Satellite Companies Snipe at CES

XM and Sirius are still bashing terrestrial radio – and each other – in their quests to build up their respective products.
Sirius EVP Marketing Mary Pat Ryan told reporters at CES, “We’re ready to take risks.” She said Sirius can offer “deeper tracks than on radio.” She said music choice on radio and on MTV has become more narrow.
Larry Pesce, VP of product management and strategic planning, described Sirius’ new in-home antennas. He said they could be mounted on a roof, or a deck and pointed straight up to receive Sirius’ satellite signal. The competitor’s home antenna, he said, would need a southern-facing window to catch those satellites – if there’s no trees in the way blocking the signal reception.
An XM spokesman said flat out that wasn’t true and questioned why Sirius “went there.”
XM also showed skepticism about the commercial viability of Sirius’ live video-on-the-radio concept demo’ed this week. XM President Hugh Panero said the concept was not new.
“We could do it as well, but what will you sacrifice to do it?” He said the bandwidth needed for video would limit the bandwidth for audio channels, a claim Sirius disputed.