many applications and lots of interest was generated. The three main applications were filed they were:

XM with the partnership with Canadian Satellite Radio, Sirius filed with Standard Broadcasting and CBC, CHUM Limited and Astral Media. The CHUM Limited was a surprise entry. That was due to their different approach than that of XM or Sirius. They wanted to provide service 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 advantage by 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 CRTC approved all three applications in June 2005 and they laid down conditions which are listed below:

1) A minimum of 8 channels must be produced in Canada and for each Canadian channel 9 foreign channels can be broadcast.2) At least 85% of the content on the Canadian-produced channels (whether musical or spoken word) must be Canadian.

3) At least 25% of the Canadian channels must be French-language stations.

4) At least 25% of the music aired on the Canadian channels must be new Canadian music.

5) At least 25% of the music played on the Canadian channels must be from up-and-coming Canadian artists.

All the three contenders had to accept these conditions and the US companies and their Canadian Partners tried to use the rules to their advantages. The XM Radio and Sirius decided to play 50% of French programs against the 25% required by the CRTC. As part of the negotiations XM received 5 channels of National Hockey League and the deal to cover the Canadian National Hockey.

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.

Today’s Canadian satellite radio

The main complaint of the Canadian people was that CRTC was not too tough on players to supply French and Canadian content. This made the satellite radios to promise and increase the programs in French and Canadian. The XM satellite was launched on the 29th November 2005 and Sirius on Dec 1st. Here the monthly subscription rates were $12.99 for XM with a one time fee of $19.99 and $14.99 for Sirius without any additional cost.

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.

The two satellite Radio providers are XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. These two are the main providers of the satellite channel broadcasting in the United States. Sirius has about 120 channels with a wide variety of channels like music, news, sports etc.

Sirius, broadcasts all over the North America. The quality of broadcasting signals produced is by using the advanced digital encoding technology. The sound quality is much better than the analog broadcaster can provide. The noise disturbances are completely eliminated and the transmission is clean and is identical to the quality of original track.

Sirius has two FCC approved licenses for digital radio in the United States. The digital radio broadcaster share the field of Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services (SDARS) with Sirius XM Satellite Radio Inc. Give below is the information of the company
Headquarters: New York City, New York.
Launch Date: 2002, July 1.
Satellite in Service: 3
Available Channels: 120
Monthly subscription: $12.95

It is a impressive corporate office. It is located in the heart of New York City with a big recording studio situated in Rockefeller Center. They have a big library of music of over 2 million tracks. The company has digital signals through the PAC encoding technology.

The Sirius satellite

The satellite used by Sirius is constant delivering digital radio broadcasting to Sirius subscribers. The Most problematic aspects of satellite radio broadcasting is the line of sight – which can be easily interrupted by landscape or buildings the Sirius commercial satellite 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 satellites take turns broadcasting transmission. Since the more inclined orbit provides better coverage, Canada and Mexico are also well covered by the digital broadcasting. This is the best 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 also collaborates 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

The broadcasting signals are so strong you need only a small receiver to listen to the channels of Sirius. The small directional antennas are enough to take you anywhere whether you are on road or at home. The technology used is similar to GPS devices and the receivers don’t 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. The other new developments Sirius is working on is streaming video broadcasting

Sirius is one of the most popular satellite Radio stations. It has 150 channels. Out of which 65 are commercial free channels and other 56 air sports, news, talk, entertainment, weather conditions and traffic report.

They have many music channels, they have New country, classic country, Alternative country, and Bluegrass channels to choose from for the country crazy people. For hip hop lovers they have four channels dedicated to it. They are Hip-Hop Nation, Shade 45, Wax and Back Spin and of course the other streams are not left behind you can enjoy listening to R&B, Reggae and of course Rock. For the people having classical taste there is Classical pop, Chamber Music and Classical voices. For the Jazz enthusiast, they have six channels which play non stop Jazz music.

The satellite radio has lots of Music program that are hosted by international and national artists like Eminem, David Johansen Steve Van Zant, the Rolling Stone producer to name a few. They can be heard on the underground Garage Channel.

They also have dedicated channels for uncensored comedy, where you can listen to George Carlin, Margaret Cho, Cheech and Chong, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. In the sports channel you have a collection of channel like the NBA, the NFL and the NHL. Beside these regular channels they bring the men’s basket ball games, the 27 college hoop programs and Division I Men’ Basketball championship. For car lovers they have NASCAR, Nextel Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races can be heard.

Apart from entertainment, Sirius also has a news and talk channels which are ABC News & Talk, BBC World Service, BBC Mundo, Bloomberg, CNBC, Court TV, C-Span, CNN Headline News, Discovery Channel, E Entertainment, ESPN Channels, Fox News, Hispanic Talk, Radio Disney, Sirius Trucking Network, the Weather Channel, the liberal network Air America to name a few.

Besides this, it also includes a gay/lesbian news and talk station. By giving all these channels Sirius is all out to entertain as many people as possible and it is a determined challenger to XM. The XM is a better as comparison to the quality of sound and the stereo separation. So we shall see some improvement in the near future.

