Xm Satellite Radio Revolution.
Xm satellite radio service started broadcasting on September 25th 2001. Since, the world of radio began to change drastically. Xm offers you 39 news channels, 73 different music channels, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 23 play-by-play sport channels, 21 regional traffic and weather 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
- Blue collar radio: All american comedy
- World radio: News around the World
- Raw dog comedy: Everything funny
- The strobe: Disco music
- The groove: Old school R&B
- Area: Underground dance
- Espn radio: Sport news
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 signal is 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 found a way to offer a very clear radio reception on most of the american continent territory. Satellite radio reception depends on what we call the “line-of-sight”. The antenna should see the satellite in a direct line in order 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. XM uses satellites in geostationary orbit directly over the equator. In addition to these, they have installed terrestrial repeaters to help cover regions with poor reception because of crowded urban centers.
Another important factor to consider is XM’s marketing strategy. XM made deals with America’s top car companies such as GM, Ford 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 innovation strategy 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 online 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 whenever you want. Those ideas made XM the leader in satellite radio broadcasting. In my opinion, XM is definitely here to stay.
