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One Set of Programs for SiriusXM Canada

5K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  ScaryBob 
#1 ·
I posted these comments on the Sirius Lounge Forum, but I think many more people will see them here.......SiriusXM hints that we may soon get the best of each others package here in Canada...for an extra cost of course.

Sirius Canada keeps telling us, their customers, that they are totally independent from the US operation; prove it, forget the best of XM, just put the NHL on SiriusXM Canada.

Just because Sirius USA has the best of XM doesn't mean we have to go that route. Truly become one company, SiriusXM Canada, with one set of programs, and one price, forget what they are doing in the USA.

Create one truly Canadian SiriusXM. Stop the independent advertising. Stop having separate Sports Channels. Stop having separate News Channels. Stop having separate Canadian channels. Have one set of channels for all of SiriusXM Canada. The Canadian customers shouldn't have to pay extra for "best of XM" or "best of Sirius" like our American neighbours do, we should just receive the same channels over our SiriusXM Canadian radios. Come on SirusXM...Just do it!

It should be a simple matter to allow Canadian licensed radios to receive both sets of channels, a different set from USA licensed channels. This would bring back all those Canadians who subscribe to Sirius or XM in the USA to get "best of" packages. They would come back to SiriusXM Canada and receive all the sports and Howard on both radios for one price.
 
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#3 ·
SIRIUS/XM Canada?

First of all SIRIUS/XM Canada is just a business name. We all know wether US or Canada they all use the same satellites and Mel in the US runs the show. This is a comment I put forward a while ago being a lifer of both US and Canadian subsciptions. If you read the following you will see your future.

Sirius Lifetimers Beware

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back when Sirius and Xm were separate companies Mel K. pulled everything he could to merge the companies. As part of their proposed business model Mel made it known that all lifetime Subs would be honoured. Now comes SiriusXM Lynx platforme 2.0 which is nothing more than electronics with better compression technology moving into the XM Sat. platform. With this in mind Mel has magically created 3 platforms. Sirius, XM and SiriusXM. As Xm didn't sell any/many Lifetime Subs they are allowed to move into SiriusXM 2.0 because they pay monthly, yearly etc. Sirius Lifetime Subscribers are not allowed to move their subscription to this magical new format. We all know that no new radios are being created for Sirius and are even becoming hard to find. It is obvious that Mel is trying to crush all the Lifetime subs. People who took a chance on Sirius not knowing if they would live or die in three months. Mel was happy take our $500+ dollars and even another $100+ for the best of XM. But now you are not regarded as a member of SirusXM as you are not allowed to move forward with the company as they progress. I have news for you Mel. I am a member of SiriusXM and have been since you merged the company. Treat me right and allow the people who laid out their hard earned cash to move to the new radio platform. Do the right thing.
I doubt that he will!
 
#4 ·
We all know wether US or Canada they all use the same satellites and Mel in the US runs the show.
Actually, we don't all know it because it isn't true. It *will* be - but for now, both the Sirius and the XM broadcasting platforms are active. Sirius radios are not capable of decrypting the XM signal, and XM radios are not capable of decrypting Sirius. (The rare MiRGE radio is the only radio that can do both.)

Over the next year or two or so, the Sirius platform is going to be consolidated with XM. XM broadcasts will, at the end of this, be placed on the Sirius satellites in addition to the existing XM ones and the former Sirius bandwidth will be used to launch more channels (and hopefully to improve the bitrate of many of the existing ones). However, because this involves replacing all the legacy Sirius radios, this is a long-term project that won't happen overnight.

For now, the "Best of XM" and "Best of Sirius" channels are channels from the other network that are simulcast. That's why the networks aren't fully merged; there simply isn't the capacity to put all the channels on both services. One broadcast platform has to be removed to free up the space on the other, and this is the long-term plan.

In the meantime, the Canadian Sirius and XM services really do need to step up their integration so that we can get these "best of" packages. There's no reason that this can't proceed, other than the logistics of the CRTC Canadian content requirements.
 
#5 ·
"Until the platforms are merged, it isn't fully possible. Right now the two carriers use independent technology."

Yes, I know this, but let's compare Satellite Radio to Satellite TV. Shaw Direct and Bell have independent technology, but the customer can receive the same channels on both providers. Sportsnet and TSN, for example, can be received on both systems. What kind of wacky TV world would we have if Sportsnet baseball was only available on Shaw Direct and TSN and CBC hockey was only available on Bell? The CRTC would have to put an end to this kind of monopoly broadcasting, so why do they allow this kind of monopoly on Satellite Radio? I think if both halves of SiriusXM carried the same programs in the correct Canadian to US ratio, that is currently allowed by the CRTC, then the governing body would have no problem with it.
CBC channels and Canadian Sports channels would be carried on XM and XM Canadian content would be carried on Sirius, doubling the number of Canadian channels on both systems. This should be reason enough to allow all US channels on both systems...or at least allow customers to pick the news and sports packages that they want to hear, just like we choose television channels. Why isn't this possible?
 
#6 · (Edited)
SIRIUS/XM

Quite aware of the different Sat issues between the two services but might have misled you by describing them as platforms. The jist of the matter is that the new radios (SIRIUS/XM 2.0) are capable of receiving both. SIRIUS/XM can also control what you are able to receive on them. So it should be no problem to buy this radio, take your lifetime sub, pay your $75 and convert it to this Radio and listen to what you are authorized to. They won't allow you to. Like I said. Mel now has 3 platforms with which he can throw his money sqeezing ways into the consumers face. I know that these radios dont even show up on the Canadian site and we have our own CRTC issues. But the fact remains that there are no separate Canadian satellites and programming is received from SIRIUS/XM USA. But not being able to buy the new radio and transfer an existing US Lifetime sub to this radio clearly shows the intent of SIRIUS/XM's direction.
 
