Sirius and XM vowed as a condition of their FCC licenses to ‘crea...

Committee hearing Wed. (CD March 1 p4). “The problem with it is there’s no receiver manufacturer that wants to pay to supply it,” he said in reply to a question from Committee Chmn. Conyers (D-Mich.). “We're subsidizing our radios today because we get a subscription from it. The idea of our subsidizing a radio when we may not get a subscription doesn’t make any sense for us.” Sirius and XM “did not in any way, shape or form” break their promise to the FCC on receiver interoperability, Karmazin said. “We've offered our intellectual property to receiver manufacturers, so any receiver manufacturer that wants to make an interoperable radio, they can make it. The problem is, it would sell for somewhere around $700 without a subsidy.” Sirius’ 10-K, filed Thurs. at the SEC, makes no mention of the receiver Karmazin cited at the hearing. “Our FCC license is conditioned on us certifying that our system includes a receiver design that will permit end users to access XM Radio’s system,” the 10-K says. “We have signed an agreement with XM Radio to develop jointly a unified standard for satellite radios to facilitate the ability of consumers to purchase one radio capable of receiving both our and XM Radio’s services. We believe that this agreement, and our efforts with XM Radio to develop this unified standard for satellite radios, satisfies the interoperability condition contained in our FCC license.”