February 2006 Archives

Howard Stern hastily arranged a news conference in New York today after the New York Post published a claim that CBS Radio was filing suit against him. Stern said CBS accused him of reaching a "secret agreement" with his new employer, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., even though he disclosed it to CBS executives and discussed his intentions to move to Sirius on the air.

Stern also disputed CBS's claim that he caused them financial damages by discussing satellite radio on the air, saying it was a legitimate story about the media and helped lead to high ratings for his show and sold-out advertising time.

Stern and his lawyers indicated that no lawsuit had been filed yet.

CBS declined to make any comment.

[ABC News] 

The frontpage of the Drudge Report shows that Stern says CBS Radio will sue. I can't open the link.

The story probably comes from New York Post's Page Six column who is reporting that CBS/Infinity Chairman Les Moonves is considering a $500 million lawsuit against Stern for breach of contract, due to failing to disclose the specifics of his Sirius contract to his bosses at the time.

"When you mention the name Howard Stern to Les, his face turns red and his rage becomes uncontrollable," said a CBS insider. "And Les has a bunch of Washington, D.C., lawyers who hate Howard almost as much as he does."

Until something is official, we're gonna file this one as a "rumor" for now. 

Reality TV star Jack Osbourne and pro skater Mike V will host Hostile Takeover on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Faction (Ch 28), during which they will choose the music played, and talk about whatever they want.

Currently starring in the reality TV series Adrenaline Junkie, 20-year-old Jack Osbourne made his name on the popular MTV series The Osbournes.

Mike V (Vallely) is a pro skater for nearly 20 years and has participated in the first-ever skate demo on Chinese soil.

David Lee Roth has done an absolutely phenominal job at promoting satellite radio. Losing over 75% of his audience in one month, he's proven to those who were on the fence that terrestrial just has NOTHING to offer the radio world. Infinity/CBS Radio had 14 months to find a decent replacement for Howard Stern, and this is what they came up with.

Great job guys. Brilliant move.

A funny article by Daily News radio writer David Hinckley highlights the Talkers Magazine "Heavy Hundred" list recently released. I have a couple issues with this list, and also with David's take on it.

1. The list is for the Top Radio Talkers for 2005. Not 2006. Howard Stern didn't make the move to satellite radio yet. So the whole spin that Mr. Hinkley is doing is a year off. Sorry buddy.

2. This "list" is a subjective. It's not based on Arbitron ratings, because afterall, the Arbitron ratings are their own lil' list. No, these are just based on "courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, service, talent and uniqueness."

The fact that Dr. Laura Schlessinger is ranked at #5 instantly raises an eyebrow about how this is judged.

Sooo, as a result, let's make our own list - Orbitcast's Top Talkers in 2006! Because... we're more relavent. :) This list is based on "courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, service, talent and uniqueness" and therefore must be true. Check out the REAL list after the jump...

We've been long awaiting these new channels from SIRIUS, and GSI was told that "there will be some surprises..." so we're frothing at the mouth with speculation.

So far we know Fox News and Fox News Talk are coming, as well as Blue Collar Comedy, Cosmopolitan Radio and of course Playboy Radio. Yet, as GSI points out, we haven't heard much about Radio China in a while. Interesting.

Here's the break down of channel numbers:

• Fox News - SIRIUS Ch 131
• Fox News Talk - SIRIUS Ch 145
• COSMO Radio - SIRIUS Ch 111
• Playboy Radio - SIRIUS Ch 198
• Blue Collar Comedy - SIRIUS Ch 103

Bloomberg Radio, SIRIUS Right, WSM and SIRIUS Stars will be moving as a result.

[Get Sirius Info]

SIRIUS Canada and Canadian Music Week, together with Standard Radio Inc, will be hosting a live concert in Toronto on March 3rd, 2006 in celebration of Canadian Music Week.

The SIRIUS Live concert will be broadcast live throughout North America from Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre and feature emerging Canadian artists Stabilo, Matt Mays & el Torpedo, Pilate and Mobile.

The concert will be broadcast live on Iceberg Radio (SIRIUS channel 95) Friday, starting at 7pm. Replays of the concert will be on Radio 3 (SIRIUS Channel 94), Bande a part (SIRIUS Channel 93) and Energie2 (SIRIUS Channel 193).

