The New York Times reports Kevin Martin, chairman of the FCC, has privately questioned recent Congressional testimony that subscribers would both pay the same monthly rate and receive significantly more programming.
As he sought to sell the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio to Congress, and by extension to regulators like Mr. Martin, Mel Karmazin, the chief executive of Sirius, vowed last Wednesday that prices would not be raised and that listeners would benefit enormously by getting the best programming from both companies.
But in separate conversations with two people after Mr. Karmazin’s testimony to a House committee, Mr. Martin said that subscribers may be surprised to learn they may actually have to pay more than the current monthly rate of $12.95 if, for example, they want to receive all the games of Major League Baseball (now available only on XM) as well as all the professional football games (now only on Sirius).
Mr. Karmazin, reached on Tuesday, said his testimony was not misleading and that he meant to say two things: subscribers wanting to keep their existing service would not face a price increase, and listeners who wanted the best of both services would pay less than the combined rate of $25.90.
As Broadband Reports notes; Who are you and what did you do with Kevin Martin?
XM Satellite Radio has a constellation of three satellites, two of which were launched in the spring of 2001, with one following later in 2005. Unfortunately, XM-1 and XM-2 (Rock & Roll) are suffering from a generic design fault (fogging of the solar panels), so the company has recently launched XM-3 and XM-4 (Rhythm & Blues). Back-up ground transmitters (repeaters) are available in cities where satellite signals could be blocked by big buildings.
Sirius Satellite Radio launched a constellation of three Sirius satellites during the course of 2000. The satellites were built by Space Systems/Loral and were launched by Russian Proton boosters. As with XM Satellite Radio, Sirius implemented a series of terrestrial ground repeaters.
The S band, around 2.3 GHz, carries satellite radio in the United States. Sirius broadcasts uses 12.5 MHz of the S band (between 2320 and 2332.5 MHz). The XM signal uses 12.5 MHz of the S band: 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz. Unfortunately, they use different modulation standards and are not directly compatible with each other.
Related Satellite Radio articles on DailyWireless include; Verizon Mobile TV in 15 Markets, Sirius & XM Merge, Satellite Radio Merger — Not, John Malone in Space.
