November 2005 Archives

Hey just a reminder that Mel's gonna be on Jim Cramer's Mad Money in about 20 minutes on CNBC. Some of you could give a hoot, some of you are fanatic about this appearance. Either way it looks to be something interesting as a reader just sent me this from crazy Cramer himself (check it out after the jump).

First Big Radio tried to attack satellite radio with their Hear It Here First campaign (which was perfectly countered with XM's Hear It Here Best). Oh right, sorry, Hear It Here First was a "pro-radio" campaign, not "anti-satellite radio" or anything. Sure. And that $28 Million spent in "pro-radio" advertising was worth every penny considering how many people continue to flock to satellite radio, podcasting and other alternatives.

So now it seems like terrestrial needs to turn up the heat. This time it's not about hearing anything first, but rather the message is: You shouldn't have to PAY for radio. (UPDATE: You can listen to the commerical spots here.)

I love it. Does the NAB realize that "pay radio" actually has a premium connotation? That highlighting this is actually benefitial to satellite radio? C'mon, Marketing 101 kids. XM tells you to Listen Large, and SIRIUS offers a Huge Gift in a Little Box, both positioning themselves as a superior product - meanwhile terrestrial scrambles to go on the offensive.

[Billboard Radio Monitor] 

XM Satellite Radio's SVP/Regulatory & Government Affairs Bill Bailey said that next week XM plans to debut a feature allowing customers to block channels via a link on its website.

XM currently displays an "XL" onscreen which clues parents in about potential racy content (ie, the good stuff). Should anyone want to have these channels blocked, they could call in to XM Radio and request it. Now, they'll be able to do just that through the click of a button.

[Radio and Records] 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio and Phil Jackson, legendary head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, have hooked up to host a one-hour weekly NBA talk show that debuts this Monday, December 5th (6-7pm ET) on SIRIUS channel 123.

The Phil Jackson Show will feature noneother than Phil Jackson (as himself) next to veteran broadcaster Ian Eagle, and will include a mix of basketball talk and interviews. The show willdraw on Jackson's experiences from more than four decades in the game and airs every Monday on SIRIUS throughout the NBA season.

[Press Release] 

I'm getting a few reports that the DISH Network is giving away free Sirius Satellite Radio receivers (reportedly the Xact Visor) to new subscribers. Has anyone else heard/seen anything about this? Email me. More info on this as information develops...

Howard Stern is doing a photo shoot today for the cover of Newsweek in an upcoming issue. Howard 100 News will be there with behind the scenes goodies - tune in at 6PM today for all the action.

Also, Howard will be making the rounds as the countdown nears the end. He'll be on 60 minutes this Sunday December 4th, and making an appearance on Saturday Night Live on December 17th (the day after he goes off the air in terrestrial).

UPDATE: The NY Post reports that Stern talked to Katie Couric last week in a pre-taped interview for the "Today" show set to air next Monday. In it he discusses his 2001 divorce with Alison Berns.

These are some eye-popping numbers coming from SG Cowen analyst Tom Watts. In his research report he raised his estimated subscriber count to 74 million through 2015 (this up from his previously estimated 60 million).

For XM he estimates ending the count at 41 million subscribers and Sirius being at 33 million susbcribers by year's end 2015. Wow.

[Forbes] 

Finally, the ridiculousness is over as the damn "arch enemy" of O&A was finally revealed today. Former WXRK-FM/New York Program Director (and Operations Manager at WNEW when it turned gaygirlie as "Blink" for a brief stint) Steve Kingston has jumped to satellite radio as XM Satellite Radio's new Senior Director/Label Relations. 

Steve will be working directly with record labels to help break new artists, create special XM promotional opportunities and secure artists for exclusive XM performances. 

[FoundryMusic] 

The rumors were true, Rob Cross aka "Chuck Roast" former Operations Manager for WXRK-FM/New York, has joined up with SIRIUS Satellite Radio as Director of Programming for MAXIM Radio, channel 108.

Cross, who was with WXRK for two and a half years as Operations Manager, starts with SIRIUS on December 6th.

There's a great article in the Wall Street Journal today that profiles Howard Stern's Video On-Demand Executive Producer Doug Goodstein.

Gives some great insight into the steps needed to put together all the content for this new program.