#7 ·
CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said (a few weeks ago) that Canadians shouldn’t be forced to subscribe to a wireless service from a specific company in order to access their favourite content. He was talking about Bell Mobility’s exclusive deal to hockey and football content for mobile devices that has put Telus at an undue disadvantage, but it makes me wonder if the CRTC would say the same thing about satellite radio. Should people have to subscribe to XM Radio in order to hear NHL or Major League Baseball? Should people have to subscribe to Sirius in order to hear NFL or NBA? Shouldn’t the content be available to both services? If Mr. Finckenstein thinks that Canadians shouldn’t be forced to subscribe to a wireless service from a specific company in order to access their favourite content when it comes to phones, should it not also apply to Satellite Radio? We should all begin asking the CRTC this very interesting question.
 
#8 ·
Capacity, people... capacity.

Sirius's service and XM's service are at capacity.

The only ways to fully synchronize the incompatible services are:

1. Remove channels from one or both services to free up room so that all channels can be carried on both services.

2. Remove one platform (Sirius will be the one eventually removed) so that the spectrum for that service can be used to add channel capacity for the other.

Yes, XM 2.0 exists but there is not a bunch of additional magic bandwidth. There is room for a small number of additional channels that SiriusXM USA was legally obliged to provide.

Imagine if Bell and Shaw satellite services both carried 200 channels, but only 160 were the same. Each had 40 unique channels. Imagine both have room for 200 channels. The only way they could be the same would be to coordinate which 200 of the 240 total channels they carried. That would please some and piss off some others.

In time the problem will be solved - but it can't be solved tomorrow. It's not a matter of lack of will; it's physics.
 
#9 ·
"Capacity, people... capacity.Sirius's service and XM's service are at capacity."

I have heard this from many sources, but I don't think that it can be true for Sirius Canada. Sirius USA has 290+ best of XM channels while Sirius Canada has 120 channels; and we use the same radios and the same satellites. Sirius USA may be at capacity but Sirius Canada certainly cannot be at capacity.
 
#10 ·
http://www.siriusxm.com/ourmostpopularpackages-sirius

According to this, Sirius USA has 10 Best of XM channels available on their service. You get 130 channels with the basic Sirius subscription, and 10 more if you get Sirius Premier (which adds The Best of XM).

I have a US XM Premier subscription too and it's nearly identical to Sirius XM. It may even be identical except for the live play-by-play channels, which are different for channel capacity reasons.

Sirius Canada offers a subset of Sirius USA because of its Canadian content requirements.
 
#11 ·
http://www.siriusxm.com/channellineup

There are well over 200 channels listed above....I must admit I didn't count them when I posted my comments but GOOGLE had this number: "Channel Lineup - SiriusXM Radio: www.siriusxm.com/channellineup; 290+ items – Download Channel Guide PDF."

Anyway, regardless of the number of channels, would it be possible for Sirius (and XM too, for that matter) to use some imagination and allow each customer to pick their own 120 channels. If all the channels are available on Sirius satellites, then we all have the same music and Canadian channels but we pick our news and sports package. You would choose play-by-play of either CFL, NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, etc....

I would think that if Sirius approached the CRTC with this proposal, they would think that it was a good idea. I guess I'm asking if Sirius has the technology available to them to give me baseball and my neighbour hockey?

All the channels are already carried on the Sirius satellites (Sirius + XM) so that part of the technology is already there; so now have one of Sirius' brilliant engineers figure out how to give each customer the selection of channels that they want...and if 120 is the magic number...so be it...

Is any of this possible?
 
#12 ·
There are well over 200 channels listed above....
Many of them are sports play-by-play channels that aren't usually active. Many of them are available via online listening only, and not carried on the satellites. The same is true for the XM channel listings.

Anyway, regardless of the number of channels, would it be possible for Sirius (and XM too, for that matter) to use some imagination and allow each customer to pick their own 120 channels.
Not yet. There is some very basic provision for customization (e.g. forbidding the use of channels with racier language, plus the US "best of" Premier channel additions). If I recall correctly, XM in the US allows a very basic music-only subscription too. But at this point, offering half a dozen or a dozen channel options might be possible, but permitting hundreds of thousands of people to select their own options isn't possible. It might be technically feasible, but only if massive upgrades were done to the subscription computer system.
 
#13 ·
Your telling me that after a year so far xm canada and sirius canada cant figure out how to give us the best of package from sirius? (Howard stern being the biggest component)
That seems just stupid that it wouldnt be a priority to find a way to make that happen..billing, services all overlapped ... seems like somethng that should have been one of the first things to do. They are 2 separate companies still as far as im concerned.
 
#14 ·
I would guess that CRTC regulations have something to do with it. Sirius and XM obtained separate approval for packages with a set amount of US and Canadian content. Providing "Best Of" packages will add a significant amount of US content and little Canadian content to the overall package and may draw complaints to the CRTC. It looks like SiriusXM in the US will be combining their offerings under the XM 2.0 format fairly soon so SiriusXM Canada will need to address the issue eventually.
 
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