Karmazin promises interoperable Sirius / XM radios in less than 9 months

While the newly formed Sirius XM Radio has already promised the FCC that it'll deliver interoperable radios within nine months, CEO Mel Karmazin has now told investors that they can "assume" that the radios will actually be available "a number of months sooner" than that. Karmazin added, however, that we shouldn't expect them quite as soon as this holiday season, which nicely lines up for a debut at CES in January and an actual release shortly thereafter in the first quarter of the year. Unfortunately, Karmazin didn't spill any details on said radios, with him only going so far as to describe them as "very cool."

[Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

[Ricksta @ Aug 8th 2008 2:44PM]

All I want is Sirius music channels on my pre-installed XM receiver. How long Mel?!

[Shane @ Aug 8th 2008 3:03PM]

Yeah! I want to be able to receive Sirius channels on my car stereo that is XM. Why wouldn't you just build one set of content from both networks and broadcast it on both systems?

[Taylor @ Aug 8th 2008 3:37PM]

Me fuckin too, Me fuckin too...
-Taylor

[d0x360 @ Aug 8th 2008 4:05PM]

You can get that already, they have been selling a "brain" for $100 you can buy for about 2 years. You just swap the XM brain for the Sirius one..of course you can no longer get XM but who really cares?

[g @ Aug 9th 2008 9:04AM]

Ron and Fez noon to three

[Seanross @ Aug 8th 2008 2:47PM]

I was kinda peeved when I bought my Mother a XM Commander for her car and they announced the merger like a few months later, at least she hasn't installed it yet.... yea it's been sittin there that long :/

[Maeztro @ Aug 8th 2008 3:23PM]

I dont get it. Why not just feed the same content to both satellites then it doesn't matter because both receivers are getting the same content.

[Boynamedsue @ Aug 8th 2008 3:34PM]

because then you're not giving them money for more hardware.

[Pepsipoint @ Aug 8th 2008 4:16PM]

don't both of these work on different frequencies?

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Aug 8th 2008 8:10PM]

They may not be able to broadcast everything each service has to the other service due to bandwidth limitations. That's not 100% confirmed, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[xcrunk @ Aug 8th 2008 3:46PM]

What is the big deal???

Uhm....OK. Let's just carry the transmission from whatever is left over, after they hack up all those shows, on both sides of the fence.

And from said point, just sell one technology(XM or Sirius) that carries all the channels.

In either case, I would not want to be working for either right now because their going to start firing(restructuring) people left and right.

[redcard @ Aug 8th 2008 3:47PM]

The reason they can't stream the same content from both sets of satellites is because there isn't enough bandwidth to accommodate all XM and Sirius together. I mean, they could cut some channels, but then you'd have a bunch of whingers complaining cos their 'Best of 1970s Acid Jazz' station was cut, and looking for their annual subs to be refunded.

Plus license restrictions from the FCC mean they have to ensure people get the same content at the same price for the next 3 years or something.

[xcrunk @ Aug 8th 2008 3:50PM]

There will be no need to carry two country channels, two heavy metal channels, two political talk channels...and so on and so forth.

The talent on both sides of the fence are sweating up a storm not knowing who will stay and who will go.

They all know it's coming, it's just a matter of when.

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Aug 8th 2008 8:15PM]

@Xcrunk

Do you have either service? There is more than just 1 country station on both services. XM & Sirius have nearly an equal amount of subscribers. Which half are you going to upset?

I love Alt Nation 21 on Sirius and Ethel on XM is pretty good too. IMO Alt Nation is better because the music is uncensored, where as Ethel has a deeper track list, which may or may not be that great depending on the listener, and censored music. Plus I really like Madison and most of the other DJ's on Sirius.

[LC @ Aug 9th 2008 1:40PM]

They don't even have to consolidate the specialty music channels, such as the metal and country etc., but they can keep only one set of decade channels, freeing up 4 or 5 channels of bandwidth.

Both carry identical news stations such as Fox, CNN, NPR, etc. which would also free up some more space.

They may not have the bandwidth to carry everything both have to offer for current radios, but they can duel broadcast the more popular channels from XM and Sirius.

[RK @ Aug 8th 2008 3:51PM]

Spill the deets, Kazmir!

[Frank Furter @ Aug 8th 2008 3:57PM]

Just don't kill The Boneyard

[Mitigator @ Aug 8th 2008 4:06PM]

Ricksta, You can do that now with a Gm Sirius adaptor.( SiriGM1) XMs music sucks so I don't blame you for wanting to change. Classic Vinyl and Rewind are awesome.

