Two Days Without XM Satellite Radio

For a company with four satellites orbiting the earth, XM sure has a problem on its hands as its service remains disrupted for the second consecutive day. Company officials say they’re working on the problem, which has knocked out one of its satellites. Two other satellites that XM has are listed as “in-orbit spares” which hopefully means they can be turned on and start broadcasting music, yet for some reason the airwaves remain silent.

I was wondering why I couldn’t tune into Ethel or Fred this morning driving into work in a 2007 Saturn Outlook. I thought it was just the downtown Chicago buildings proving problematic. Still, I didn’t really want to hear that new White Stripes song again, or Amy Winehouse or that Peter Bjorn and John track. Those are the same three songs I’ve heard over and over — on three different stations — for the past five days.

What does XM say about all this? (About the outage problem, not the poor programming.) XM says listeners can tune in online until the problem is resolved. That doesn’t really help out on the commute home, though, does it? Chime in if you’re an XM subscriber and are miffed at the thought of another commute listening to commercial-filled FM.

Update (2:25 p.m. CDT): XM now says service has resumed.

XM Outages Continue for a Second Day (USAToday)

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