A very nice read, go check it out.

I've been hearing whispers about this for a while (and some not so quiet), but now Alan Colmes has announced on the air that Fox News will be leaving Sirius unless they can come to agreements and is asking listeners to show their support. His website even has additional details:

• As of December 16th, Alan Colmes will no longer be on Sirius Left.
• As of January 1st, FOX News Radio will no longer be carried on Sirius.

Listeners are asked to call 1-888-539-SIRIUS to let Sirius know that they still want FOX News. I have a funny feeling that there's something bigger brewing here than we think. Stay tuned.

[Get Sirius Info] 

This is one of those "feel good posts" that just warms the cockles of your heart. The first XM Canada subscriber, Michel Leblanc of Ile-des-Soeurs (can anyone pronounce that for me?) was awarded a free lifetime subscription, plus a MyFi, RoadyXT, and a Polk Audio home sound system. All for just being the first one through the door.

Damn I love warm cockles. 

[MarketNews.ca] 

I just want to take the quick opportunity to plug an alternative message board for your SIRI investors out there... oddly enough, it's called Sirius Alternative. Several of their members have been wonderful at supporting Orbitcast and I just want to return the favor by sending anyone interested in their direction.

Want to get some link-love yourself? Shoot me an email and let me know about your message board, blog, newsletter, cult or whatever. It's my hope to not only make Orbitcast a place for satellite radio news and information, but as a hub to find other satellite radio related websites.

UPDATE: I just heard there's also another Sirius message board, SiriusMoney, on MSN. Share the love!

Looking for the Sirius Canada channel lineup? As we found out earlier Sirius Canada will be providing 100 channels of pure satellite goodness, and now you can get the full channel lineup: English version here and the French version here.

[via Get Sirius Info]

That according to Tobin Smith's Changewave newsletter sent on November 23rd. Using the recent Jupiter Research report as a basis, Tobin is speculating that Sirius Satellite Radio will jump to 5 million subscribers by the end of 2006, and has set his moving target to $15. Crazy talk?

This is just blogging gold people. Anytime you see the words: Oral, Strippers, Lesbians, Midgets, and Shaving Ryan's Privates (a personal favorite) in a job posting, you just have to write about it. The Howard Stern Channel on Sirius is looking to fill a Production opening available, so get in there and send in your demo if you've got the skills.

So says Forbes, and I've written about this in the recent past. The RIAA continues to rear it's ugly head with satellite radio and the expiration of XM's and Sirius' contract in 2006.

"On the [MP3-enabled] device issue, we believe the worst-case scenario (due to a court or legislative decision) is that XM and Sirius abandon the new products if the fees become too onerous or add features that appease the music industry," said Banc of America Securities analyst Jonathan A. Jacoby.

Think it's time to start a letter writing campaign? 

[Forbes]

This article by the Hollywood Reporter has additional details on Howard Stern's In Demand deal. Definitely a good read if you didn't catch it over the holiday weekend.

An interesting thing to note is that In Demand won't be covering the Sirius Satellite Radio programming until March 2006. During now and April 1st the cost will be $9.95, until the Sirius programming goes "live" - then the price gets bumped to $13.95. I guess I'll have to officially fall on my sword about my theory that Stern's In Demand deal might canabalize Sirius Satellite Radio subscriptions - they're different markets, with VoD being more of a suplimental product than a replacement - and I'd now bet that Sirius is getting a rev-share deal out of it. Win-win.

[Hollywood Reporter]

Coming across the rumor-mill: 92.3 K-Rock WXRK/New York PD Rob Cross (aka "Chuck Roast") is rumored to be following Howard Stern and making the jump to Sirius Satellite Radio to become the new Program Director of Maxim Radio. Stay tuned as details develop.

Thanks Tim! 

[Radio and Records] 

The moment many have been waiting for has arrived! Full registration with TypeKey is now required to post comments on Orbitcast. You can register for free without worrying about spam or any other crap, and this also lets you to post comments on other TypeKey-enabled blogs.

For those who just simply can't deal with registering, you can still post. But your comment won't appear immediately and will only appear after my approval.  

Will this limit conversation? No! Because faithful readers (that's you) have been asking me to do this for a very long time. Too long. It's a new era around here, so let's all enjoy the fruitful conversation that's to come. Maybe we'll all learn a thing or two from each other.

