Byline: Greg Bowens
General Motors has taken the first step toward bringing live TV programming to every full-sized SUV it sells in the United States.
Last week, KVH Industries Inc. of Middletown, R.I., said it will begin offering its TracVision automotive satellite TV system as a dealer-installed option on the 2005 Cadillac Escalade and SRX - the first offer of its kind. The cost: about $3,000.
'We're starting on the full-sized SUVs and will dip our toes in the water on the other models,' says Doug Schumacker, Cadillac accessories and specialty vehicle manager.
Schumacker says GM engineers have begun working on determining how to wire all of GM's full-sized SUVs for the system at the factory. He says this would allow dealerships to install the option in about 30 minutes. Now installation is expected to take an average of two to three hours.
Cadillac expects to sell about 2,000 Escalades and SRXs equipped with the system in its first year.
The system consists of a receiver and a 45-pound, roof-mounted antenna that can pick up channels from DIRECTV Group Inc. Cos.
New Cadillac Escalade or SRX buyers who do not have DIRECTV must pay $41.99 a month to receive 125 channels of TV programming, including 36 channels of commercial-free music. The monthly subscription for drivers who subscribe to DIRECTV is $5.
'This isn't just for watching Barney videos,' KVH CEO Martin Kits van Heyningen says of the service.
'You get the full DIRECTV programming,' he says. 'You can watch ESPN, the Starz movie package or Bloomberg. This has a much more universal appeal' than entertainment systems 'for kids in the back seat of the minivan.'
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KVH's 45-pound antenna will fit on the roof rack of the Cadillac Escalade and SRX.