[Press Release] 

Ah ha! XM's Channel Guide (PDF) gives us a glimpse into the new XM Channels a wee-bit earlier than expected I'm thinking. Wanna make some bets as to how long this PDF will be online?

Just in case you miss it, check out this image featuring the new logos and their channels coming soon. 

...and now Paul Mercer has designed the user interface for the upcoming Samsung Z5 MP3 Player. I wonder if he had a hand in the Samsung Helix and Nexus?

[NY Times via Slashdot] 

While Big Radio execs swoon over the comScore Arbtiron report that there are over 7 million now listening to radio online, they continue to shrug away the 9.2 million Satellite Radio subscribers that're driving around listening to high-quality content. Online radio is fine and dandy, but wake me up when that nationwide WiFi thing actually happens.

Still technology isn't the point. It's all about content, and it's summed up right here:

Clearly, whether those who occupy the executive suites at major broadcast groups admit it or not, there is a growing flight to the new forms of radio. [...] Now we have a wave of people choosing - repeat, choosing - other audio sources. [...] If ever there was a time for broadcasters to start cutting loose with creative programs, it is now. [...] If not, next year you'll read how comScore and satrad report thirty million listeners.

Snippets of wisedom taken from Audiographics... well said Ken!

TWICE reports that the incredibly tiny XM Passport next-gen XM Connect-and-Play satellite radio tuner/antenna will be available in late-May/early-June. The 1.3-inch by 1.65-inch by 0.44-inch XM Passport mini-tuner will MSRP for only $29.99 and will be distributed exclusively by Audiovox.

TWICE gives a full SKU-by-SKU breakdown which I've put together in a shortened version available after the jump...

After reading this article on the chips in the Pioneer Inno, Samsung Helix and Nexus I'm pretty amazed by their power consumption.

The Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix both use Austriamicrosystems’ AS3524 Portable Audio Chip, while the Samsung Nexus uses the AS3525 chip. Both chips are similar, with the AS3524 obviously allowing for live XM Satellite Radio reception.

In playback mode, both the Inno and Helix have 10 hours of battery life. In live XM Radio mode they have about 5.5 hours of battery life. That's pretty impressive considering what's needed to receive the SDARS signal, not to mention power the 180x180 Color LCD Screens and all the other doodads involved.

So I got to thinking about how the Inno, Helix and Nexus stack up against the iPod in terms of power consumption.

After a bit of research I found that the 5G iPod Video consumes 1,000mW of power in playback mode. Now, consumption of course varies depending on what you're doing, such as starting up (1,800mW) or when the iPod is in "sleep" mode (70mW). But let's just focus on playback right now.

The Samsung Nexus' chip consumes 58mW of power during MP3 playback. Unfortunately, I don't have the numbers for the additional power needed to power the satellite radio decoder, but the playback power consumption alone is very impressive. Is this why they're restricted to 1Gb of flash storage? Too much power needed to power the SDARS decoder?

According to the article, the Samsung Nexus' chip has an ARM9-based processor subsystem with on-chip RAM and ROM, a CD-quality audio front-end as well as a smart power management and lighting unit. The Pionner Inno's and Samsung Helix's chips are similar but work with an analog front-end that is optimized for portable satellite radio reception.

The question that I have is whether these chips will eventually work with a hard-drive based unit (*cough* iPod *cough*). I assume battery life was comprimised when using a hard-drive based system, so they opted for a less battery intensive flash based unit for now, but do these chips have the ability to be ported to an iPod-like device once a more efficient power supply is figured out? Interesting thoughts.

While we're all tapping our feet waiting for more on the new XM channels, here's a couple links that correspond with the channel updates:

• The Big One on XM
• The Move on MySpace
  

Several XM subscribers have heard promos for XM Chill and Big Tracks saying that they will be unveiled on Wednesday, March 1st. You can hear the audio for these promos here and here.

The question remains, will the other channels arrive this week as well? 

Rumor has it that a big announcement is coming on Monday for XM. More on this shortly.

UPDATE: More channels coming? We're hearing t'ings. Will post more on this soon.

UPDATE 2: DirecTV has apparently pre-released some new channels that may be showing up. Special X due for a return? More info will be posted soon...

UPDATE 3: Here's the list of new channels that may be added to the XM lineup:

XM Fuego -  Fuego plays the hottest sounds in Latin music today — a hot mix of reggaeton, Latin hip hop and rap. Artists like Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego Calderon, Ivy Queen, Luny Tunes, Zion & Lennox and many more.

