When will Satellite Radio come to Australia?

Question

Does anyone know the status of Sirius/XM to come to Australia?

Answer 1

It's not like they can just add Australia to their current birds. Worldspace is the best bet, but somewhere in the future. The start-up costs are huge.

My guess is eventually one of the companies (either a merged XM/Sirius) or Worldspace will offer the content to an Australian consortium who will put the hardware (satellite) in orbit. It will be set up to use currently available receivers (radios) to keep the costs down.

But, love the country and people as much as I do, it's a big geography with relatively few people to serve - and the cost/benefit may not be there.

Believe me, someone's already looking at it, planning it or ditched it.

-a guy named duh

Answer 2

Very unlikely XM or Sirius will offer programming in Australia because of costs.  Although satellite radio seems very popular (approx 5-8% of U.S. and Canadian listening population subscribe), they two companies are billions of dollars in debt.  Spending additional income for satellite channels, repeaters and marketing in Australia does not make much sense.

I am sure there is another company exploring this option but not these companies.