'nuff said. 

Erikson Consumer has been appointed by Sirius Canada as the exclusive Canadian distributor for their Sirius Satellite Radio receivers. The initial product line-up will include the Sirius One,  and the Starmate Replay receiver as well as other Sirius receivers.

Canadians, don't fret, the Sirius S50 is expected to be available for you all in early 2006.

[via Marketnews] 

As many of us know, the Sirius S50 made it's way to many Best Buys and Circuit Citys across the nation this past weekend - of course probably due to the large orders they reportedly put in (450,000 and 300,000 respectively). But now I'm getting reports that retailers like JJI Electronics and The Sirius Store have received and are shipping their - and even Skybox put out a press release on it.

Numbers are limited of course, but it's just great to hear that it's hitting the stores (and before Black Friday no doubt). 

BBC Radio 1's popular morning program, The Chris Moyles Show, will broadcast to both the U.K. and the U.S. from SIRIUS Satellite Radio's New York City headquarters next week. During their 5-day NYC broadcast, host Chris Moyles and his breakfast show crew, (currently pulling in a weekly audience of ~8 million in the UK), are scheduled to welcome special in-studio guests 50 Cent, P Diddy and Jack Black.

The Chris Moyles Show will air Nov 28th - Dec 2nd (7am - 10am ET) on BBC Radio 1, SIRIUS channel 11.

This is awesome! The latest version of AOL Instant Messenger, Triton, improves upon a bunch of neato services like its current voice and video chat services, but also adds new awesome features like Internet calling (going after Skype) and access to 20 XM Satellite Radio channels.

The VoIP phone calls will be at a cost, but the XM Satellite Radio channels will free (ad supported). With 43 million AIM users in the U.S., this is some huge exposure.

[via The Miami Herald] 

We've all seen the Radio Shack Red Chair commercials (if you haven't go here), and now Radio Shack is kicking off the Holiday Season blitz with a Red Chair promotional tour. Five-weeks, 48 malls, and a ton of shoppers all sitting in their very own Red Chair making a video that they get to send to their friends.

The whole point is to get people to ask for that special gift from Radio Shack. Shoppers can select from one of several products to show in their taped message including... wait for it... Sirius Satellite Radio! (You knew there was a satrad thing somewhere in this post.)

Participants are then given an access code to view their holiday wish on RadioShack.com. A very creative promotion IMO. 

Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin will be a special guest on Jim Cramer's Mad Money on November 30th, at 6pm (ET). 100 lucky peeps get to sit in on the madness that is Cramer and witness the awe inspiring "Lightning Round" up close and personal. If you're into Cramer, I guess that sounds like a good time.

[via Get Sirius Info] 

Warner Music Group has become the second major label company (the first was Sony BMG) to settle against Eliot Spitzer's ongoing payola investigation and has agreed to pay up $5 million and abandon the practice as a result. How nice.

According to Spitzer's office, the payola took several forms:

• Direct bribes to radio programmers, including airfare, electronics and tickets to premier sporting events and concerts
• Payments to radio stations to cover operational expenses
• Radio contest giveaways for listeners, including flyaways, concert tickets, iPods, gift certificates and gift cards
• Use of independent promoters to act as conduits for illegal payments to radio stations
• The purchase of "spin programs" to artificially increase the airplay of particular recordings.

XM Canada launched today, and to kick things off they're offering the first 1,000 members of the "Founders Club" (the 4,500+ people who pre-signed for the satellite radio service in Canada) a discount of 35% off the Delphi RoadyXT, originally prices at $79.99. Not a

Starting next week, the XM Canada enabled satellite radio receivers will be available at retailers across the country. Check out XM Canada's channel lineup if you missed it. 

Thanks to everyone who sent this in! 

Jupiter Research has released a forcast that predicts satellite radio subscribers will increase to 55 million subscribers by 2010. This, up from an installed base of 12 million units in 2005. Very interesting. With XM stating 6 million subscribers and Sirius at 3 million subscribers for year's end, 12 million is blowing those estimates out of the water.

Pocket PC peeps can get excited now, because with the release of Pocket XM Radio Pro, you can listen to all your XM Radio Online content anywhere you want.

