Imagine a radio signal that can travel 22,000 miles and reach your car without static or interference. With SiriusXM’s all-access package, you can listen to over 175 channels with commercial-free music, plus news, sports talk and play-by-play, comedy, traffic and weather updates.
Satellite radio is a digital broadcast system that uses satellites to send a signal that reaches the specialized receivers used in car stereo systems. Each satellite has a geostationary orbit synchronized with the movement of Earth and transmits signals from a specific location on the 2.3 gigahertz (GHz) S band. The satellites are bounced back to terrestrial repeaters, which then relay them to the radio receivers that we hear in our cars.
The first satellite radio providers to launch were Sirius and XM. They paid $80 million each to use a portion of the S band of the electromagnetic spectrum for nationwide digital transmissions in 1992 and 1997. The resulting service operates on a subscription basis with stations hosted by human DJs and featuring commercial-free music.
While satellite radio continues to see steady growth in subscribers, there are other trends that indicate its future isn’t as certain as it once seemed. For example, electric vehicle (EV) makers like Tesla and Rivian skipped the hardware needed to support SiriusXM, relying instead on streaming audio services to provide customers with their entertainment needs. Additionally, high-speed cellular data access is becoming available in more vehicles and allows automakers to offer features like in-vehicle Wi-Fi hotspots and over-the-air updates.
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