December 2004 Archives

A deal was in place, that would've given Billy Packer his own college-basketball talk show on Sirius Satellite Radio. All that was needed was a blessing from CBS, Packer's primary employer. (CBS is owned by Viacom, who as we all know owns Infinity Broadcasting.)

But it was a blessing that CBS has refused to give, according to the NY Post.

"We agreed on terms," Steve Cohen, Sirius VP of Sports Programming, told NYP TV Sports. "But [CBS Sports President] Sean McManus won't let him work here."

CBS declined comment on the matter.

Our guess, and it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure this one out, is that Viacom sorta isn't too fond of Sirius right now. Any chance they can get to put to kibosh on a deal with Sirius, they'll take it.

Ok, so Sirius announced yesterday (gimme a break, it's the holidays, I'm blogging a little slow this week) that they'll hold a press conference at 4:00PM PST on January 5th at the 2005 CES show in Vegas.

The Press Event will be held at the Sirius booth #4020 in the Las Vegas Convention Center's North Hall.

They'll be announcing new products and partners, give an update on technology, some stuff on programming strategy and Mel Karmazin will be introduced to CES.

You'll be able to listen to the Press Conference here or on SIRIUS channel 131.

XM Satellite Radio said Thursday it agreed to issue 2.7 million Class A common shares in a private transaction for about $98 million worth of senior discount notes due in 2009.

The satellite radio broadcaster expects to deliver the shares Thursday, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The recipient of the shares was not identified in the filing.

A brief mention in an article in the Village Voice, mentions that a new show Audiobook Cafe, is set to debut in January on XM Satellite Radio. In the article, Lawrence Block, author of the article and several books, says:

"As the host of Audiobook Cafe, set to debut in January on XM Satellite Radio, I interviewed two authors and reviewed one audiobook for each of the four shows. I talked in-studio with Ron Chernow and SJ Rozan, and on the phone with Joyce Carol Oates, Ann Rule, and Tony Hillerman. I recorded my reviews of books by Ed McBain, Philip Roth, Augusten Burroughs, and Jonathan Lethem."

Now, there's only a quick note about this on Audiobook Cafe's website, but it does seem like Mr. Block gave the slip on this as there hasn't been any official announcement from XM yet. Here's what we can put together about this:

1. We don't know if this will be a whole new channel, or just a radio show (in which case it probably would be on Sonic Theater XM 163).

2. It seems that these won't be abridged audiobooks, and while that's a big assumption that was the overall gist of the Village Voice article. They'll be covering both abridged and unabridged audiobooks on Audiobook Caf? - Thanks Lawrence!

3. With the recording capabilities of the MyFi and the SkiFi2, XM has a great outlet for this time of programming. Lots of people love audiobooks, and with satellite radio they don't need to be at their computer to download the audiobooks like with Audible. The total mobile access to this content would be greatly appreciated by those constantly on-the-go (like Truckers amoungst others).

At the time of writing this entry, neither XM nor Audiobook Cafe has given any comments regarding this. As more info comes in, I'll update it here.

"The Moseley Method," a new weekly program hosted by Olympic and World Cup ski champion Jonny Moseley, will air exclusively on Faction Channel 28, starting Wednesday, January 5, 2005 at 9pm EST.

Jonny Moseley is known to millions of Americans from his gold medal win for the USA in freestyle moguls at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Now Moseley will talk about his experiences all over the world in top-level ski competitions, interview fellow athletes and play music that gets him pumped up for competitive events.

Moseley is the latest celebrity athlete to host his own show on Faction, joining skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, Olympic volleyball champion Kerri Walsh, world champion surfer Kelly Slater, champion skier Bode Miller, six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and professional skateboarder Bam Margera, among others.

AutoWeek wrote up an article giving an overview on the XM NavTraffic system. Highlighting sytems that support XM NavTraffic like the Pioneer Electronics? AVIC-N2 (currently the only aftermarket option for NavTraffic) which will go on sale in March for $2,550 MSRP and the factory-installed XM NavTraffic system in the Acura RL.

XM is expected to bundle both the XM satellite radio service and XM NavTraffic together for a $13.99-per-month subscription fee.

'Squawk Box' is running a Vote for which stock buy you think is better - XM, Sirius, Both or Neither.

Which do you think is a better buy? Tell "Squawk Box" what you think and cast your vote now.

View the results here.

Engadget reports that is you've got the XM PC Receiver (or XM Direct) and a Pocket PC, you can now use the brand new $45 program XMLobby to control your XM satellite radio via your Pocket PC.

XMLobby Pocket PC is the first application on the market to allow control of your XM Satellite Radio and it's the only one to display the Cover Art of the currently playing song (where available).

I guess they don't have a trial version at this time, but the concept is neat and it's nice to see more of these 3rd party apps starting to pop up.

XM Satellite Radio today announced that it recently surpassed 3.1 million subscribers, the company's year-end goal for 2004.

Hugh Panero, President and CEO of XM Satellite Radio said,

"We are very pleased to announce that XM recently exceeded the 3.1-million-subscriber mark, which was our goal for the end of year. Holiday shoppers bought XM radios in record numbers, reinforcing XM's significant market leadership position in satellite radio."

The timing of this announcement is definitely interesting considering that there was much speculation in the XM community as to when the 3+ Million announcement would be made. From a PR point of view, it makes sense for XM to hold out for when Sirius makes their 1 Million announcement, lest anyone be confused as to who the market leader is.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that it has surpassed its year-end target of one million subscribers.

Driven by robust holiday sales and helped by aggressive marketing, advertising, and an increase in consumer awareness, SIRIUS continues to see positive momentum across all channels. The company indicated that sales of its popular portable "Plug & Play" products, especially the SIRIUS Sportster, were contributing to the strong numbers, and that consumers continue to be attracted to the company's diverse product offering and programming.

