THE THREAT FROM OUTER SPACE Chris Byrnes I spent an afternoon recently attending the Toronto Auto Show to check out the latest and greatest vehicle offerings in the 2006 models. Voice-activated command centers and onboard navigation systems are the hot items. The other feature of most of the displays were small groups of sales people standing around talking to each other rather than seeking out the potential customers amongst the throngs of “tire kickers.” I came away staggered at the lack of customer service, but I’ll save those comments for another time. The booth that really caught my attention was hidden away at the back of the massive General Motors display. It was the GM booth for XM radio.
I listened to the slick sales pitch from the GM staff (to anyone who would listen), that Satellite radio may be a reality in Canada in a matter of months. They expect CRTC approval within the next few months and providing they are successful they will instantly offer the service to any GM car purchased after 2002 and in some cases even earlier models. They will also be able to make a small adjustment to older GM radios and offer XM hardware for less than $150. To reinforce this point the display radios blaring out the 150+ channels of digital programming were out of a 2002 GM car.
GM will offer 68 channels of commercial free music, 130 channels of specialty programming including music, news, sports, comedy and talk. They will also offer additional premium channels over and above the $12.50 a month subscribers will pay. For example, if you’re into women talking dirty on the radio you can subscribe to the Playboy channel for an additional $3.00 a month.
GM plans to offer XM as a factory-installed option in 50 GM cars, trucks and SUV’s to begin arriving at dealerships this summer, which they say is more than any other car manufacturer. They feel there is a real advantage to the average consumer who will prefer the clean, professional integration of the hardware, which will be covered under the normal warranty. I was in the USA visiting a client in February and noticed the Sirius “box” clipped onto the cup holder in the General Manager’s Nissan 260Z. The sound was excellent but it looked rather clumsy and fragile.
GM has formed this partnership with XM as a way to attract more vehicle sales. All car companies are facing a decline in unit sales and they are looking for any edge to help sales. As an added incentive they will also offer XM for free for 3 months to any who elects to get the XM factory-installed equipment in their new GM vehicle. They may even hide the monthly subscription cost in the lease of the vehicle as they do with “On Star”, so the average consumer won’t really feel like they are paying for the service.
The sales pitch from the General Motors staff was that you will be able to drive anywhere in Canada and listen to crystal clear digital radio. They plan to install repeaters in the major markets such as Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver to ensure the signals are not impacted by tall buildings. They also talked about rolling out local weather and traffic information in time. They were also eager to show how easy it was to switch from AM, FM or XM at the push of a button and to show off the title and artist information that most of their channels push to the display panel on the radio.
Now GM is just one of the applicants who hope to bring Satellite Radio to Canada, but nothing will happen until the CRTC make their ruling. The GM staff was a little unclear about how XM plan to deal with any local content requirements except to say that they have 30 Canadian Channels ready to roll out with more to follow.
Conclusion: Satellite radio will likely be a reality in Canada sooner rather than later, and should the XM service get approval they may have enough hardware already installed in vehicles to give them the critical mass to make this fly. Therefore, now is the time to bulletproof your terrestrial products to make sure they have the local information, community involvement, and air staff to form a true connection with the local market. We can show you how to do this. Call our office for more information. |