Yeah sure, it's $19.95, but if you're a cheapass, you can get only the XMRO subscription for $7.99/month and justify the whopping $20 it cost you to download the software. And you can listen to Liquid Metal anywhere.

There's also some additional info on this here. 

Thanks G-Spin! 

New York Yankees' All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter has joined forces with XM Satellite Radio to promote XM's MLB programming. The deal also includes a partnership with the Turn 2 Foundation, Jeter's non-profit organization meant to promote healthy, drug-free lifestyles and academic achievement for young people.

Jeter will also make regular guest appearances throughout the year on MLB Home Plate including "MLB This Morning" and "The Show." Jeter will be featured throughout XM's MLB marketing activities, including television, print and online media, as well as retail promotions. We first spotted Jeter in XM's Listen Large holiday marketing campaign.

I've had several readers email me with questions about a rumor that DirecTV and Sirius have a developing relationship.

The official word I have received is that there is no deal with DirecTV, but rather only with the NFL. Sirius does have a deal with the DISH Network though, but you already knew that.

"The Radio Chick" Leslie Gold has dumped Sirius Satellite Radio and is joining Infinity's WXRK (92.3 "Free FM") in New York. She'll be the new afternoon drive host there, commercials and all, starting January 3rd. Her four-hour program will also be streamed online (Oooo.. techy!).

Congratulations on making the wrong decision. 

Thanks lil' conner!

UPDATE: Get Sirius Info has more info on this and the reasoning behind why The Radio Chick decided to leave.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will present an exclusive, original radio special, called Rent: From Stage to Screen, celebrating the release of the highly-acclaimed new film Rent.

Rent: From Stage to Screen will feature interviews with cast members from the film and an onstage performance of the film's popular ballad "Seasons of Love," recorded at the historic Apollo Theatre in New York. The special will also include questions for the cast from SIRIUS listeners, music from the film soundtrack (which is selling like crazy right now), and profiles of composer Jonathan Larson, film director Christopher Columbus, and more.

Check it out on SIRIUS Stars on Wednesday, November 23rd @ 5pm ET.  It will have subsequent airings through November 27 on several SIRIUS channels (see the broadcast schedule after the jump).

Country music superstar Garth Brooks will be featured in an exclusive SIRIUS Satellite Radio special called "Garth Brooks Unlimited," premiering on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 24).

Brooks talks to SIRIUS New Country host Jim Kerr about his new Garth Brooks Limited Series box set, being retired, his life away from the stage, getting married to Trisha Yearwood, his family life, and more.

As part of Garth Brooks Unlimited, Sirius will also feature the music on the Garth Brooks Limited Series box set, including its previously unreleased tracks, the day before it goes on sale.

Garth Brooks Unlimited premieres on Sirius New Country Thursday, November 24th at 12pm ET (repeated on: Nov 24 @ 9pm ET, Nov 26 @ 12pm ET, and on Nov 27th @ 6pm ET).

XM + Napster Beta has been released! You can try out the 14-day free trial, but note that you must be an XM Radio Subscriber to use the service.

The XM + Napster full service costs $9.95/month, while the XM + Napster Light follows the iTunes model of $0.99/song. Both options give you access to the full 1.5 million songs.

UPDATE: From the press release, XM + Napster allows XM subscribers to listen to more than 70 XM music channels on XM Radio Online and access Napster's catalog for on-demand listening, purchasing, and downloading. The service seamlessly links XM subscribers to Napster to instantly find songs played live on XM by its world-class DJs, get in-depth information about artists, and discover new music and old favorites through customized music recommendations provided by Napster's professional music programmers.

Neat.

I've been getting dozens of reports about the first buyers of the Sirius S50 coming across some very unexpected (and disheartening) features, and it's causing a bit of an uproar amongst a few. Apparently the Sirius S50's manual was also updated (DOC file) to reflect these changes as well.

Here's the breakdown of changes that're getting everyone's panties in a bunch over:

• Recordings are limited to a maximum of 1 hour each.
  
• Only shows (yes, that's right only shows - not music) can be saved with a scheduled recording.
• You can record individual songs - not schedule a recording - after the song ends, the recording stops.
  
• Scheduled shows are limited to a maximum of 20 with a maximum of 2 hours per each recorded session.
• If you attempt to schedule more than 20 recordings, you will be prompted to delete an existing scheduled recording or to discard the new recording schedule.