There's a whole lotta money involved with Mel Karmazin's move to Sirius Satellite Radio. Mel's 30 million of Sirius Satellite Radio stock options are now worth about $240 million, forming a major part of his compensation at Sirius, when he became CEO of Sirius last month.

Based on the exercise price of $4.72 per share, the value of the options were nearly $142 million back when it was formulated five weeks ago. Since SIRI is currently at $7.95/share, if he were able to exercise the options now, he would gross about $100 million.

On top of all that, Karmazin was also given 3 million time-restricted stock grants. This means Mel will be granted 600,000 shares every November for the next five years.

Mel also purchased 1.5 million shares at $5.36/share when he joined the company.

Under his five-year contract, Mel earns a base salary of $1.25 Million per year, plus a bonus to be determined each year by the board of directors.

Damn.
(As an interesting side-note, Joseph Clayton (Chairman of the Board of Directors) and Patrick Donnelly (Executive Vice President and General Counsel) both dumped good amounts of SIRI stock yesterday - 2,000,000 shares and 750,000 share respectively. Take from that what you wish.)

Today - December 23rd, 2004 - a date that will live in infamy. The lovely deal reached last month between Viacom and FCC anti-indecency watchdogs - has gone into effect.

If the Federal Communications Commission issues another "Notice of Apparent Liability" (read: anything they define as 'indecent'), then Viacom has agreed to pull Stern off the air.

Yes, anything that the FCC somehow deems 'indecent' said by Stern can cause him to get the boot. Anything.

Stern, expressed outrage earlier this month, arguing that he's been set up to be canned and threatening to play only music. No one will know what Stern plans to do until January 3rd, when he gets back from vacation.

Whether you're a Stern fan or not, it's a sad day for the 1st Amendment. This is all the more reason to leave terrestrial radio behind, and vehemently say "FUCK THE FCC!" as you go on to listen to the radio that you want to hear - not them.

A thoughtful reader pointed out that the Bowl Games are on XM, not just Sirius - as I reported earlier.

In the rush to try to get the news out quickly, sometimes I miss out on the details. Sorry 'bout that guys.

I encourage everyone to send me corrections, comments and love/hate mail whenever you find something like this. Without your help, this site would be nothing.

Thanks Neil!

UPDATE: Argh. After this post, it was pointed out to me that Sirius is broadcasting 12 bowl games and XM only has 10.
Thanks kwik!

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced it will broadcast 12 college football bowl games including the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl between No. 1 USC and No. 2 Oklahoma that will determine the national championship. Beginning on Monday, December 27 with the MPC Computers Bowl, SIRIUS College Sports Radio will be the destination for college football fans during the holiday season.

SIRIUS College Sports Radio is the only national source for seven bowl games. The bowl lineup complements SIRIUS' current college sports programming which includes college football and basketball for the nation's top programs.

XM Satellite Radio announced today that it has selected Millsport its sponsorship and event-consulting agency.

Millsport, the Stamford, Connecticut based unit of The Marketing Arm, will provide strategic consulting, program planning and integrated activation around XM's premier portfolio of marketing partnerships including Major League Baseball, NASCAR, Collegiate Sports and music. Program extensions will include XM's powerful stable of retail, automotive and technology partnerships.

In addition to its core consulting function, Millsport will also optimize The Marketing Arm's specialist units in promotion, event marketing and talent buying in support of XM program activation across multiple consumer touch points.

The budget for that assignment was not disclosed.

This is just hilarious. Eminem (aka "Shady Claus") and his No. 1 elf (actor Tony Cox from the movie Bad Santa) pose for a shot to promote Eminem's "A Very Shady Christmas" show.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Infinity Broadcasting is enforcing the terms of their contract with Howard Stern preventing him from appearing in advertising for Sirius and are forcing him to tone down his mentions of Sirius on the air.

Since his interview with Letterman and the NYC Sirius / Stern Rally - Sirius has been enjoying the media blitz that Howard was able to generate for them. But with the provisions in his contract, he's a bit limited as to what he can do promotionally. News conferences are all right, but commercials and print ads are out of the question until Howard's contract expires at the end of 2005.

But let's face it, any exposure that Howard Stern gets will be associated to Sirius now, even if the brand doesn't get direct exposure from it.

Eminem fans will get a special gift this Christmas, as the multi-platinum artist takes over the airwaves of his own radio channel, Shade 45, to host "A Very Shady Christmas" exclusively on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

The special will air on Christmas Eve at 6 pm and Midnight ET, and again on Christmas Day at 2 pm and Midnight ET.

The channel's special holiday programming will also include exclusive hip-hop features by Shade 45 DJs such as The Aphiliates, Cipha Sounds and DJ Green Lantern, among others.

When Shade 45 launched in October 2004, Eminem said, "This channel gives me a direct outlet to the streets and our audience. We have the opportunity to go straight to our fans with whatever we want, where we find it. No middle man, no playlists, no bullshit. And most of all, no censorship."

As we announced yesterday, Opie and Anthony are now being syndicated on Citadel's rock station WAQX Syracuse.

Well today, Billboard Radio Monitor's article expands more on the whole deal addressing a lot of the speculation that's running rampant.

1. First off, Stern's contract hasn't been breached with 95X. ?While Howard?s on vacation, we?re providing our listeners with some fresh entertainment? Citadel-Syracuse OM Tom Mitchell tells Monitor. ?We have every intention of honoring our contract with Stern.?

2. Yes, the show's content is being edited for terrestrial radio. 95X is taking the XM feed, editing it to conform to FCC indecency standards, and running it the following morning. Having a full day to sanitize O&A could make the previously banished personalities a more attractive proposition for terrestrial stations now.

