Are Canadian Subscribers going back to subscribing under US Subs more now?

I would suspect a lot more Canadians who are fans of the Best of XM and Best of SIRIUS offerings will cancel their Canadian subscriptions and re-subscribe under US accounts. We saw a lot of Black Market SIRIUS and XM radios prior to them being legit up in Canada. But it's been legit up there for a while but they are still two different companies. I can't imagine the hardcore fans won't dump the Canadian version for the US version now.

 

I was grey market for both before. Sirius Canada does not offer premium internet. XM is cheaper with 40 more channels if you go grey. The only radio I still have with XM Canada is my car. Ironically, it is the only radio which I would likley add a best of package. I will cancel it once it expires next July and add it to the US account. Then I will add Best Of Sirius for the NFL.

I think I will also drop the xL channels and save myself a $ or 2 at that time (my US renewal is also in July).

 

IRBS I think this merger will create a much bigger black market in the long run.

I did what you are thinking about doing. I opted to go with the family plan with the Best of Sirius on my XM OEM and that saved me $2.00.

 

Well, I am going to do this at my XM renewal since I think they would mess up my 3 year plan and I don't right now have the cash for restarting a 3 year sub. That comes out of July's budget. No point doing it on Sirius though since I did the lifetime.

 

One of the consistent things we hear though from Western and Northern Canadians is that XM just doesn't work up there much. The SIRIUS Reception is so much better they say. In Toronto I would guess it's about the same but for areas like Edmonton or Calgary or Northern British Columbia is sounds like the SIRIUS Satellites hit those a bit better than the XM ones.

 

The farther north you go, the lower the XM birds are in ths sky. A tree which would have no impact on reception in Texas can block it in Saskatoon. I don't think people realize how far North Western Canada is. Toronto is 42 degress lat. Saskatoon is 51. In January if you drive south at midday, the sun is right in your eyes like sunset.

Sirius birds are much higher and therefore are easier to aim for.

 

Most people I know never bothered to go the Canadian route, and have a subscription with a U.S address.

The term is "grey market" - not "black market"

 

D'oh. I knew that. I thought thats what I typed too. Fixed.

 

I was actually referring to Taylor's original post.

 

Oh sorry about that. You should correct me. Afterall I corrected you about writing Tonne.

 

Tonne is metric, and different than a Ton.

But more on the "grey / black" market radios. Is it illegal? Has anyone been charged? Do you sell radio's to Canadians who have Canadian subscriptions, or just the "Grey market" subs?

 

We sell radios to anyone really. I'm sure some of them get activated as Canadian Subs.

 

I never realized that Sirius Canada was techinally a different company than its US counterpart when I signed up last year. I just figured it was one service for N America. I may switch to a grey market US sub down the road if something from the best of XM interests me later.

 

Its strange, I subscribed to the Cdn subs, and now I'm almost regretting it. Although, only reason is I can't get best of XM, (not that IMO it has anything I am interested in). I did get the lifetime sub for teh cdn one, so I can't even switch over if i wanted to...

I would assume when they start melding the music channels together that Cdn subs will be getting whatever is decided to be the 'best' of the music channels...

 

Well, the combined Sirius/XM Canadian subs total over 1 million, so someone must have signed up with the non USA plan.

 

I'm not that familiar with SIRIUS Canada, but couldn't you call them and tell them that you're moving down south and give them a US address (an American relative, for example) and have it transferred to a US sub?

 

I have no idea if that would work or not, but at the same time, wouldn't they just inform me that "hey its the same everywhere", but at the same time, I am missing some of the channels..

I was also thinking, because the poll on the main page. When XM and Sirius Channels start to merge, it will be the same up here in the cdn market, what sense does it make to keep these companies seperate in Canada? As far as I see none, so why are they holding out?

 

They each think they can make it on their own. I don't know if they figured in what is happening to the music channels however.

 

I have nothing to base this on, but I wonder how many of the US subs are actually Canadian's using US addresses? I think all those years prior to XM and Sirius Canada going into business there was already a huge black market and I would imagine many of them never switched over.

It will be interesting to see how all these US channel changes will impact XM Canada. I would not doubt that we end up seeing a lawsuit out of this before it is over.

 

Some of us took the US route even after it was available in Canada. Reasons:

Sirius Canada monthly rate: $14.95 (vs $12.95 US)
Sirius Canada lifetime rate: $540 (vs. $500 US)
XM Canada monthly rate: $14.95 (vs $12.95 US)
Sirius Canada channels: 110 (vs 130 US)
XM Canada channels: 130 (vs 170 US)
Sirius Canada does not offer premium internet.

Its simple economics. Neither XM or Sirius (US versions) give more than a token check against it either.