Satellite Radio
How Did Xm Satellite Radio Completely Changed The Rules of The Game.
Xm satellite radio service started broadcasting on September 25th 2001. This coporation made a revolution in radio history. Xm offers you 73 different music channels, 39 news channels, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional traffic and weather channels and 23 play-by-play sports channels for approximately 10 dollars per month. That’s very decent when you consider that all these channels are commercial free.
Here is a short list of channels offered by XM Satellite radio:
- 20 on 20: Interactive top 20 countdown
- Cosmo radio: Fun, fearless, female
- Cnn: Cnn news
- Bpm: Club hits
- The message: Christian rock and pop
- Heart and soul: Adult R&B hits
- The village: A celebration of folk music
- The verge: New and emerging artists
- The strobe: Disco music
What is the real innovation strategy behind XM Satellite radio technology’s? What made them the top player in America? First of all, their is audio codecs: the way sound files are digitized and compressed. Very effectives audio codecs allowed XM to send audio signal from the Earth to the satellite and back to your radio without loosing quality. Most of the channels on XM are digitally compressed using the aacPlus (HE-AAC) codec from Coding Technologies. The AMBE codec from Digital Voice Systems is used for Traffic and Weather channels.
Secondly, XM brains found a way to offer really clear radio reception on the whole american territory. Satellite radio reception depends on what we call the “line-of-sight”. The antenna has to see the satellite in a straight line to be able to receive the signal correctly. Fog and clouds won’t interfere with the signal, but large and dense objects or severe weather could attenuate it dramatically. XM engineers found an innovation strategy to solve this problem. Instead of using only one satellite to broadcast the radio signal, they use multiple satellites in different orbits to increase the size of the blanketed areas. They use satellites in geostationary orbit right above the equator. In addition to these, they have installed terrestrial repeaters to help cover regions with poor reception because of crowded urban centers.
Thirdly, XM has used a really effective marketing strategy. XM made alliances with America’s leading car companies such as Ford, GM and Toyota. By having new cars equiped with satellite ready radio and by offering a free 6 months trial period to new car buyer, XM made more and more fans addicted to their product. Lately, XM revealed it’s new iPhone software that enables the users to listen to satellite radio on their iPhone. The application can be installed on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Again, XM is giving users a free seven-day trial with the app to get them really hooked on…
The last part of XM’s awesome plan to dominate the market place is the “bring it everywhere” feature that they have implemented. They made it really easy for everyone to listen to their music everywhere they want. You can listen to your favorite music on web if you are in a building where the satellite signal is weak. If your car is not equiped with a satellite ready radio, you can buy a little XM device that will rebroadcast the signal over a free FM channel. With this device you can also bring your music on your house sound system or on every sound system that can receive FM signal. So, you can really listen to your music, commercial free, everywhere and anytime you want. Those ideas made XM the leader in satellite radio broadcasting. In my opinion, XM is definitely here to stay.