3. We're not sure if this is an indication that they'll be syndicated to other stations, but the door is open. XM executive VP of programming Eric Logan tells Billboard Radio Monitor that XM is ?evaluating that market on a case-by-case basis.? And Bob Eatman, O&A's agent, says he and XM are "very interested in expanding the base and brand of Opie & Anthony."

"With Stern announcing his exit, we thought it would be a perfect time to announce Opie & Anthony's entrance to terrestrial radio,? Eatman told Monitor. "We've heard from a lot of stations."

4. No, Howard Stern cannot do the same thing when he hits Sirius. The contract that Stern inked with Sirius makes Sirius the exclusive radio outlet for Stern beginning in January 2006. Syndication is not possible. Opie and Anthony are not limited to this.

"We definitely have that option [to air terrestrially] with this contract that we signed," says Gregg Hughes (Opie) in an interview in September. "I?d personally like satellite radio to be so successful for us that we never go back to commercial radio. But we?ll definitely keep that option open. Maybe there?s a form of our show that we can make available to commercial radio."

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that it has promoted radio industry and NFL media veteran Steve Cohen to Vice President of Sports Programming.

While at Sirius, Cohen has developed and launched Sirius NFL Radio, the first-ever 24/7 radio channel dedicated to all things NFL, and has been instrumental in the introduction of Sirius College Sports Radio.

In his new position, Cohen will oversee the entire sports department and be responsible for new sports programming initiatives.

Alpine just announced that select 2004 Ai-NET series head units are now SAT Radio Ready and will support either Sirius or XM Satellite Radio. All you need is the SiriusConnect and/or the XMDirect adapters, and you're good to go.

Gizmodo has also confirmed that you will be able to have both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio at the same time with this new unit.

Both Sirius and XM on one unit? Very nice.

It's Official: as of today Opie and Anthony are to be syndicated on terrestrial radio as announced on their show today. The buh-buh-buh-boys have in fact replaced Howard Stern on Citadel Communication's Syracuse station 95X WAQX-FM. You might recall the little drama between 95X and Stern - Howard was getting dumped out on mentions of Sirius Satellite Radio and his show was promptly being turned off at 10am. Well, it appears that they got so salty over the Sirius promotions that they have decided to side with XM instead.

The current trial period will air Opie and Anthony "best of" shows, but soon to follow this week will be Live (edited) syndicated content from the XM Premium Station.

Arbitron places Syracuse in market rank #79. 95X WAQX-FM is the 6th place station overall there. A decent sized medium market to serve as the terrestrial debut of syndicated satellite content (at least content of this caliber).

The syndicated shows will obviously have to abide by FCC indecency regulations, and will have commercials of course, but mentions of XM will most likely not be dumped out on. This a smart move on XM's part as they will not only get exposure for 4-hours a day attracting more and more regular listeners to satellite radio, but they also establish a 3rd party revenue stream.

Let the war begin!

SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the Chrysler Group today announced the completion of the launch of the 2005 model year lineup of Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles.

The 2004 production rates of over 100,000 Sirius equipped vehicles goal is expected to be reached. Starting with the launch of the Chrysler 300 Series and Dodge Magnum in April, 2004, Chrysler Group further instituted factory installations on 13 more vehicle lines for the 2005 model year.

Availability on additional Chrysler Group models is anticipated, and total volumes of over 500,000 Sirius equipped vehicles are expected over the next model year.

Sirius is offered as a factory-installed option on 2005 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles for an MSRP of $195 (one year of Sirius service included). This is claimed as currently the best value in the industry.

Sprint plans to launch a new service for streaming music over the airwaves to cell phones, powered by Music Choice - a company that provides digital music to cable and satellite TV subscribers.

The service, called Music Choice Today, bows Monday and offers Sprint subscribers streaming access to Music Choice audio channels via their cell phones.

For $5.99 per month, users can listen to a range of genres and formats, including R&B/hip-hop, pop, country and rock. The service also features music news and daily video snippets of artist interviews and performances originally produced by Music Choice.

This could put the heat on XM to provide satellite radio on cell phones, but personally I'm thinking that Sprint could concentrate on improving their network and service rather than pushing new bells and whistles.

This weekend's a bit slow for satellite radio news, so I figured I'll just leave you with the XM Satellite Radio commercial 'Falling Stars' (QuickTime req'd).

It's not necessarily a new commercial but the most entertaining in my opinion.

Found on XM411

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will air a special Christmas music show hosted by noted recording executive and Blue Note Records President and CEO Bruce Lundvall on Christmas Eve.

?A Blue Note Christmas? will feature holiday tunes from noted artists such as Diane Reeves, Count Basie, Norah Jones and Dexter Gordon. Throughout the program, Lundvall will share stories about the artists, most notably his first-time encounters with them early in their careers.

?A Blue Note Christmas? will air Friday, December 24 at 6pm ET with repeats at Noon on Christmas Day and at 6am on December 26 on Pure Jazz, channel 72.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will soon be rocking both coasts, with the establishment of new Los Angeles studios in early 2005. Sirius? Los Angeles operations will be centered in the studios of Swinghouse in Hollywood, CA, currently used by many top artists as a rehearsal and recording studio.

Sirius produces its content and hosts daily visits by musicians and celebrities from its national broadcast studios in Rockefeller Center, in the heart of New York City, and also has studios in Houston, Texas; Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; and Daytona Beach, Florida.

The new studio will probably be used by celebrity athletes Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater, Kerri Walsh and Bode Miller, and Viva La Bam creator and star Bam Margera, all of which are heard on Faction, channel 28.

From theflyonthewall.com: XM Satellite Radio channel checks showing MyFi demand huge.

Sales for XM are strongest in Wal-Mart and while MyFi hasn't been widely available it can be seen that this could become the best-selling satellite radio product when supply evens out with demand in 2005.

Considering the timing of the MyFi release, this is pretty much expected but it's good to hear that there's a market for portable satellite radio receivers - even at the relatively high price point.

