WASHINGTON, D.C.- XM Satellite Radio officially launched the first U.S. digital satellite radio service – “Radio to the Power of X” – featuring 100 coast-to-coast, digital channels of music and information.
Radio programming is uplinked to satellites and signals are picked up by special digital radio receivers. Transmitters located on ground amplify and transmit the signals.
XM’s programming lineup features 71 music channels, more than 30 of them commercial-free; and 29 channels of sports, talk, children’s and entertainment including 13 premiere news channels covering the latest national, world and financial developments like CNBC, CNN Headline News, CNNfn, FOX News, ABC News & Talk, USA Today, Bloomberg, BBC World Service, C-SPAN and its own XM News. People for the first time will be able to receive on the radio the diverse selection of 24-hour news sources that they’re used to getting at home on cable and DirecTV.
As the digital countdown clock in XM’s high-tech glass and chrome broadcast operations center hit zero, Hugh Panero, XM President and CEO, pressed a button on the Star Trek-like command chair, launching XM’s service. He then videolinked to Dallas and San Diego and spoke to some of XM’s first customers.
XM had originally scheduled its commercial launch for Sept. 12 but postponed it following the tragic events in New York and Washington. “Today, like the federal government, the Congress and the stock market, business needs to get back to business,” Panero said. “And that includes new businesses like ours.”
“What we are doing is launching a powerful new communications and entertainment medium – what we call ‘Radio to the Power of X,'” XM President and CEO Hugh Panero told a crowd of journalists, guests and XM staff gathered at the company’s headquarters and 80-studio digital broadcast complex in Northeast Washington. “We have music channels to soothe your mind and information channels to fill it.” The event featured a videolink to XM’s lead markets in Dallas and San Diego, where customers at retail stores were buying some of the first XM radios.
In three weeks, XM’s rollout expands to the entire Southwest United States, including such major cities as Los Angeles, Denver and Houston; and to the entire Southeast, including Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans, covering a combined 136 million people. In November, XM expands across the rest of the country. XM had originally planned to launch the Southeast in the final phase of its national rollout, but was able to accelerate launch of that region into October.
On the music end, Panero said, “XM is Mozart and Metallica – Isaac Stern and Isaac Hayes — Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa — Bob Marley and Bob Dylan — Louis Armstrong and Lou Reed. XM is God Bless America. XM is Quincy Jones and Wynton Marsalis, who are part the XM ‘Artists Family’ and will create programming for us. We are about every artist, across every genre.”
XM’s strategic investors include America’s leading car, radio and satellite TV companies — General Motors, American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Clear Channel Communications and DIRECTV.
XM has a distribution agreement with General Motors to integrate XM radios into its vehicles commencing in 2001 and they plan to charge a monthly fee for service in lieu of advertising dollars.
