SIRIUS Satellite Radio will broadcast traffic data from NAVTEQ for 22 major U.S. metropolitan areas over its nationwide system beginning in November 2005.
The 22 metro areas that will initially be covered are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco/Oakland, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington D.C. SIRIUS expects to expand the service to over 50 cities by 2007.
The SiriusConnect SIR-ALP10T tuner, the first SIRIUS tuner to incorporate both audio entertainment and traffic data services, will be able to simultaneously receive and play SIRIUS’ programming while monitoring the data channel for traffic messages. Through its broadcast data service, SIRIUS will deliver NAVTEQ’s information to the SIR-ALP10T tuner, which interfaces with the Alpine NVE-N872A Satellite Traffic Ready navigation system. The unique structure of SIRIUS’ data service will allow other data services, such as weather, to be seamlessly added in the future.
The suggested retail price for the SiriusConnect SIR-ALP10T tuner is $299.99, and $1,700 for the Alpine NVE-N872A Satellite Traffic Ready navigation system (navigation monitor sold separately). Alpine Satellite Radio-Ready headunits range from $250 to $1,600, including two models with built-in navigation monitors. The SIRIUS traffic data service bundled with SIRIUS’ regular audio programming will cost $16.99 per month or $9.99 per month for traffic data only.
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