(Hey RSS folks, check out the new look) I've finally settled on the design that I'm happy with. Some might remember how salty I was with the previous look - the happy clouds just didn't reflect the feeling I'm shooting for. This new LCD-look header is much more to my style and gives that sorta 'techie' look that I'm digging.

Whatever, the design means shit, it's all about the content anyway. But if you have any feelings about the look, for or against, feel free to comment away.

Speaking of comments, please note that in the spirit of Satellite Radio, I will never edit or delete a comment unless it's purely spam. So go ahead and get nasty with any language you want - no censorship here.

Audiovox reported today it agreed to acquire Terk Technologies Corp for $13.6 million plus a debenture based on future revenue targets. Terk provides satellite radio receivers and digital antenna products (such as the XM Commander and XM Direct) and has agreements with XM Satellite to provide aftermarket car stereo systems.

The deal, which still requires a definitive agreement and completed due diligence, is expected to closed by Dec. 31 or soon thereafter.

XM Satellite Radio has named Bill Bailey, former Commerce Committee Senior Counsel to Senator John McCain, as their Senior VP of Regulatory and Government Affairs.

Bailey had served as the Commerce Committee's lead Republican staff member on all communications issues. He had also been a senior advisor at the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. He began his government career in 1996 at the Common Carrier Bureau of the FCC.

"As a company like XM grows, the number and complexity of issues that it deals with grows too," XM president/CEO Hugh Panero says. "We cannot think of a better steward for XM's government relations efforts than Bill Bailey, a man who has served President Bush, Senator McCain, and commissioners of the FCC with intelligence and distinction. Bill's acute political acumen will ensure that XM is well represented before the Administation, in the halls of Congress, and at the FCC."

In a rare interview with USA Today, Howard Stern said,

"My role in the history of radio will be that I accelerated the push to satellite. I don't think this is the death of regular radio. It'll be there the same way network television is there."

Stern had said earlier on his terrestrial radio show that he wanted to do a print interview to plug Sirius. But his sit-down with USA Today, came after he read a recent Wall Street Journal article that claimed Sirius' over-spending on programming - which obviously includes Howie's 1/2 Billion Dollar deal - could set them up for a ?flameout.?

In a momentary lapse of honesty, USA Today went on to say that this is a big risk for the 'King of All Media' - that this new venture could sweep Stern into the dustbin of radio history if Sirius tanks.

"That would bother me. I would hate to be wrong," he says. "But I think I am right. My gut instinct tells me this is big with or without me. It's the first time that somebody with a major career who makes major money in broadcasting is walking away.

The rest of the article is pretty much an obvious advertisement for Sirius and Stern's other endeavors, similar to his interview with Letterman, but it's a good read nonetheless.

We pretty much knew this all along but to April Horace, a Janco Partners analyst, deemed the rumored iPod with Sirius satellite radio as technologically unfeasible right now.

"I don't believe Sirius' chip set is at the point where it can go into an iPod. It's the size of a credit card, and an iPod would need a chip set the size of a thumb nail," she said.

That's not to say the industry isn't thinking about it. After launching its wearable MyFi device in October, XM chief executive Hugh Panero said he believed one day a portable satellite player would be combined with a device like an iPod. Assuming the XM chipset would fit in an iPod, then Panero's concept for cell phones having satellite radio would be possible as well.

Sirius chairman Joseph Clayton has said over the past several months that when Sirius has its third generation chip set ready, expected by as early as late summer, it will enable Sirius to make a device similar to the MyFi - the new Brix palm-sized receiver may be our glance into this next gen of Sirius devices.

The NY Times just ran an article, Recording Software and XM Do a Dance (registration req'd), that pretty much gives an overview of TimeTrax and how it all began.

It's not really news to many of us, but an interesting read if you're into it. Note the oh-so-cool Livestrong bracelet so very casually featured in the shot of Scott MacLean.

Wow, this is good news. We reported last month that Saul Levine filed a Petition for Rulemaking to amend Part 25 of the FCC?s pending satellite radio rules to include an indecency provision.

Well guess what?

The FCC has denied Saul Levine?s petition to make satellite-radio broadcasters subject to the same indecency regulations that govern terrestrial broadcasters. The Commission said the key difference is both XM and Sirius are providing subscription services and that there is no ?indiscriminate access? to their services by children.

The FCC said ?subscription-based services do not call into play the issue of indecency,? and that the Commission ?does not impose regulations regarding indecency on services lacking the indiscriminate access to children that characterizes broadcasting.?

At least Mr. Powell got that one right.

[View Image]

We have more info on the Palm-Sized Sirius Satellite Receiver by The Brix Group reported earlier. First off, as you can see we got our hands on a MUCH better picture than from the Press Release. Also, the unit was not supposed to have been released to the press at this time - Sirius wasn't going to officially announce this until CES. I guess Brix jumped the gun a bit on this one.

Either way, the photo gives a good view of the cable jacks and of the size of the unit. Pretty neat, although still not a 'portable' unit like the MyFi.

Sirius Satellite Radio today unveiled the Streamer GT, the latest in a line of satellite radio products from The Brix Group, bringing the vast world of satellite radio to the palm of your hand. With the palm-sized Streamer GT users will have "always on" access to more than 120 channels of SIRIUS Satellite Radio's commercial-free music, sports, information and entertainment.

Featuring a three line full display, unique for satellite radio products of this size, the palm-sized Streamer GT also sports an ergonomically designed toggle control for easy channel changes while driving and even wearing gloves. The Streamer GT weighs 6 ounces and has 30 presets to store your favorite channels. The Streamer GT is also equipped with a built-in wireless FM transmitter with 100 frequencies, which allows the Streamer GT to play through virtually any FM radio.