Also, in terms of gadgets, XM is more technological than Sirius. The Sirius has the XACT XRE1 that is a limited portable version of MyFi. Sirius also has no turners with TiVo like features which are available with XM. The companies like Alpine, Audiovox, Blaupunkt, Clarion, Delphi, Jensen, JVC, Kenwood, Sanyo, and Tivoli produce Sirius hardware.

The digital radio has brought in many players in the field and people with money and power can jump into the fray which is the satellite radio. The new to jump on the bandwagon is the Playboy Satellite Radio. It was launched in March 2006 and since then has been a success story. The Playboy channel has already reached the one million viewers mark on the Sirius Network.

The most important thing is that it is not a default channel on the Sirius network and the subscriber needs to select it if they want it. Therefore one million marks is a big surprise. To choose the Playboy channel the subscriber has to call the Sirius Network and opt for it or log on to their web site and ask for the Playboy Network connection.

The Playboy Satellite Radio says that the Playboy brand name is associated by 99% of people with the visual, and now the million people who subscribe to the Satellite Radio has made them interesting without the visual effect. The full empire was built on the visual presentations and to get the visual into the listening form is quite a feat the Playboy has achieved.

The Playboy name has a attraction of its own to the people whether it is a Television or Satellite Radio. The Satellite Radio was offered free to the users of Sirius in the beginning.

The curiosity and the name made it popular among the listeners and some of the people think that the euphoria will gradually wore off and the viewer ship will start to decline.

The most interesting responses to the Playboy Satellite Radio are listed on the message boards, forums, chat rooms and blogs. Many people have listed why the Satellite Radio is a huge success. Some people’s reaction was that if the Radio Network offers free channels then all will opt for it even if it is not much use to them. It was interesting reading and therefore it was assumed that since the Playboy Satellite Radio was offered free of cost many people opted for it. And it is not that all the people sit and listen to it.
The person wrote “I opted for Playboy Satellite Network out of curiosity. I was actually surprised how entertaining the channel is “
The morning talk show is good some wrote but nights with Christy Canyon and Ginger Lynn is out of this world.

The other interesting thing came out of the forums was that even if you are not sexy or successful to be in the pages of Playboy magazines at least you have the Playboy Radio to turn to.

Today SONY has a very big share in technology market and is known the world over. Here we will discuss the basic features of the Sony portable XM radio. This was the first model which was sold in the market in the satellite field. This is a very small and compact and portable receiver for a radio. Here even though the user interface is not state of the art and they do not have the numeric pad it still is the most popular radio.
It is made more popular by the James Bond Movies or science fiction movies of the 1950’s. It has the futuristic look and was an status symbol to hold.
The portable radio is no longer in the market but it is available on the internet and the channel. They have three models which are as follows:
1) ICFSW7600G.2CE7
2) ICFSW11S.CE7
3) ICFSW12S.CE7

ICFSW12S.CE7

This model is modestly priced at $ 40.00 and the only drawback to this model is that there are no speakers and you can listen to the radio only with the help of the headphones.

ICFSW11S.CE7

This is priced at $100.00 and it is good for people who travel and it has twin digital clock display and clock controls and it closes itself when not in use.

ICFSW7600G.2CE7

The price of this model varies at around $200, This model provides LCD on the front panel and the tuner and the frequency can be adjusted electronically. You can use the same as the clock and alarm also.

The car kits and accessories are also available for a price and use can buy them separately as per your requirements. They also have power supply, antenna etc for the home.

Mostly people prefer to use the satellite radio in the car while traveling and the more people travel to and fro from their office and home the more they can listen.

The satellite radio is not the only means for the good listener but nowadays you have MP3 Players, CD players which can be equally good and you can listen to the songs you like and have transferred in your MP3 or CD players. But some people like to be more adventurous and would listen to radio which also is equally good and the main important aspect is that it is commercial free. You can listen to the latest news, the traffic news, and the weather report on the satellite radios. The satellite radios sound quality is very good and it can reach far and wide and wherever your travel you can hear your favorite program without any hindrance. There are two types of radio programs and they are FM and AM. FM is more popular as they have good quality and the stations are all different and every one of the person can enjoy listening. They have channels to suit every age group like they have some channels dedicated to children, some to the young where they play all the love songs.

As compared to your own MP3 or CD player you know when which song will be played but in the case of the radio that surprise element is present which will keep you busy.
The technology of the satellite radio is very modern and it is designed such that the cost of acquiring the receiver and the beams for the channels is not very expensive. The techno savvy people are more interested in all this new technological gizmos and hence it is very popular with the younger crowd. The contents are also very suitable for all the ages and they try and satisfy each and every age. The different age group programs have different programs. The people get value for their money as they can get the latest news, comedy, weather report, sports and different decade songs all for a lot less and the main important thing is they are all commercial free.

At present there are mainly two players in the market who are XM and Sirius and they both are big players and both are having same type of programs. So it becomes difficult to choose between the two but both of them give equal value for money.

Basically, if you are interested in the different programs you just need to spend a very nominal fee which will give you all the channels are commercial free.
This proves that people are ready for new technologies and they are ready to pay for it. And if they get something which is commercial free it is very good.
The satellite radio is a technology well received by the people all over the world and they are enjoying uninterrupted songs, or games or whatever they want to listen.

When the satellite radio was launched nobody could have thought that people will pay to listen to the radio programs as compared to Television or Movies but the manufacturers are laughing their way to the banks.