Note that there is a distinction between scheduled recordings and "a la carte" (for lack of a better term) recordings. This definitely seems to have the reek of the RIAA all over it. While no 'official' announcement has been made (why would they?) it looks like the RIAA's stranglehold on the 2006 license renewals has made Sirius implement some last minute concessions to the S50. If that's the case, that really... sucks.

Who knows how this will affect the now delayed Samsung neXus and Dell DJ Satellite?

(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!) 

[via Sirius Backstage]

UPDATE: Sirius has issued a firmware update for the Sirius S50 that fixes a lot of these complaints. 1-hour blocks are now 2-hour blocks, and you can easily make this 4-hours with a simply doubletap.

Would anyone be truly opposed to a more moderated setup for the comments system? For instance, where you'd be required to sign into a trusted (no spam) identification system like Open ID or TypeKey?

I was going to ask this question as a poll, but want to open it up to discussion instead.

There was a time when anonymous posting seemed like a good idea, but with the incredible growth in the community here, the signal-to-noise ratio is getting out of wack. A vocal minority are discouraging those who have something useful to add to the conversation, and it's frustrating to me. So your input is appreciated and valued. If you don't want to post it public in a comment, send it in an email to me and let me know how you feel.

Thanks. 

Missed last night's The Apprentice featuring XM Satellite Radio? Well, if you have BitTorrent just go ahead and download the torrent file of the whole show. It's about 357Mb, but is really a high resolution and good audio.

Not sure who noticed this, so I'm posting this as a separate entry. If you have BitTorrent, you can download the full video of last night's David Letterman Show where Howard Stern made an appearance. It's a whopping 300Mb, so I'd be patient with the download.

UPDATE: You're looking at an old post from November 2005. If you want to see video of Stern's latest appearance on Letterman, then just go here.

Get Sirius Info has some great pics and even some audio of Howard Stern on David Letterman last night. He didn't unveil any new satellite radio receivers, but he did talk about his move to Sirius and had the numbers 1-9-06 on his sweatshirt. GSI also throws out the question as to whether the logo on Howard's arm is the new Howard 100 Channel logo (expected to be talked about last night).

Very cool stuff indeed, go visit Get Sirius Info and listen to the audio clips if you missed it.

UPDATE: If you're looking for a BitTorrent of last night's Letterman show, you can grab it here. 

It was great to see so much exposure for XM Satellite Radio on tonight's Apprentice. Great job on the product placement (logo was in pretty much every shot), lots of XM commercials throughout the show, E-Lo's hair was spectacular and the Apprentice special offer was a smart touch.

Howard Stern on Letterman tonight (11:35pm ET) - going to be doing an "informercial" for Sirius. Should be interesting, stay tuned. :) 

Sirius Satellite Radio will celebrate the holiday season with special Thanksgiving and Christmas music programming starting on Thanksgiving Day, November 24th.

Continuous Christmas music will be broadcast on two SIRIUS channels through Christmas Day, December 25: StarLite (ch 2) will play traditional and contemporary Christmas holiday music, and The Roadhouse (ch 62) will feature holiday country music.

(UPDATE: XM also has holiday programming, thanks to all who sent this in.) 

Check out all the other special Thanksgiving Day holiday music programming on SIRIUS after the jump:

The Sirius S50 is no longer up on Sirius' homepage. What gives?! Are the rumors of possible delays true? It's hard to say for sure, we're getting conflicting reports from all over the place. Ranging from Best Buy and Circuit City stores expecting their units in today, to possibly arriving next week, and other reports of the unit arriving on December 2nd.

This is getting exhausting...  

UPDATE: Just gotten word that the reason why the S50 was taken down off of the Sirius homepage is because it's been sold out for the Holidays. So you all can turn that frown upside down.

The Canadian channels were added to the XM Satellite Radio line up today:

XM Channel 52: Unsigned
XM Channel 100: Air Musique  (Broadcast in French)
XM Channel 102: Sur La Route
XM Channel 153: Laugh Attack
XM Channel 172: Franc Parler (Broadcast in French)
XM Channel 204: Home Ice
XM Channel 244: Canada 360
XM Channel 245: Quoi de Neuf (Broadcast in French)

Thanks to everyone who sent this in! 

