satellite radio in a restaurant

[Brian Vita]

> While in Connecticut yesterday I heard Sirius 31, a country 
> station from that satellite provider, being played at a BBQ 
> restaurant. It sounded like a typical country station, only 
> no commercials. The DJ did talk up the fact that Stern is now 
> on Sirius, and he also mentioned the upcoming presidential 
> debate could be found on Sirius channels like NPR, Fox News, 
> and Air America.
> 
> I don't have satellite radio but this is the first time I've 
> heard it and it's interesting that it's being used as 
> background music for a restaurant (...as opposed to a local 
> country station-- desired because there are no ads?) I assume 
> they pay royalties (as part of a fee) to ASCAP, BMI, and 
> SESAC (country song licenser). 
> 

Both XM and Sirius offer a commercial package for businesses that carries
the appropriate licenses for "public performance" in venues such as stores,
offices and restaurants.  Both services offer commercial free music channels
with voice tracked DJ's offering live sounding patter.  Although there's not
any commercials, there is a lot of cross-promotions for other channels on
the system.  The VT is fresh enough that it doesn't sound canned and would
most likely take a critical listener, like us, to pick up on it.

While I can't speak for Sirius, XM's package is $29/month (no term contract)
including licensing which makes it a lot less expensive than other systems
such as Musak.  The receiving hardware is about $170 (without installation).
I'm sure that the Sirius package is competitively priced.  This is not meant
as an advertisement, rather just information.

As a side note, XM receivers are starting to show up in high-end home
automation/multi-media systems such as Crestron and others.  The packages
can be set up with a touch screen in each room of the house controlling
lighting, HVAC, home security, music and/or video feed, etc.

Brian T. Vita, President
Cinema Service & Supply, Inc.
77 Walnut St. - Ste 4
Peabody, MA  01960-5691 USA
+1-978-538-7575 voice
+1-978-538-7550 fax
www.cssinc.com