Idea of Broadcasting:
How often have you been listening to your favourite radio station in your car, only to have it slowly dwindle away as you drive out of range of the transmitter? The answer to this problem came in 2001 when a new way to receive radio is made its debut - a national service beamed from outer space that, in return for a subscription free, offered 100 different channels, none of which would be interrupted by poor reception.
Broadcasting through Satellite:
The Coverage, provided by two or three high-orbit satellites, came as a strong signal requiring no satellite dish, just an antenna the size of the match box. Although the broadcast could be dampened by sky scrappers or long tunnels, the signal was bolstered by transmissions from ground based towers.
XM and Sirius Initiative:
Two companies were originally granted licenses to provide satellite radio in 1997 : XM and Sirius, with XM getting off the mark first in the US in September 2001 and the Sirius following in 2002. For the monthly subscription fee of $10 the Xm Service offered a wide choice: some channels were dedicated to specific topics such as news, sports, traffic and weather reports; music channels had no commercials and even no DJ's, and talk shows were less censored than the free terrestrial radio broadcasts.
Audience at First:
What is more, satellite radio receivers displayed the name of each artist and songs as it played. Soon receivers were being made that could be taken out of cars and carried into the home.Initial uptake was slow. At launch it was estimated that there were only four listeners per channel, but by 2008 a total audience of over 16 million had been garnered. Despite legal wrangles over music copyright and complaints about the content of some chat shows, it seems that satellite radio is here to stay.
Text credit : The Internet Age | Page 927 | 1001 inventions that changed the world | ISBN 978-93-5009-685-7
Science in History - Satellite Radio Broadcasting 2001
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