Sirius XM Readies ‘Sirius 2.0’ Aftermarket Introductions This Year
Sirius XM pushed past 21 million subscribers by June 30 when it had 8 percent more paid subscriptions than the 19.5 million it had June 30 a year earlier, the company said Tuesday. “Self-pay net additions” grew 19 percent in the quarter ending June 30 to 363,000 from the same 2010 quarter, prompting Sirius XM to upgrade its forecast on net subscriber additions for the year to 1.6 million from 1.4 million in the previous forecast. That would represent a 13 percent increase from 2010’s net subscriber additions, CEO Mel Karmazin said on an earnings call.
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An expanded bandwidth feature -- “Sirius 2.0,” as the company is calling it -- is “a major upgrade and evolution of our satellite- and Internet-delivered networks that span our hardware, software and audio and data content,” said Jim Meyer, president of operations and sales. “We are rolling it out in phases, bringing more content and capabilities to our satellite platform, while also employing connectivity technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the Internet to create exciting complements to our core radio services."
The Sirius 2.0 upgrade will first be made available to subscribers late this year when Sirius XM bows two new-generation radios at retail, Meyer said. “These radios will be able to carry more channels than ever before, thanks to expanded bandwidth, and provide functions that help you enjoy satellite radio like never before."
Sirius XM hopes by year-end to announce launch plans “for at least one of our OEM partners to begin factory implementation of Sirius 2.0 features as early as next year,” Meyer said. Sirius XM already has sealed a deal with one of the automakers, Karmazin said in Q-and-A, answering a question about how a Sirius 2.0 OEM product could come to market so quickly. “The car company that is going to launch, we began our discussions with them well over a year ago,” he said. “And in essence, we have a deal with them already. So it’s not like they're going to be doing this in the next few months. They've been working on it for some time."
Sirius 2.0 “is designed to carry us through many years and will allow us the freedom to make upgrades and additions by software without our OEM partners having to change hardware in their head units,” Meyer said. “It will also allow us 25 percent more bandwidth for expanded audio and data services, as well as replay and time-shift listening capabilities. We've also been working hard to upgrade our IP-delivered services. Late this year, we will add new convenience features such as pause and rewind. In addition, we will add a new feature called Start Now, which will allow our IP subscribers to easily time-shift most of our channels by up to five hours.”