Since SIRIUS and XM satellite services from the U.S. are already available to Canadian drivers on a grey-market basis, the decision by the CRTC to license three unique services here isn't a complete break-through announcement.But in time the licensing of pay-to-listen entertainment by SIRIUS Canada, Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR), which is the XM service, and a non-satellite service from CHUM Limited will have some interesting consequences.The first beneficiary will be Canadians willing to pay about $250 or more for the receiving hardware and $10 to $13 a month or more for dozens and dozens of commercial-free stations delivered without break across almost the entire North American continent. Indeed, this is a big, big deal for Canadians who don't live near a city, and an even bigger deal for Canadians in remote areas of the country.In terms of programming availability and signal reliability as you drive, satellite radio is a night and day change. It's like going from six-channel TV service from an aerial to the 100-channel cable TV service, or better.The second beneficiary will be the recording artists whose work will be needed to fill all that time on the unique channels the three groups must provide. In third place come the car companies, since the decision allows them to sell Canadians the very sophisticated satellite systems they created some years back for the U.S. market.Unfortunately, the car industry will not be able to move quickly enough to make either SIRIUS or XM available across the entire breadth of their new vehicle offerings for some time. For sure, they will have some vehicles with the built-in service ready for sale this fall, but the rest will show up in what you could call a rolling cadence.
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| Ford Explorer (photo: Ford Motor Company) |
Ford of Canada, for example, will have SIRIUS radios available as an option this fall on Ford Explorer and F-150, and the Lincoln LT pickup. After that, says John Jelinek, the VP of public affairs at the Oakville firm, "Ford plans to target up to 21 vehicle lines for factory installation of SIRIUS over the 2006 and 2007 model years. In total, nearly 90 percent of Ford and Lincoln vehicles will have SIRIUS as a factory-installed option for the 2008 model year."As a part owner of the XM service, General Motors of Canada will certainly be making that service available in many of its vehicles later this year, with many more to follow in the coming years.
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| Mercedes-Benz R-Class (photo: DaimlerChrysler) |
Mercedes-Benz will also have SIRIUS available later this year, in its M-Class SUV, the R-Class minivan, and the new S-Class luxury sedan.It should be pointed out that a consumer who wants any of the three services does not have to wait to buy a new vehicle, that lots of car dealers and stereo stores will be delighted to sell you an aftermarket system right now.In general, then, this is an ongoing process that will have many developments in the months and years to come. For example, SIRIUS just announced that it had figured out how to increase greatly the amount of data it could transmit on its system, so that it would be conceivable that they could add TV signals to the radio signals in the semi-near future.