Was toying around with my new SL2, noticed there's a setting for your location's traffic and weather, however there are only US cities listed. Is this not available in Canada? If not, that seems kind of crappy 
Traffic & Weather in Canada
- Thread starter HCLogo
- Start date
I wanted to explain something but not in the I Love SIRIUS XM thread. It is too bad they don't have Canadian Traffic and Weather Stations. I'm not fully aware of how that works.
But here is a description of Channel 138 which would provide Weather Information.
SIRIUS Satellite Radio Canada - Canadian Weather Network
There are some concessions that were made back in the day for Satellite to Exist in Canada. Some may seem American based and others are not. For example, there are plenty of channels that have very few listeners but they HAVE to remain on the service as concessions to the CBC.
But here is a description of Channel 138 which would provide Weather Information.
SIRIUS Satellite Radio Canada - Canadian Weather Network
There are some concessions that were made back in the day for Satellite to Exist in Canada. Some may seem American based and others are not. For example, there are plenty of channels that have very few listeners but they HAVE to remain on the service as concessions to the CBC.
I also think that right now Sirius XM is just trying to survive and they aren't really focused on Canada as crappy as that may sound. If Sirius XM goes under, then so does the two entities in Canada that currently piggyback off the Sirius XM service.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but in my opinion Sirius and XM as separate companies should have stayed out of Canada because it truly has not helped them as much as they hoped it would. Sirius has actually done a little better than XM, but now they are sort of stuck with the concessions made to provide the service to Canada and as much as I am sure they'd like too now, they can't just shut it down. There was a huge black market prior to them starting services and they would have likely been better off just supporting that under the table.
In the short term and maybe even long term, I would not expect Sirius XM to do much in terms of changes or channel adds for our Northern friends. Not so much because they don't want too as much as it is that they simply can't. Bandwidth is at a premium and they still have to give 12 channels to minority groups and I don't know where they are going to get that bandwidth from, but maybe they have been skimping already. Also lets not forget that Sirius XM really doesn't operate in Canada there are companies in Canada that were approved to provide the piggyback service to Canadians. I am sure Sirius XM makes some money off of that venture, but how much has never really been publicized.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but in my opinion Sirius and XM as separate companies should have stayed out of Canada because it truly has not helped them as much as they hoped it would. Sirius has actually done a little better than XM, but now they are sort of stuck with the concessions made to provide the service to Canada and as much as I am sure they'd like too now, they can't just shut it down. There was a huge black market prior to them starting services and they would have likely been better off just supporting that under the table.
In the short term and maybe even long term, I would not expect Sirius XM to do much in terms of changes or channel adds for our Northern friends. Not so much because they don't want too as much as it is that they simply can't. Bandwidth is at a premium and they still have to give 12 channels to minority groups and I don't know where they are going to get that bandwidth from, but maybe they have been skimping already. Also lets not forget that Sirius XM really doesn't operate in Canada there are companies in Canada that were approved to provide the piggyback service to Canadians. I am sure Sirius XM makes some money off of that venture, but how much has never really been publicized.
Leave it to the CBC to screw things up for everyone... I would much rather have fewer Canadian channels but with more attention paid to them, quality over quantity.
I think we'd all prefer quality of quantity and this is the error that sat radio has made and why the SQ isn't as good as it should be.
I believe to get a SDARS license in Canada, they couldn't broadcast local weather and traffic information to protect the local stations in Canada.. I think "The Weather Network" gets away with being a national service.
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Bingo. CRTC requirement for entry in the market was no local traffic. Sirius XM would have loved to add Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver traffic as cheap Cancon channels.
Just a quick question, when subscribers are counted for Sirius/XM and they show 18.6 million or whatever amount, does that include the Canadian subs also?
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Not the ones that subscribe through XM Canada or Sirius Canada. It would count me since I sub to Sirius-USA and XM-USA.