WOW! Sirius Satellite Radio and Mercedes-Benz have extended their agreement with each other till 2012, and more importantly Mercedes-Benz has agreed to offer Sirius as a standard feature beginning with select 2007 model years.

To start, Mercedes-Benz plans to offer Sirius as a standard feature on all 2007 model year SL-Class and CL-Class vehicles, and all AMG and 600 model vehicles. They have plans to extend the number of models in the future.

All in all, total Sirius Satellite Radio volume is expected to reach about 250,000 (or 50% of Mercedes-Benz vehicles) sold over a two year period of time.

That's great news for Sirius!

We now have confirmation that Lex and Terry will in fact be on XM Extreme Channel 152, so the FMQB article was true.

But are they the 'arch enemy' everyone is wondering about? Nope. Let the speculation continue!

Thanks again Alan! 

I can't vouche for the validity of these documents, but an anonymous reader sent these to me and hell I don't see a reason why not to post it. Below are the supposed XM Canada IPO Documents in PDF format. Enjoy.

MRRS Decision Document (Preliminary)
News release - English
Preliminary long form prospectus - English
Preliminary long form prospectus - French
Preliminary Receipt
Preliminary Receipt

The Toronto Sun's recent article, Stern can't beam here on radio, explains exactly why Howard Stern won't be carried Sirius Canada when he makes the jump to partner company Sirius Satellite Radio in January. Apparently when Howard had debuted in Canada back in 1997, he said "the French should bend over for me the way they did for Hitler," and that didn't make the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council very happy. As a result of this fallout, it's inevitable that the CRTC would force Sirius Canada to remove Stern from the airwaves.

Thanks David! 

Lest anyone feel left out, after some poking around I found that Sirius Satellite Radio also received some top honors from the 2006 CES Innovations Awards. The Sirius S50 (in the Portable Audio category) and Directed's Executive Docking Station (Audio Accessories category) are ones that I found.

If you find any other mentions, please let me know. I wouldn't want to be considered bias or anything.

Five XM Satellite Radio products have been recognized as honorees for the Innovations 2006 Awards, including two "Best of Innovations" for the Polk Audio I-Sonic entertainment system and the XM Smart Digital Adapter by Audiovox Electronics. 

In all, five products from XM and its manufacturing partners were among the Innovations 2006 Honorees selected by an independent panel of engineers, designers and journalists including: the Polk Audio I-Sonic, the Denon AVR-4306 A/V Receiver, the Harman Kardon AVR 740, the Samsung neXus XM-Ready MP3 Player, and the Audiovox XM Smart Digital Adapter.

Also of note, Pioneer also announced their AVIC-Z1 hard drive uber-navigation system (which includes attachments for both XM and SIRIUS Satellite Radio) also was an 2006 CES Innovations Honoree.

We've been long awaiting finding out what the XM Canada channel lineup will be, ever since we found out about Sirius Canada's 100 channels. Well, the wait is over, because the XM Canada lineup has just been announced.

Here's the breakdown: 80 channels, 8 of which will be Canadian satellite radio stations.

Also of note, as many noticed with the Sirius Canada lineup that Howard Stern will not be in Canada, but with XM Canada's announcement, Opie and Anthony will be in Canada. Very interesting.

Get the full XM Canada channel lineup after the jump, or if you so wish, you can view the channel lineup cards: Front | Back.

Thanks Rob!

Gizmodo got their hands on a photo of the Dell DJ Satellite Radio/MP3 player, plus some extra details like a $300 price point. Finally, we get a glimpse of this thing (and you can see the titanium backing as well).

UPDATE: DAP Review has sparked some questions (and a slew of emails to me) about whether the Dell DJ Satellite will have 60Gb of space available. The answer is "no" - it's a 30Gb hdd (according to Dell's math = 15,000 songs), will have a color display, and will also be coming in pink as well as black (with the possibility of other colors?). You can read everything I learned about it when I was in the NDA room here.

Both the Sirius S50 and the Samsung neXus made an appearance in TIME Magazine's Bye-Bye Wires article:

• Sirius S50 Portable Music Player Record Sirius satellite radio to take with you on the subway or plane, where the service isn't available. You can sort saved songs by artist or title. sirius.com $360 (service extra)

• Samsung XM NeXus Music Player Like the Sirius product above, this portable player for XM subscribers stores satellite-radio broadcasts--and MP3s--to listen to on the move. samsung.com Available early 2006

And to boot, the XM's neXus made the cover. That's some good exposure.

