Sirius, XM Promise Existing Receivers Will Work - March 16th, 2007
With the recently announced proposed merger of competing satellite radio providers XM and Sirius, subscribers — especially those with receivers mounted in their dashboards — have been anxious to know if “merger” is just a synonym for “obsolete” when it comes to their hardware. Thankfully the official answer is “no.”
Officials from both companies had something to say about the issue on March 2. XM’s version of the explanation holds that all existing equipment will be able to receive a “mix of programming” from both services. Sirius, on the other hand, issued a statement promising a “guarantee to its more than 12 million listeners that existing radios will not become obsolute if the merger is approved.”
Most pundits agree that the joining of the two companies is the best possible future for satellite radio — avoiding the beta / VHS blood bath of the early 1980s that left so many consumers with expensive video recorders that were orphaned by the ascendency of the rival VHS format. While new receivers and programming changes are an absolute certainty as the two companies come together, they will preserve massive amounts of subscriber goodwill by not pushing their customers to upgrade their receivers before they’re ready — and can afford — to do so.
(Click here for the Wired News report the compatibility statements.)
Posted on March 16th, 2007 by Shorty
Filed under: technology |
Leave a Reply