Sirius to Offer Data, Video in 2006

Sirius announced on Monday that it would be upgrading its network capacity by approximately a quarter, allowing it to offer more audio channels as well as data and video services by mid-2006. The company says that the audio quality of its current offerings will not change as a result of the upgrade.

Current Sirius radios will still work; however, for customers to take advantage of the new services a next generation radio will have to be purchased. "Our new modulation technology will use a very innovative approach to increase the number of bits we transmit...enabling us to increase the effective use of our currently licensed spectrum to add additional programming for the benefit of our subscribers," said Jim Meyer, Sirius' president of sales.