 
The Heat -  The Heat is XM's home for hip-hop, R&B and today's hottest music. This is the music that's selling all over America and burning up the charts.

 

The Message - a bright mix of Christian pop hits from yesterday and today.
Artists — Mercy Me, Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Natalie Grant, Jeremy Camp

 

XM Chill - XM Chill takes you on a voyage into the Chill zone ... a place that pulses with exotic and cerebral music known as smooth electronica. A European phenomenon that is finally emerging in North America, XM Chill is beyond a channel ... it's an experience in sound. Artists — Moby, Eno, Thievery Corporation, Zero 7, Chemical Brothers, Air

 

WorldZone -  The World Zone is alive with the rhythms of the world's emerging music capitals. This is the best of World Music -- the music that mixes styles and transcends borders. Produced in partnership with WorldSpace.

 

Enlighten - Southern Gospel

 

Special X - The best novelty music of all time. 

 

Big Tracks - Big Tracks picks up where Top Tracks leaves off ... these are the biggest classic rock hits from the mid 70s, through the 80s and into the early 90s. Artists — Fleetwood Mac, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Bryan Adams, Boston, Tom Petty.

 

Viva - This is the channel where Latin pop lives. Viva explores the rhythmic, contemporary side of Latin pop with the biggest superstars of the format. Enjoy the sounds of Shakira, Juanes, Ricky Martin, Thalia, Paulina Rubio and more.

 

Vibra - Vibra plays the best new Latin Rock from today mixed with classic rock from the 80s and 90s. You'll hear Juanes, Julieta Venegas, Mana and Jaguares.

 

Caricia - The softer side of Latin pop and love songs from the 80s, 90s and today. Caricia is where you'll hear Marc Anthony, Alejandro Sanz, Louis Miguel and many more.

 

This, combined with the expected debut of XM HD, sounds like XM is doing something fancy with their bandwidth though. Add to that the Samsung Helix and Pioneer Inno are having their immenent release in March as well. I'm wondering what else is at play here...

UPDATE 4: As Orbitcast reader "Bud Light" pointed out, Eric Logan did tease about new features coming in March being of interest to O&A fans. Download the audio snippet from the show and hear for yourself.

UPDATE 5: DirecTV has reverted back to their original channel list. Let's see how many of these come to light now.

The first of the advertisements for the Samsung Helix and Pioneer Inno are coming out. A reader sent in this link to a thread on XM411 where someone scanned in the ad.

You can view the Inno/Helix ad after the jump...

David Frear, SIRIUS Satellite Radio Executive VP and CFO, will present at the Bear Stearns Annual Media Conference in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 3.45 pm ET.

A live audio webcast will be available on the Investor Relations section of SIRIUS' website.

An article over at Adotas points to some very interesting future functionality that may be in store for XM's Push-to-Purchase feature. When the Samsung Helix XMP3 device hits the streets, so will the first units with the XM+Napster functionailty where you can "tag" songs for purchase later. Great idea.

But it seems XM has more ideas for what they can do with this "buy button" concept, as D. Scott Karnedy, senior VP-ad sales for XM Satellite Radio, said at a radio panel last week.

"The next generation [after that] will be that if you want to hit that button for more information about that product you just heard described."

Suddenly radio will be transformed from a branding medium for advertisers, to a direct-response medium. That inevitably will lead to more advertising dollars as marketers learn the benefits of advertising on satellite radio as opposed to other mediums. Awesome.

[Adotas]

Also at:
[Media Buyer Planner]

Read an interesting article today in the globeandmail about bringing mobile video over to the land of upright Mounties. Apparently XM Canada told analysts yesterday that XM Radio (the US version) is in the process of introducing video-equipped receivers that may eventually drive a significant portion of the industry's revenue. Meanwhile Sirius Canada CEO Mark Redmond said their own technology is aimed at the "backseat viewers" such as children who want to watch music videos in cars. "It's probably late 2006 at best," Redmond said.

Now, we know the upcoming Samsung Helix and Pioneer Inno will be supporting JPEG video for clip playback, but no other signs of a PVP (Portable Video Player) have reared their head lately.

Last month, our heads were swimming with thoughts mobile video delivered via satellite radio network, but nothing concrete. There was the C&C Air (watch video) that mentioned support for XM or SIRIUS when introduced in the US later this year, but that seemed more like a PSP competitor that simply might support satellite radio.

