SIRIUS, Microsoft Join for Video Service

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

January 5, 2005, 1:56 PM

SIRIUS and Microsoft will partner to offer a premium satellite video service to its customers starting next year, the companies announced at CES 2005. SIRIUS plans to offer two or three video channels of content aimed primarily for a younger audience. The video channels will use Microsoft's Windows Media Video 9.

"We will take the DVD experience to the next level, offering the best content easily available to families and consumers," SIRIUS CEO Mel Karmazin told reporters. "Working together with Microsoft will help ensure the exciting development of a solid and user friendly video platform for SIRIUS for years to come."

Although the new channels will require more bandwidth, SIRIUS said that the new content should not affect the quality of the audio channels that it currently carries. "Working with Microsoft to utilize the compression efficiencies inherent to WMV9 will enable SIRIUS to deliver content optimized for satellite broadcasts and reception," said Jim Meyer, President of Operations and Sales for SIRIUS.

The service should be available in the second half of 2006, and some automobile manufacturers have expressed interest in making it an option for new car buyers.