More info and hopefully a better pic to come as soon as we get it.
[View Full Press Release]

More details have been released regarding the Sirius / NAVTEQ Deal. With all the speculation running around, here's some concise answers to everyone's questions:

When?
Sirius spokesman Jim Collins said the company cannot say at this time when it will launch the new service. The Sirius traffic service would compete with XM Satellite Radio's traffic service (which cut a deal with Navteq two years ago - called XM NavTraffic). NavTraffic was launched in limited form in September as standard equipment in the 2005 Acura RL. Cadillac intends to offer the service as standard equipment in its 2005 CTS by the end of the year, said XM spokesman Chance Patterson. Patterson also said,

"We don't expect Sirius to roll out something like this for several years."

How?
Sirius said retail and automotive partners, such as DaimlerChrysler, intend to offer the service as a product upgrade for upcoming auto navigation systems. Since these systems don't necessarily have small screens, a factory installed option is the best bet - so that answers that question.

How Much?
Currently, subscribers pay $12.95 per month for basic service, but Sirius plans to roll out a host of video and data-type services, like the traffic service, that could be offered in a tiered pricing structure, Collins said.

With XM's basic service starting at $9.99 per month, Patterson said the XM NavTraffic service would cost subscribers an additional $3.99 per month.

Which is better?
Since XM currently uses Navteq and SIRIUS will be using the same source to provide the map information, expect the traffic data to be identical between the two. The maps might be slightly different in design, but don't expect one to have better data than the other. In the end, it'll be the hardware (and the size of the hardware especially) that separates one system from the other.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that it will provide real-time traffic data to vehicles over its nationwide satellite radio network. The company has signed an agreement with NAVTEQ, a premier provider of mapping and traffic data reporting services, to offer consumers reliable traffic information in their vehicles.

The new service will provide consumers with regularly updated traffic information, such as accidents, scheduled road closings, traffic flow data or other traffic-related incidents to help them select the best available route. Traffic information will be integrated into new in-car navigation systems combining route guidance and mapping with traffic. Initially, the service will cover 30 markets and is expected to expand to over 50 markets.

According to company officials, SIRIUS automotive and retail partners have shown a high level of interest in the new service, and plan to offer it as a product upgrade for their upcoming navigational systems.

XM Satellite Radio today announced that Vanguard Car Rental USA Inc., operator of National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, which together comprise one of the world's largest car rental companies, is now offering thousands of vehicles equipped with XM Radio nationwide.

National and Alamo customers can receive XM Radio for no additional charge on all 2005 model Chevrolet Cobalts, Pontiac G6s, and Buick LaCrosses in the two brands' fleets. The two rental brands also are offering XM for no extra charge on select 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlos, Chevrolet Impalas and Pontiac Bonnevilles.

The Von Trapp Children visited Sirius Satellite Radio's New York City studios to perform selections from their recent album, Von Trapp Children, Vol. 2, and to pose with a large plush toy version of the Sirius mascot in front of the Sirius Christmas tree.

The Von Trapp Children: Melanie, Sofia, Amanda, and Justin, are the descendants of the famous singing family whose story captivated the world in "The Sound of Music". As the great-grandchildren of Captain von Trapp, they've inherited the family's musical gift and embarked on a career of their own.

As a side note, where I can get one of those huge plush doggies? Betcha he'd go on eBay real quick.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that legendary motion picture producer Robert Evans will host a weekly talk show that will treat SIRIUS subscribers to his intimate, explicit and sometimes startling view of the world. In Bed with Robert Evans will originate from Evans' home and will debut on SIRIUS in February 2005.

In Bed with Robert Evans will certainly not be for the timid. Evans lives life to its fullest - occasionally beyond full - and these experiences are the inspiration for the show. Listeners can become part of Evans' unique circle and become part of his conversations with his varied friends and acquaintances (and don't expect him to settle for pat answers to his blunt questions). He'll also reach deep into the corners of society for a "unique" view of life.

Best of all, SIRIUS subscribers can call in and interact with Evans and his friends.

During a ten-year run at Paramount, Evans produced such classics as Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Romeo & Juliet, Rosemary's Baby, Serpico, and most notably The Godfather I and II.

GM announced today that it recently signed up its one millionth XM Satellite Radio subscriber.

The first XM-equipped vehicles, Cadillac DeVilles and Sevilles, were produced in November 2001 and the one millionth XM-equipped GM vehicle rolled off the line in February 2004. Today, one out of three GM vehicles purchased are equipped with factory-installed XM Satellite Radio.

"GM's strong, long-term commitment to XM is one of the reasons why we are the no. 1 satellite radio company," says XM President and CEO Hugh Panero. "We're extremely pleased that GM customers have embraced XM and we're proud to join our friends at GM in celebrating this latest milestone of our partnership."

"More than 75 percent of current GM customers with XM-equipped vehicles tell us they would only consider or prefer to buy a vehicle with XM and 90 percent say they will recommend it to friends and family," says John F. Smith, GM group vice president of North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "GM was the first OEM to offer factory-installed satellite radio and we offer more than 50 car and truck models in 2005 available with XM Satellite Radio," says Smith.

Even though we mentioned this on Friday, Sirius announced today that they too are on the NASDAQ-100.

Mel Karmazin, Sirius' CEO said,

"The addition of SIRIUS to the NASDAQ-100 underscores the confidence afforded to us by our institutional and retail investors. It's also a testament to the efforts of our dedicated employees who have created the finest satellite radio product. Our goals are to further expand our relationships with our auto partners, widen our availability at retail, advance our consumer technology, and continue to develop compelling programming."

XM Satellite Radio today announced that XM has been added to the NASDAQ-100 Index, effective on Monday, December 20, 2004.

The NASDAQ-100 Index is composed of the 100 largest non-financial stocks listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market based on market capitalization. Shares of XM also will be included in The NASDAQ-100 Index Tracking Stock.

