Sirius XM Debuts First Interoperable Satellite Radio

[Poke]

TG Daily - CES 2009: Sirius XM Debuts First Interoperable Satellite Radio

Las Vegas (NV) - Post Sirius-XM merger, satellite radio fans subscribing to one service or the other had to settle for piecemeal choices of hearing channels from the other. Sirius XM says no more, unveiling today at CES Mirge, its first interoperable satellite radio priced at around $250.

 

[Agonizing Fury]

Reading the article, this sounds kinda pitiful. It has a button to switch from XM to Sirrius. Why can't they integrate them as if it's one service? I understand the underlying tech is very different, but Dish and DirecTV managed to integrate ATSC OTA reception into the box, allowing you to access the OTA channels as if they were coming from the sat. Why is it so hard to do this with a Satellite radio receiver? Oh well, maybe some day they'll get their stuff together, and actually do something good with the merger.

 

[snathanb]

I guess I am wondering what the point of an interoperable radio is when the the majority of the stations are now broadcast on both networks.