Official: Sirius XM "a la carte" programming now available

[hugh]

Sirius XM Radio, the company formed when Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Radio merged in July, today announced that the company's "Best of Both" programming options and a la carte channel choices are available now.

To support the program offering, the company also announced the introduction of the Starmate 5 satellite radio, the first a La Carte ready satellite radio.

[SportsFan]

$6.99 per month for my pick of 50 channels (excluding live sports) sounds pretty good.

It will be interesting to see if the Canadian companies do anything to respond to this.

[hugh]

They better hurry otherwise we'll all be abandoning our Canadian subs and moving to the dark side!

[jwt873]

Originally Posted by Hugh

otherwise we'll all be abandoning our Canadian subs and moving to the dark side

That's a good point... I'm curious to see if a la carte will fly in Canada.

I can see a problem with the CRTC. Canadians would never be allowed to choose any 50 channels.. There will have to be a way to make sure that a proper percentage of the chosen channels had Canadian content.

[Walter Dnes]

Originally Posted by jwt873

That's a good point... I'm curious to see if a la carte will fly in Canada.

I can see a problem with the CRTC. Canadians would never be allowed to choose any 50 channels.. There will have to be a way to make sure that a proper percentage of the chosen channels had Canadian content.

The conditions in the appendix attached to the Sirius (and XM) licence include (as per http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/De...db2005-247.htm )

• 1 (b) The licensee shall distribute a minimum of eight original Canadian-produced channels.
  
• 1 (c) The licensee may distribute, to any Canadian subscriber, a maximum of nine non-Canadian-produced channels for each original Canadian produced channel that it distributes.
• 1 (d) In no case may a subscriber receive a package of channels where original Canadian-produced channels constitute less than 10 percent of total channels received.
• 4 (a) The licensee shall distribute a minimum of three French-language original Canadian-produced channels.
• 4 (b) Not less than 25% of the original Canadian-produced channels distributed by the licensee shall consist of French-language original Canadian-produced channels.

So the 50-channel package would require 8 CanCon channels, allowing for 42 non-Canadian stations. The 100-channel package would require 10 CanCon channels, allowing for 90 non-Canadian stations. So there's no real problem with a-la-carte for Canadians. Unless, of course, it might be considered a bad precedent. Freedom of choice? Now why would people want that?

[hugh]

So the 50-channel package would require 8 CanCon channels, allowing for 42 non-Canadian stations.

Not to split hairs but I think it would be 45 U.S. and 5 Canadian channels of which at least 3 of those Canadian channels would be French.

So the net would be that ENGLISH language Canadians would have 45 U.S., 2 English Canadian, and 3 French Canadian channels.(unless of course they actually chose more than 5 Canadian channels)

For me the 50 Channels would be ideal (as long as I could get the comedy channel) since I really only listen to about 10 or 12 music stations. My news and information all comes from CBC radio and I can get any local Blue Jays games on AM radio.

[StickyDragon]

Including taxes, that is less than $100 a year. Definitely a good deal IMO, in fact this is the sort of thing I have been waiting for. I really like Sirius radio but I am not in my car long enough to justify paying $14.99 per month, $6.99 is definitely easier to swallow.

[Rock On]

I have been waiting for "a la carte" programming to subscribe to Sirius.I will not wait for the Canadian service to offer it because i have a total dislike for the CRTC and its can-con rules.For me it will be a US sub!

[SportsFan]

Reading those conditions, I think Hugh is right that there only needs to be 5 Canadian channels in a 50-channel package, but none of them have to be French. The three French-language original Canadian-produced channels have to be distributed, but not to each subscriber.

[hugh]

Sportsfan, in re-reading it, you probably are correct 45 to 5 and the 5 could be English only

Just because I had to confirm, I contacted Sirius today and, not surprisingly, will not be offering a la carte or best of programming

I think that refusal will be their death knell.

[Professor Frink]

I know what I am doing, I ordered a Starmate 5 this afternoon.

[HDTVOakville]

Since the Starmate 5 has just been released, I see that canadian sources have the Canadian version (STKTK1C) available. Does anyone know if the version sold here is altered to prevent access to "A La Carte" programming as offered in the U.S.

As the radio seems to be less expensive here, it would be useful if we can "theoretically" use a canadian-bought Starmate 5 to subscribe to Sirius U.S.A.'s "A La Carte" programming.

I will also be interested in the new "inter-operable" radios that will be coming to give access to both the satellite platforms used by Sirius XM satellite radio, as it is now known in the U.S.

[M&M]

When the free subscription is done in my new 08 Malibu, I will hook up on XM's U.S. service. $15/mo is just too much but I can totally deal with $7.

XM Canada is just dumb not to follow suit. Almost everyone that I know who has XM or Sirus in their new car has abandoned it after the trial because it's too much.

[the yates tub]

No XM radios are a la carte ready yet. Especially not ones previously installed in vehicles.

[habskilla]

The Canadian sat companies are simply going to wait and see who wins the next federal election. Then they'll "lobby" errr payoff the winning party and get them make US subscriptions illegal. Problem solved.