Nice!

SIRIUS Satellite Radio has unveiled the initial programming details for Martha Stewart Living Radio debuting on November 21st on channel 112. Martha Stewart Living Radio will focus on all aspects of good living, including cooking, decorating, fitness, beauty, health, and “how-to” projects for parents and children, with Martha Stewart herself being a regular presence on the channel.

She will host a weekly one-hour program, Ask Martha, during which she’ll personally answer listeners’ questions. Sirius has put microphones at Martha’s offices, television studio, and Bedford home, so that Martha can pop onto the radio at any time.

A full line and explaination of the all the exclusive programming is available after the jump... 

In a rare one-on-one conversation with SIRIUS Satellite Radio host Dave Mac, Neil Young talks about his new album Prairie Wind, which he recorded before, during and following treatment for a near-fatal aneurysm on The Spectrum (Nov 17 @ 10pm ET, Nov 19 @ 12pm, Nov 20 @ 7pm) and on SIRIUS Disorder (Nov 21 @ 10pm ET, Nov 24 @ 8pm).

Also pop music legend Neil Diamond, who just released his highly-anticipated album 12 Songs visits SIRIUS Satellite Radio host and fellow Brooklyn native "Cousin Brucie" Morrow during Brucie's weekly SIRIUS talk show "Talkin' With the Cuz." They talk about their shared roots, Neil's new album and much more, exclusively on SIRIUS Satellite Radio channel 103, SIRIUS Stars.

Sirius Backstage has some more info on the Sirius S50:

"You can schedule 10 programs up to 4 hours each. All recordings are saved to My Sirius Shows. Just like a Tivo that has been programmed for the future. It will wake up if turned off from the home dock and will record with constant power from the car dock at the time of the scheduled recording. BUT has to be docked with a power source and a good signal to the birds. If you are using the S50 at the time of a scheduled recording, you will be prompted with an option to proceed or not. Same thing if you try to change channels while recording."

4-hours? Interesting. Also apparently some songs can be recorded while others can't.

David Frear, SIRIUS Satellite Radio's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will present at the Credit Suisse First Boston Leveraged Finance Media and Telecom Conference (link) in New York on Thursday, November 17th, 2005 at 2:45 pm ET.

A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available online.

Sirius' LIME channel will be featuring HayHouseRadio.com, a self-help/motivational online radio network. Hay House programming will be heard live on LIME, Monday through Friday from 4-7pm ET.

HayHouseRadio.com has been doing online radio since March, and hopped on the podcasting bandwagon in October. All this was built to help drive sales to the Hay House self-help publishing business. The addition of Sirius Satellite Radio to the mix should really help in that mission.

Read more in the Press Release.
[via Get Sirius Info]

The DirecTV / XM Satellite Radio deal launched today. If you're a DirecTV subscriber, you can tune in to the 72 XM Satellite Radio channels offered on DirecTV on channels 801 - 879.

The addition of XM to DirecTV's offering nearly doubles DirecTV's music offering at no additional cost. DirecTV subscribers get more than just music and children's programming, but other fun things like MLB "Home Plate" as well as High Voltage with Opie and Anthony.

So here's the breakdown:

• DirecTV Total Choice customers get access to 50 XM Channels
• DirecTV Total Choice Plus subscribers get over 65 XM Channels
• DirecTV Para Todos customers will also get the same XM channels, plus an additional 5 Latin music channels.
  

An Orbitcast reader found this ad in today's Daily Variety with some pretty bold copy that Fox News will be exclusive with XM Satellite Radio come 2006. We heard about this possibility a little while back in October and this ad is a strong hint towards exactly that. If true, which it's still not 100% confirmed, what would this mean for the Sirius / Fox News relationship?

Thanks SATRADFAN! 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio has appointed Stan Kozlowski as Senior Vice President of Strategic Sales Development, and consumer electronics industry veteran Mike Roberts has been appointed Vice President of Retail Distribution. Stan will be reporting to Jim Meyer (President Sales and Operations) and Mike will reporting to