The WCS Coalition and Sirius are fighting over the latter’s plan to provide backseat video later this year.
Now the wireless group says if the commission okays this offering, it should put conditions on Sirius.
WCS believes the commission should make “any video offerings by Sirius secondary to WCS operations.” The group is worried about potentially having to protect Sirius video from interference from wireless users more than they protect satellite radio now.
(And when you’re paying $500 a pop for a video receiver, you don’t want interference from cell phones.)
The wireless guys want the commission to delay the video launch until the FCC implements rules governing the coexistence of wireless services and sat radio in the 2305–2360 MHz band.
We’ve reported that Dodge plans to offer factory installed Sirius “with streaming video option” in the 2008 Magnum, set to arrive at dealerships in the fourth quarter.
The wireless coalition, “comprised of the licensees of virtually all of the WCS spectrum licensed by the commission in the 2.3 GHz band” — companies like Sprint Nextel, AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth — also questioned whether video can be considered an ancillary service to audio.
Sirius has stated video transmission of animation will take up to one-fifth of its 12.5 MHz spectrum.
The coalition says it has no “current plans to provide cable television-like services into moving vehicles in competition with Sirius Backseat TV.”
One has to wonder how much time and resources Sirius has put into this effort and if that might be better spent on the main product, satellite radio, especially if the proposed merger fails to go through.