Hugh Panero, President and CEO of XM Satellite Radio said,

"This is a significant milestone for our company and a testament to the extraordinary work of our people who have made XM the market leader in satellite radio."

NOTE: Sirius apparently made the NASDAQ-100 too, but no official announcement yet.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that popular talk show host Leslie Gold, known on-air as "the RadioChick," will broadcast exclusively starting in January 2005.

In New York, the RadioChick earned fierce loyalty with her audience by combining clever comedy bits, fast-paced banter, listener phone calls and celebrity interviews into an irreverent, contemporary, funny talk show. Gold gained notoriety for tossing a bra onstage at Kathie Lee Gifford during a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman, and when one of her former employers deemed a billboard for her show (depicting Gold nude from the waist up, with a man's hands covering her breasts) too controversial, and ordered it be taken down.

"Sirius is the ideal home for my show," said Gold. "No small-minded programmers insisting that we shouldn't be funny for longer than seven minutes at a time. No corporate dictate that we must stop an interview with Robert Duvall, or Steven Tyler or Sylvester Stallone to play Foghat... again. No speech police from the FCC. I was so happy to join Sirius, I almost wet myself."

Beginning Monday, January 10, The RadioChick can be heard weekdays from 10 am to 2 pm ET on SIRIUS Talk Central, channel 148.

Apparently XM Satellite Radio is doing a promotion for certain retailers that give FREE Delphi MyFi's to employees of Circuit City and Best Buy. So, I'm just doing my blogging duty of leaking sharing this info to the rest of you:

Go to:
http://www.xmradio.com/partners
And enter in the access code: xmmfbbxm04
or the access code: xmmfccxm04

(The 'bb' stands for Best Buy, the 'cc' stands for Circuit City - get it?)

Disclaimer: This is for information purposes only. I'm not responsible for your actions or if you get charged the full price for this unit! XM Satellite Radio reserves the right to cancel any duplicate orders, or order it deems invalid or fraudulent - so BE WARNED!

In order to get your free MyFi you're required to subscribe to three months of XM service when you purchase a MyFi through this promotion and to keep a minimum of six months continuous XM service.

If you happen to be a Best Buy or Circuit City employee, this is an awesome deal for you guys. It's also a genius move on XM's part to promote to the people who are actually out there selling satellite radio units. Good stuff. Enjoy!

Those of you reading via RSS probably never noticed, but yesterday I did a little update to the look of the Orbitcast site to finally get rid of the boring default MT design and make it into something more gooder.

Unfortunately - after a whole 12 hours of looking at those friggin clouds, I've come to the conclusion that this new design stinks. The awful heavenly look is just plain stupid, and I'm disgusted by it.

So I'm gonna change it - if you find the site is messed up, just reload in 5 minutes cause you probably caught me in the midst of a site change.

Feel free to comment to this post with how much you hate this new design. I won't cry.

Engadget has released a bigger pic of the new portable XM satellite radio from Eton/Porsche-Design. Interestingly enough they point out that while Eton?s website lists the unit as model number P?7132, the image itself shows model number P'7141. Hard to know which one is the right model number, but - who cares.

The design is interesting. Note that it looks like they split the iPod-wheel concept - the volume wheel is on the left with what looks like a built-in speaker (nice touch), and the tuner wheel is on the right around the channel display.

Yes, the antenna you see is because it's an AM/FM radio as well. Other features include an Alarm clock (with a snooze button - located at the lower-left of the unit picture) and it looks like 10 preset channels (across the top).

Gizmodo released photos of the Porsche Design XM satellite radio units we reported on earlier.

The P7131 Tabletop model is pictured at right, and the interesting-looking P7132 Palm-sized portable satellite radio unit at left. No other details yet. More to come at the CES show.

[View the Product Preview page here.]

Sirius Satellite Radio stock (SIRI) fell sharply today after two Wall Street firms (Smith Barney and Bear Stearns) lowered their ratings on the satellite radio provider.

Sirius shares are down about 18 percent 20 percent.

Analysts at both firms said the company's recent flood of positive news had made the stock overly pricey. Sirius shares hit a 52-week high of $9.43 Tuesday, nearly triple its trading price just two months before. Smith Barney cut its rating to 'sell' from 'hold' while Bear Stearns downgraded Sirius to 'peer perform' from 'outperform.'

Both analysts cited Sirius' 11% jump Tuesday as an example of the market's overreaction. Don't say I didn't tell you so.

With just over a year left on his contract, Infinity Chief Operating Officer Joel Hollander isn't concerned that Howard Stern's remaining days with the company will be a commercial for Sirius Satellite Radio. He spoke to investors at the UBS Media Week Conference, and fully expects Stern to finish his existing deal with Infinity, which runs out at the end of 2005.

"If you give me a check for about $100 million, I'll take him off tomorrow," Hollander said. "I certainly don't love the fact that he's on the air talking about satellite radio. But it is overblown, in fairness to him."

Of course, Hollander was making light of Satellite Radio's influence. "I just think it's a boutique business; I don't think it's a mass appeal business," he said.

"It's survived every new technology advance of the last 50 years. It's not going away. It's still a $20 billion business. And the irrational exuberance is that there's 290 million people that listen to radio every day in the United States, and [satellite radio has] 4 million subscribers."

He was also dismissive of Sirius' NFL package, valued at $220 million. "The NFL," he said. "It's not exclusive, so let's see: You can get the NFL on over-the-air TV, cable, satellite, free radio, and now satellite [radio]. I can't see how you make money on that deal, when predominantly, people are either jumping in and out of their car, or they go in and out of their house to watch the game on TV."

He's comments aren't really surprising as it's not just the radio industry, but Hollander's job, we're talking about here. Does he really think Satellite Radio isn't here to stay?!

Holy portable satellite radio news! Engadget reports that Porsche Design has a page up their new P?7132 ?palm-size? portable AM/FM, shortwave, and XM satellite radio.

