SIRIUS an XM are Taking Over the Airways
Sirius has been called cable for your radio, and is one of two satellite radio services in North America, the other being XM. However, satellite radio is about to change thanks to the merger between the two largest satellite radio companies in the business. This historic merger also happens the same year that we find out the fate of analog television—canceled after 2009. Digital entertainment is not really the future of entertainment, more like the postponed present. With the emergence of digital television mere months away, one has to wonder if satellite radio will soon eclipse the legend of terrestrial radio, even as we prepare to bid farewell to the final Super Bowl and final American broadcast on analogue TV. There’s no argument that the time is far from imminent. Terrestrial radio’s audience is still into the hundreds of millions of Americans, whereas Sirius and XM’s combined audience numbers into the 13 million.
However, terrestrial radio’s numbers have declined significantly since the peak years of the 1960s, or even as recently as the mid-1990s. Indeed, it may be hard to remember that at one time for Americans got their news information from traditional radio than from any other source. More Americans listened to station radio for their music “fix”, to sample the latest craze of the month. (Who Let The Dogs Out, anyone?) As the mid-1990s peaked and settled into the new millennium, and terrestrial radio’s giants soared in the stock market, two new paths were shown: the Internet boomed, already having a successful introduction to mainstream America in the mid-1990’s, and satellite radio, a far fetched concept when first introduced, but identified as the basic outline for terrestrial radio’s future competition. The problem may well have been that while terrestrial radio was aggressively maintaining its dominance, it failed to introduce any new formats to the radio market. This was the difference that satellite radio offered and their technology and vision grew as the decade matured. This evolved market was expanding the entertainment and news business, introducing altogether new concepts to radio entertainment.
When it comes to technical sophistication, satellite radio has a clear advantage over terrestrial radio. A satellite network can offer a much larger selection of channels than any U.S. radio market. This makes satellite radio ideal for capturing niche-program audiences, even while traditional radio struggles to hold onto its large general audience. (Not to mention fire talent that is costing too much money or causing too much controversy) This strategy of catering to a niche audience is clearly in the same vein as other successful mediums such as satellite television, cable television and of course, a little invention called the World Wide Web.
Sirius currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and entertainment to its highly dedicated base of listeners. Streams can carry a wide range of genres, even while broadcasting 24 hours a day, commercial-free. While Sirius, XM and satellite radio may still in its sophomoric year, in a world that is undergoing a digital revolution, listeners are waiting intently for the sound of victory.