[Scan-DC] XM/Sirius Traffic

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 00:04:11 -0800

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XM/Sirius Traffic
NAB not pleased
I.J. Hudson, Tech Reporter
I'm listening to a traffic report for Washington, DC on channel 214 of
XM Satellite radio. Soon there will be 21 cities covered. Sirius Radio
is starting up as well, offering two cities per channel. The two
satellite radio companies are pumping out more than music these days.

XM has created a traffic center at its Washington, DC facility, and
uses one channel for each city. Sirius will use traffic service from
Westwood One. You could ride up the coast, listening to traffic
reports for Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. No dead
spots like you might face listening to traditional radio. Or you could
be driving on your way to Chicago's O'Hare and listening to traffic
reports back home in LA.

XM says now commuters don't have to wait for traffic reports. No
traffic every 10 minutes. "This new service will give drivers 24 hour
a day, 7 day a week detailed information about their route, so they'll
be able to plan for traffic jams and other issues on the road every
day," said XM's Chance Patterson.

Not everyone is happy about the new reports. The National Association
of Broadcasters (NAB) says XM is supposed to be a national service,
and may challenge the legality of XM's service. XM says it is simply
broadcasting local content nationally. You could listen to Washington
traffic while driving in Seattle.

Traffic reports are obviously important to Washington area commuters,
where tie-ups are frequent. We asked Bret Siemens about his dependence
on traffic reports.

"Would you listen to a fulltime traffic station?" "Yeah, I actually
have XM radio and so they have it on it."

(IJ) Is it working out for you? "Yeah." (IJ) Is it accurate? "Yeah -
as far as I know."

WTOP Radio provides traffic reports predictably on the "8s." Jim
Farley, WTOP's Vice President for News and Programming says satellite
can't provide as much live detail as its people, who get help from
cellphone callers with updates on the roads. That people who depend on
satellite traffic and have to pay for it will be shortchanged. "We've
told Bob Marburg and Lisa Baden that they can go longer whenever they
need it. We'll go in news sections and do traffic when it's a big
deal. And if expanding the traffic reports is what our listeners want,
they'll get it," says Farley.

XM counters its traffic facility also receives calls from people on
the road to update the reports.

The FCC has said XM and Sirius are complying with the law. The NAB has
not indicated it will do anything more than complain. A spokesman told
me the NAB is exploring its options.

Meanwhile, more services to compete with traditional radio will
continue to rain from the sky - Sirius will be offering all of the NFL
games this Fall.