Then there was this blog post by On2 Technologies CEO Doug McIntyre hinting towards an On2 VP7 enabled portable video device. There it clearly says that the video content is downloaded via the XM Satellite network. Also Doug talks about scheduling of video content:

"You don’t even have to do anything, the device can automatically download schedules content, kind of like a TiVo. When you wake up in the morning all of your new shows, news, etc. is ready to go with you out the door."

Very interesting stuff. Further inquires to On2 pretty much led to a deadend (I can post the email exchange, but it really wasn't all that fruitful). Was the post a misguided reference to the Inno and/or Helix? Doubtful, but possible. And I don't think he was confusing the Helix/Inno with the in-vehicle video shown at CES 2006 - so there may be a mystery XM PVP device in the horizon.

And then there's SIRIUS. Not only are they looking into the backseat kind of mobile video (coincidence that music videos were mentioned?) but the last reports we heard they were on-track for a mid-2006 release of SIRIUS' own Portable Video Player. 

With all the hubbub speculation about what "fun new products" Apple will announce next week, and how we're all secretly praying the Touchscreen Video iPod (fake Photochop pictured above) could one day be real - one has to wonder how far behind are XM and SIRIUS? Every year we're heard about satellite video at every CES, so this is something they have been thinking on for quite sometime. Will we finally see it all come to fruition soon?

SIRIUS Canada will be the title sponsor of the Entertainer of the Year Award at the 2006 East Coast Music Awards being held on February 27 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

The SIRIUS Satellite Radio ECMA Entertainer of the Year Award is among the most sought after awards because it's the only award chosen by the fans. East Coast music fans from across Canada can vote for their top pick by calling 1-900-870-ECMA (3262), text message or online at: www.ecma.com.

Voting is open until 4 a.m. ET on Monday, February 27.

[Press Release] 

A reader sent in this absolutely hilarious Avis commercial featuring XM Satellite Radio. I don't care what side of the fence you're on, this commercial is the kind that can be played over and over again. (Please note: Flash 8 required to stack cheese.)

Thanks candlebougie! 

Self-proclaimed as the Mother of All Film Festivals, The Howard Stern Film Festival will be held in Manhattan on April 27th. According to the press release:

"Forget Sundance and Cannes, The Howard Stern Film Festival is destined to become the most talked about film festival of 2006. And, he's inviting his fans to join in."

The Howard Stern Film Festival will anoint the next great American filmmaker by Howard and his distinguished judges and will be catapulted into stardom on April 28th when Howard's loyal fans will be able to view this and other outrageous selections from the Festival on Howard TV On Demand.

Submissions are due by April 11th and are open now. Entries should be no more than five minutes in length and should demonstrate creative film interpretations of "Howard Stern" related storylines. Festival winners will be awarded an aggregate of $25,000 in cash. Finalists and other notable projects will run exclusively on Howard TV On Demand following the event.

The top three films will be awarded prizes as follows:

• 1st Place ($15,000)
• 2nd Place ($7,500)
• 3rd Place ($2,500)

Just to add a bit to yesterday's "HD Radio" is not really "HD" - apparently "Free FM" isn't really meant to be "free" afterall. CBS Radio (formally Infinity) officials deny that "free" is a reference to cost, but rather to the spirit of its content, as in "free form" or "free for all."

Blech.

Audiographics has an incredibly poignant article on the Radio Industry's own doubts about HD Radio. HD Radio, as you might recall, is terrestrial radio's retort to Satellite Radio. Their tactical approach to countering technology with technology, rather than fixing the root of the problem. See, we all know it's not the technology that makes the service unique - and apparently so do the suits sitting over there at the HD Radio Alliance:

"I'm probably not as excited about HD radio as others have been," said Judy Ellis, chief operating officer for Citadel Broadcasting. "I fear that HD is more for Wall Street than for consumers."

If you want to get an idea of how lost and confused the radio industry is, just look at the name "HD Radio" itself. Fact is, the "HD" in HD Radio doesn't actually stand for "high definition" at all.

"Quite honestly, it doesn't stand for anything," said Peter Ferrera, president and CEO of the HD Digital Radio Alliance. "The concept was somewhat of a steal from HD television, where viewers know it means better quality."