[mel @ Aug 8th 2008 4:25PM]

Sirius thinks the XM music is better, which is why they put the current XM music programming VP in charge of ALL the music now =)

[Ricksta @ Aug 10th 2008 12:43PM]

My 06 cobalt cannot use that because the head unit will not accept it. I want a seamless install of sirius and to be able to control channels from the steering wheel.

[AMM @ Aug 8th 2008 4:12PM]

What I'm wondering is what they're going to do with the factory installs coming out over the next few months - my 2009 Escape Hybrid is coming with a factory Sirius radio (which is fine with me since I'm a Sirius subscriber anyway), but I'm wondering if the automakers are going to look into options for the buyers of their newer models that want the dual operability.

[offroadering @ Aug 8th 2008 5:18PM]

i had to say this about a Saturn a few weeks back but...

your buying an Escape Hybrid and you are worried about the radio?

[Joe @ Aug 8th 2008 4:38PM]

Nothing new here, the Biaviians have been using this technology for some time now. O-Qua Tangin Wann!

[hwoarang27 @ Aug 8th 2008 6:04PM]

Qua Um Sah La Ji Wan....

The Targicians are obviously reptilian.

[aaron @ Aug 8th 2008 7:58PM]

Best laugh I had today, thanks fellas.

[Pepsipoint @ Aug 9th 2008 11:26AM]

color me sarcastic. but i do look forward to riley martin comment everytime sirius is mentioned.

[Crashnburn @ Aug 8th 2008 4:56PM]

I can only imagine that "no time to ramp up production" is the only excuse to miss the holiday season. What a boneheaded move. I realize the FCC and the DOJ dragged their feet for YEARS, but to miss out on the all-important holiday season in a weak economy is enough to drag their nightmarish stock down even further.

And I feel for AMM - nice to get a $500 "option" that is obsolete out of the box.

[DCKiwi @ Aug 8th 2008 5:01PM]

Yeah this makes me very hesitant to buy a new car with an XM radio built-in before they have resolved this issue. Sorry Acura!

[David @ Aug 8th 2008 7:12PM]

We didn't ask for the merger. They should subsidize all subscribers for their new tuners.

Having said that, if they toss FRED in favor of the lame FirstWave, I'm cancelling!

[Zapp @ Aug 8th 2008 7:38PM]

Sweet. I wonder how much additional hardware that's going to take. Worst case the next gen of my "portable" XM player will be even fatter with two satellite receivers. I guess that's a good excuse to just not buy one.

I heard some ads on a pop XM channel the other day. That's a death knell if I ever heard one.

[SithLord @ Aug 9th 2008 3:07AM]

XM and Sirius both operate on separate halves of the same spectrum.

Mel Karmazin has said that XM and sirius programming will be available to users of both services regardless of how old their recievers are. The reasoning is that they do now want your receiver to go obsolete and lose your buisness.

the new recievers will only have one chip, they won't be double-stuff.

[Ignatius @ Aug 9th 2008 9:24AM]

Sith Lord are you the same guy who was interviewed by Gary Garver for Stern? Seriously though, I am also curious about my factory installed receiver. I just bought a 2008 Honda Accord and went to the EX-L model to get the XM stereo because I thought I would be able to get Sirius content on it eventually and hopefully soon! I already have Sirius in my other car and love it. Does anyone know for sure if these factory installed XM's will be able to eventually receive Sirius or even if we will be able to buy something to get Sirius in the factory installed (I don't want an add on stereo on my windshield)? What is this brain that is talked about up above? Is it for real and can I buy one for my 2008 Honda Accord?

[Sarek1701 @ Aug 9th 2008 10:31AM]

Bubbabooey to you all.

[Sarek1701 @ Aug 9th 2008 10:34AM]

Bubbabooey to you all. Hey now.

[eddy @ Aug 9th 2008 11:40PM]

I'm just hoping Mel has the XM technology team working on this moreso than the Sirius technology team. The sheer size of Sirius units compared to comparable XM units is ridiculously huge, whereas the XM tech seems to keep getting smaller and less intrusive. Doesn't really affect me anyway, since I have my XM in-dash receiver, but it would be nice to see the technology continue to take steps forward and not backward.

[RK @ Aug 11th 2008 8:49AM]

Ayep.