XM Resuming Normal Service

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 5/22/2007 11:10:00 AM

New York – XM Satellite Radio said it resumed normal service levels after fixing a software problem that produced “significant degraded service” and service outages for an unspecified number of subscribers.

The company said the problems began about noon on Monday and lasted about 24 hours.

Subscribers were told it would take about five to 10 minutes for affected radios to reacquire the XM signal once the radios were turned on.

“The problem occurred during the loading of software to a critical component of the satellite broadcast system, which resulted in a temporary loss of signal from one of the company's satellites,” XM said in a written statement.

During the service interruption, some subscribers received only a handful of channels that often cut in and out, and other subscribers got a no-signal message.

Although XM didn’t mention it, service was interrupted occasionally in past weeks, with some subscribers able to receive only XM’s promotional channel.