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Hyundai Adopts XM
By Mark Evans | March 23, 2005
There’s quite the buzz today about XM Satellite after Hyundai said it will make XM standard equipment on all its U.S. models by 2007. What people seem to be forgetting is car owners – be they Hyundai customers or a rival – still have to be willing to pay for a monthly satellite radio subscription. I tried XM out for a couple months, and while I enjoyed the commercial-free aspect, the variety didn’t blow me away. Of the 100 XM channels offered, I switched between five or six – which is not unlike what I do with commercial radio. What I would have really liked was more micro-programming. For example, I’m a big fan of Wilco and the Jayhawks, so an alt-country station would be have been ideal. Another issue is price. At $5 or $10 a month, satellite radio strikes me as a fair proposition. At $15 or $20, it loses its luster. Then again, higher prices are important to XM and Sirius because they are publicly-owned companies that have spent billions of dollars to get into the business. So what does the Hyundai announcement mean? Not as much as investors would have you think.
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