As well as theextra programming all across the country, the satellite services are alsopromising to deliver better sound quality than anything you can currently getout of a regular radio signal.
Sound geeks whoknow and care about back-woofer reverbs and stuff like that get all gooey andoverwrought in describing the quality of satellite service versus the regularkind of radio service, so there's probably something to it.
The service hascertainly been successful in the U.S. In a letter to the CRTC, GM of Canadapresident Michael Grimaldi explains that since XM Radio debuted in 2001on GMvehicles, it has sold over two million subscriptions to Americans with threemillion the goal by the end of 2004.
Becausesatellite service is available south of the border, it is therefore alsoavailable to Canadians on a grey market basis. You need a U.S. mailing addressto take out a subscription, but after that it's all pretty simple to fix up.Informed guesstimates put the number of Canadian users of various satelliteservices at around 100,000, though of course no one really knows for sure.
On the downside,the satellite signals do have a tendency to weaken or even disappear inconcrete canyons or in leafy arbors or anywhere else there's something solidthat comes between outer space (that's where they keep the satellites, afterall) and the special antenna on the roof of your car.
This issomething that would have to be tested by the individual consumer, but clearlymost of the places across Canada would benefit from the extra choices thatsatellite radio would bring.
Sound geeks whoknow and care about back-woofer reverbs and stuff like that get all gooey andoverwrought in describing the quality of satellite service versus the regularkind of radio service, so there's probably something to it.
The service hascertainly been successful in the U.S. In a letter to the CRTC, GM of Canadapresident Michael Grimaldi explains that since XM Radio debuted in 2001on GMvehicles, it has sold over two million subscriptions to Americans with threemillion the goal by the end of 2004.
Becausesatellite service is available south of the border, it is therefore alsoavailable to Canadians on a grey market basis. You need a U.S. mailing addressto take out a subscription, but after that it's all pretty simple to fix up.Informed guesstimates put the number of Canadian users of various satelliteservices at around 100,000, though of course no one really knows for sure.
On the downside,the satellite signals do have a tendency to weaken or even disappear inconcrete canyons or in leafy arbors or anywhere else there's something solidthat comes between outer space (that's where they keep the satellites, afterall) and the special antenna on the roof of your car.
This issomething that would have to be tested by the individual consumer, but clearlymost of the places across Canada would benefit from the extra choices thatsatellite radio would bring.