No pics yet, just this cheesy teaser silhouette, but as more info comes we'll post it up.

I didn't want to post about this yet until more information comes in, but with both Gizmodo and now Engadget talking about it, so I guess it should be brought up even though word got out about this yesterday:

Rumor has it that XM and Pioneer are going to announce a new wearable satellite radio receiver at the CES show in January. The device is supposed to have nearly identical capabilities to the Delphi MyFi except that it will look different and/or be possibly (hopefully?) smaller.

The good news about all this hooplah is that there's finally enough interest from major manufacturers to put this kind consumer electronic product on the shelves. The potential that Pioneer could integrate this wearable device into their other products such as car audio headunits and home audio - suddenly makes this into one hella cool device.

But then again, it could be all bullshit. We won't know for sure until CES.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that its College Sports Radio will bring fans the only live radio coverage of the 70th Heisman Memorial Trophy Awards Presentation on Saturday, December 11. The live, three-hour show begins at 7pm ET on SIRIUS Sports Action, channel 123, and SIRIUS will broadcast the first post-ceremony radio interview with the 2004 winner.

The program will originate from the Hilton Hotel New York, the site of the ceremony, and will include interviews with the 2004 Heisman contenders, past Heisman winners, and other college football luminaries. Former Oklahoma and NFL running back Spencer Tillman and former Auburn Tigers head coach (and current ABC football analyst) Terry Bowden will host the exclusive SIRIUS Satellite Radio coverage.

SIRIUS? Radio Coverage of Ceremony to be Streamed Live on Heisman.com.

The Heisman broadcast is part of the advertising, marketing and promotional association between SIRIUS and CSTV: College Sports Television, announced in August. In addition, CSTV?s CollegeSports.com has launched the official website of the Heisman Trophy which, along with CSTV?s CollegeSports.com, will stream live audio of SIRIUS College Sports Radio?s three-hour Heisman show Saturday. Heisman.com also features historical information, profiles of past Heisman winners, statistics and ticket information regarding the 2004 Heisman Memorial Trophy Award dinner on December 13.

Today XM Satellite Radio announced a long term data services agreement with Toyota. The auto-maker has selected XM as its supplier for satellite delivered data services for it's Toyota, Lexus and Scion line of vehicles. In addition, Toyota will offer XM radios as a factory-installed option in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The first vehicles factory-installed with XM radios will be available in 2006. Toyota will expand the factory-installed availability of XM's satellite radio and data services to additional Toyota and Lexus models in the future. Plus, Toyota will expand the number of models offering XM as a dealer-installed option in 2005.

XM is currently available as a dealer-installed option on the following 10 models: Toyota Camry, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Solara Convertible, Toyota Solara Coupe, Lexus ES 330, Lexus LS 430, Lexus LX 470, Scion tC, Scion xA and Scion xB. In 2005, Toyota will expand the number of models offering XM as a dealer-installed option, including the Toyota Avalon and Lexus GS 330.

Right on the tail of this news, Sirius Satellite Radio announced that Toyota will offer Sirius, as both a post-production and dealer-installed option, in nine models beginning in February 2005. The Toyota models include: Camry, Solara, Land Cruiser, Lexus LS 430, Lexus ES 330, Lexus LX 470, Scion xA, Scion xB and Scion tC.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio chairman Joe Clayton said the company would love to bring Howard Stern on board before Stern's contract with Infinity Broadcasting ends in 2005, but avoided giving any indication whether the company is in talks with Infinity to buy out the remainder of Stern's contract. "If it's in Infinity's best interest and in Sirius' best interest, perhaps something could evolve. But that's a lot of moving parts and there's nothing more to report on that," he said.

Clayton, stepped down from the chief executive post last month to make way for former Viacom chief operating officer Mel Karmazin.

He's not really saying anything new to us, but what we did learn from Clayton's little chat at the Credit Suisse First Boston conference is that in the second half of next year, Sirius plans to launch new receiver units from STMicroelectronics and is also planning to unveil a wearable device at that time. Time-shifting, and portability are major goals for 2005.

ST sells to manufacturers in the telecommunications, computer, consumer electronics, industrial, and automotive markets. (ST chips are in half of all cars on the road.) Top clients include Nokia, Robert Bosch, Schlumberger, Scientific-Atlanta, and Sony.

There's a whole lot of speculation in regards to how the iPod and SIRIUS Satellite Radio could merge together to create an uber-portable-music-machine. Here's just a few thoughts that come to mind:

Battery consumption. The iPod's batteries don't last very long with just an FM transmitter connected, how would a Satellite receiver hold up? XM's MyFi only has 5 hours of battery life - pretty lame considering the 'on-the-go' concept behind it. Will a dual iPod-SatRad Receiver be able to have a usable battery life? Not without being huge, which leads me to...

Size. One big thing that XM has over SIRIUS was the decision to move technology development in-house way back in the early stages of development (this also resulted in XM coming to market first, but that's a whole 'nother story). This choice resulted in less corners cut in terms of size - XM receivers are generally more compact than the majority of SIRIUS receivers. Even so, XM's MyFi isn't necessarily 'small' (see photo) - so if XM can't make their portable receiver small, can SIRIUS?

There's no doubt in my mind that Apple's team can bring a smaller satellite radio receiver to market - provided that SIRIUS would actually agree to farm out production to them. But Size versus Battery Life is an ongoing battle as features increase, and it's hard to think that we can have a small enough "iPod Satellite" without compromising in the portability department.

Rumors are circulating that during Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld on January 11, Apple will announce that it has signed a deal with one of the satellite radio companies, Sirius, to market iPods that can receive and record that company's satellite broadcasts. I can't say if there is any validity to this latest bit of gossip - it is probably nothing more than someone's clever imagination - but since Think Secret's accurate scoop the other month on the iPod Photo one hesitates to dismiss it too quickly.

