Sirius Moves Launch Forward

Sirius Satellite Radio is nudging up its nationwide launch date by one month, to July 1. Sirius has radios in nearly 200 storefronts now and plans to expand that figure to more than 3,500 retail floors by the end of June, said Sirius President/CEO Joe Clayton.
Clayton acknowledges some Kenwood and Clarion receiver availability shortages now but expects those companies to ramp up production to have approximately 40,000 to 50,000 units in the pipeline to distribute to retailers to coincide with the national rollout.
Panasonic units should be available by July and the Jensen Plug and Play is expected to be available late in Q4. Sirius could not say when the Crutchfield catalog would have its units nationwide.
Sirius launched in 4 markets on Feb. 14 and expects to have between 100,000 to 200,000 subscribers by the end of the year, gaining most of those in the second half of the year.
Sirius CFO John Scelfo said there is no end date on the STA allowing Sirius to operate its terrestrial repeater network and he expects the STA to remain in effect until the FCC adopts final repeater rules.