# Is Any Form of Satellite Radio Available Outside the US/Canada? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382 "2011-01-12T20:53:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/1 "2011-01-12T20:53:04Z")
Sirius/XM is only available in the US/Canada. Are there options for those living outside North America? ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/2 "2011-01-12T21:28:32Z")
There are a few major providers here in Japan. Our satellite provider, SkyPerfect, offers radio service but we don’t subscribe to it. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/3 "2011-01-12T21:50:09Z")
In Europe, [Solaris](http://www.solarismobile.com/services/applications) should be starting up soon. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/4 "2011-01-12T22:12:16Z")
Given the Sirus XM merger, don’t they have surplus satellites? Couldn’t they move one or more of them to service Europe? ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/5 "2011-01-12T23:43:19Z")
While you can’t currently subscribe to Sirius in Mexico, if you happen to have a U.S. subscription and bring the receiver to Mexico, the signal works reliably at least as far south as Mexico City. Mexican radio company ACIR has been working on licensing Sirius content to be marketed directly in Mexico as well. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/6 "2011-01-13T07:45:44Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > …don’t they have surplus satellites? Couldn’t they move one or more of them to service Europe? Nearly all geostationary satellite carry a bit of fuel,used for maintaining their position. My WAG is that there is no way one would have enough fuel to move out of it’s orbit and maneuver back to the same altitude over a different chunk of land. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/7 "2011-01-13T11:11:02Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > Nearly all geostationary satellite carry a bit of fuel,used for maintaining their position. My WAG is that there is no way one would have enough fuel to move out of it’s orbit and maneuver back to the same altitude over a different chunk of land. The fuel needed simply depends upon how fast you want to move it. Remember, there are no frictional losses in space, especially in GEO. You only need to nudge the satellite to start it moving in the right direction, and nudge it with the same energy to stop it again. How far it travels is simply a matter of how long you want to wait between nudges. (The reality of orbital mechanics is messy, but the principle remains.) The big issues with moving it to service Europe are twofold. The antenna footprint will have been optimised for the USA. You will have the same footprint, but very different geography sitting over Europe. Secondly, there are limited slots in GEO, and a provider would need to buy a slot. It gets very crowded up there. (Slots are determined by the angle satellites need to be separated by in the sky in order to avoid interference issues.) You can’t just drive over and park. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/8 "2011-01-14T19:06:22Z")
The subscriptions must be made in either Canada or US, but reception will be available on both North and South American continents. XM satellites are in geosyncronous orbit and visible to North and South America. Sirius satellites are in an eliptical orbit where 2 are over N America at any given time. The reception should still work in S America, but may be intermittent based on the location. See the [Satellite Technology section](http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/sirius.html#satellites) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/9 "2011-01-14T19:20:12Z")
It looks like there’s a company called [1worldspace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1worldspace) (saw mention of it in a HowStuffWorks article on Sirius and XM) which provides satellite radio service to at least some of the Eastern Hemisphere. However, it also sounds like they’re even more troubled than SiriusXM – according to the Wikipedia article, they filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and they pulled out of Europe and India in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/10 "2011-01-14T19:52:09Z")
Although not exactly the same principle as Worldspace or Sirius, many radio stations are broadcasts in the UK and Europe via satellite. These stations can be received via a satellite box and a TV. So not exactly portable, but probably of a higher quality than FM or terrestrial digital radio ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/11 "2011-01-14T20:41:23Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > The fuel needed simply depends upon how fast you want to move it. Remember, there are no frictional losses in space, especially in GEO. You only need to nudge the satellite to start it moving in the right direction, and nudge it with the same energy to stop it again. How far it travels is simply a matter of how long you want to wait between nudges. (The reality of orbital mechanics is messy, but the principle remains.) The big issues with moving it to service Europe are twofold. The antenna footprint will have been optimised for the USA. You will have the same footprint, but very different geography sitting over Europe. Secondly, there are limited slots in GEO, and a provider would need to buy a slot. It gets very crowded up there. (Slots are determined by the angle satellites need to be separated by in the sky in order to avoid interference issues.) You can’t just drive over and park. That’s interesting. Who sells these slots? I could maybe see it in the US (the government?), but what about the rest of the world? How much do they cost? ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/12 "2011-01-15T02:12:15Z")
> [@cantara](#): > > The reception should still work in S America, but may be intermittent based on the location. If you go under a bridge of any girth or past a largish tree in central Mexico, the signal will be lost for about 5 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-form-of-satellite-radio-available-outside-the-us-canada/567382/13 "2011-01-15T03:10:12Z")
> [@Dahu](#): > > That’s interesting. Who sells these slots? I could maybe see it in the US (the government?), but what about the rest of the world? How much do they cost? It’s all done through a now-UN organisation called the [International Telecommunications Union](http://www.itu.int/en/pages/default.aspx). It has existed since Victorian times, so seems to be doing a good job.