From Apple's point of view an iPod Satellite would certainly offer a unique high end feature that would trump the FM radios found in a number of competing units. Some pundits have been listing XM and Delphi's latest MyFi portable satellite radio as an iPod competitor, but it is not an MP3 player. The iPod Satellite could be the first to converge both technologies.

Is it Real?
All this sounds nice, but that doesn't mean any of it is true. As Apple is always tight-lipped on new products prior to their announcement, any effort to get them to confirm such a player is only an act of futility. Likewise, the Sirius PR folk will be sworn to secrecy. We'll have to wait until January 11th to find out.

From Monday 12/6 thru Sunday 12/12, tune your XM Radio to High Voltage - XM 202 to hear Opie and Anthony for FREE.

Opie and Anthony are regularly an additional $1.99/month as one of XM's Premium Channels.

Wired Magazine lists the 129 coolest geek gizmos for Holiday shopping. Lo' and behold the XM SKYFi2 Satellite Radio Receiver happens to be on it (under Autos). I'm actually surprised more satellite radio gear wasn't on it, but eh, who cares.

They do like the SkyFi2 tho:

DELPHI XM TIVO
If you've ever listened to XM Satellite radio in a car, odds are you've done so with Delphi's SKYFi device. The new version packs a slew of fresh features, including pause and replay. The unit also displays stock tickers and sports scores, and allows you to pick tracks by song or artist name. But SKYFi seals the deal with its 30 Minute Replay, which'll save the stream of whatever XM programming you fancy. That rocks.
[ SKYFi2: $129.95, www.XMradio.com ]

Bloomberg reports that XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio will join the Nasdaq-100 when the index is rebalanced on Dec. 17, vaulting into the ranks of the 100 largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq Stock Market this year

Great. As if those two stocks didn't need a further boost from Wall Street. Rally anyone?

It's funny how the Terrestrial Radio kiddies are getting all heated up over Howard's move to Sirius Satellite Radio. Citadel Stations in Harrisburg, Grand Rapids, Providence and Syracuse are making cuts to the Howard Stern Show everytime he mentions SIRIUS Satellite Radio - they even go as far as cutting Stern off early at 10 in the morning, done or not.

Apparently, Howie's getting a lil' pissed about it.

The controversy really hit home when Stern lashed out at "shock jock" Ryno after the DJ wrote a letter criticizing Stern's program saying it had become an infomercial for Sirius. Ryno wrote,

"We don't appreciate him talking about satellite radio and we don't appreciate him taking our money to do a show then end up talking about moving to a direct competitor."

Howard Stern's responded:

"I like that Ryno's worried I'm doing an infomercial. He's worried personally it bothers him. I like that the company tapped Ryno to be the company spokesperson. How about Ryno, like a Nazi sympathizer."

Even funnier, Stern proposed revenge on the station's cutting him off at 10 o'clock is a promotion giveaway of $20,000 with listeners needing to tune in at 10:05 in the morning to win.

Double World Champion and Double Olympic medalist Bode Miller will host his own radio show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio called, The Bode Show.

Miller will take listeners along as he, his friends and other racers talk about their experiences on and off the Alpine circuit. Bode will talk about and play his music. Starting December 9th, the show will air on SIRIUS Faction, channel 28, every Thursday at 9pm ET.

World Cup Giant Slalom Champion Joins Celebrity Athletes Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater, Kerri Walsh and Bam Margera on the SIRIUS Faction Channel.

With the Official release of XM Satellite Radio's MyFi portable satellite radio receiver, XM Satellite Radio chief executive officer Hugh Panero on Wednesday said he expected satellite radio and cellphone services to converge within the next five years.

?Obviously, our core base is people who listen to radio in the home and car and now in the mobile market, and I think that as other distribution points present themselves, whether it be cellphones, or other mobile devices, we obviously can have a place in that,? Panero told Reuters on Wednesday.

Panero said XM has had discussions with other service providers and hardware manufacturers. "They clearly have a need to efficiently provide content that will help motivate people to buy their hardware and we're a natural place to go as we have become a more important player in content,"

Within five years? Maybe. But I won't hold my breathe.

Hip hop superstar Snoop Dogg is hosting "Welcome to Da Chuuch with Big Snoop Dogg," an exclusive, original series on XM Satellite Radio's classic rap channel The Rhyme. The series premiers Friday, December 3 at 8PM ET/5PM PT. New episodes of the 90-minute show premiere each month, and are broadcast from Snoop's home studio in Los Angeles.

Fresh off the release of his hotly anticipated new album R&G--Rhythm and Gangster: The Masterpiece, which debuted earlier this month, Snoop will be taking over the XM airwaves monthly for ninety minutes of uncensored, uncut, and masterfully unpredictable radio.

"Having the opportunity to offer our audience truly original listening xperiences with the biggest names in music is the ultimate goal of our original programming initiative," said XM Satellite Radio Chief Programming Officer Lee Abrams. "Welcome To Da Chuuch With Big Snoop Dogg is exactly the kind of broadcast event we strive for, and it's a thrill to be working hand in hand with an artist of this stature."

Sirius Satellite Radio is getting an assist from Hall of Fame NBA star Bill Walton. Walton, the only person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (1993) and the Grateful Dead's Hall of Honor (2001), will host a weekly music show on Sirius Satellite Radio.

"One More Saturday Night with Bill Walton" will air this weekend. The show will feature music from the Dead and Walton's other favorite performers, including classical musicians. The show will be rebroadcast on Wednesdays. Listeners can e-mail requests to billwalton@siriusradio.com. Walton will also contribute to Sirius' Jam On channel, which features bands such as Phish.

This announcement comes after Sirius announced deals to broadcast the NCAA men's basketball tournament and English Premier League soccer.