That's a great idea. I think Volkswagon should rename their diesel vehicles to "hybrid" vehicles - because afterall they both get high gas mileage

Thanks tim! 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will be launching Court TV Morning Radio, a weekday call-in radio news program hosted by Court TV News' Vinnie Politan, debuting on March 20th, weekdays 6am-9am on Court TV Radio, SIRIUS Channel 110.

Court TV Morning Radio, will provide a preview to the day's court coverage, carried throughout the day on SIRIUS' Court TV Radio channel. The show will feature the legal "take" on the big news, sports, and entertainment stories of the morning, as well as going behind the headlines with in-depth coverage related to crime, justice and the legal system.

Utilizing all of the network's resources, including reports from its widely popular Smoking Gun website (thesmokinggun.com), the show also has unparalleled access to the most important players on the bench and bar. Open phone lines and listener polls are expected to create opportunities for lively debate centering on breaking legal news from the entertainment and political worlds.
 

As many of you satellite radio industry investors know, this weekend has been a slaughterhouse since the earnings calls last week. With headlines like Satellite Radio spending frenzy and Satellite radio bleeds cash - you'd think the whole industry is destined for doom and gloom. But then there comes a phenominal article in USA Today that puts it all in a different light: Satellite-radio rivals mine new revenue streams.

Sure, both XM and SIRIUS are losing money right now - I really don't think that's news. But the sensationalistic media loves to tell a horror story and make fancy headlines out of what really isn't very surprising events. Kudos to USA Today for taking a different angle.

A truly interesting read in the Washington Post about the evolution of Bob Edwards. From his NPR days to now on XM Satellite Radio, Marc Fisher of the Washington Post writes of the development of Bob Edwards' style and the things that have been learned during the transition to satellite radio. Definitely worth taking a look at.

[Washington Post via Beyond XM] 

Looks like an Opie and Anthony pest used resources available to him to bring down the Stern Fan Network message board.

Check out the SFN homepage.

XM Rocks did a usability study on XM's website recently and I just thought it was an insightful little writeup. Points out a few pet-peeves people have had with it (no search, Mac compatibility issues, etc). I'd love to see a usability study done on SIRIUS' website as well. Would be interesting to see (and I can think of a few things to change).

Let's open this up to the comments. What are your biggest complaints/problems with either XM's or SIRIUS' sites? How about you Mac folks?

SIRIUS Satellite Radio just announced a new long term agreement to carry FOX News and FOX News Talk channels beginning March 14th.

The previous agreement between FOX and SIRIUS expired at the end of 2005. FOX News, which has more viewers than all other cable news networks combined, now rejoins SIRIUS' broad lineup of news and information at channel 131. FOX News Talk channel, which offers news, analysis, listener call-ins, and commentary from popular FOX News personalities such as Bill O'Reilly, Tony Snow, John Gibson and Alan Colmes, among others, will air on channel 145.

One of the biggest requests from subscribers is the ability to listen to Howard Stern online. This is something that SIRIUS and Howard would like to do, but the barrier to entry is essentially bandwidth/backbone concerns. Citing the huge online event of Yahoo streaming Howard's last day on terrestrial radio - the concern is that the load will be more than expected. "We're not going to do it until we get the technical issues worked out" to ensure the best consumer experience as possible.

SIRIUS would like to do it, intially, with no increase in cost. And if/when they do this, there will be no incremental cost to having to pay Howard as a result.

Questions about a possible subscription price increase are still up in the air, but as we just heard on the conference call:

"There is a significant opportunity for Sirius to raise the price," Mel Karmazin.

Martha Stewart Living Radio will be made available on SIRIUS Online today.

This is geared to target today's multitasking woman listener.

Also announced at the SIRIUS Conference Call - FOX News will be returning to SIRIUS Satellite Radio in March. A deal was reached between FOX and SIRIUS that both are satisfied with, and apparently XM got the same price point.

Mel closed with, "your welcome," to XM. :)

Mel Karmazin just announced at the SIRIUS conference call that a live wearable portable satellite radio receiver with MP3 capabilities will be on sale this summer. We heard about this new live portable unit a couple months back and its good to hear things are on track. This unit was demo'd to select retail partners at a private CES 2006 and the response was very positive.

Features known so far: 

• LIVE Satellite Radio
• MP3 Capabilities
• "Buy Button" for purchasing songs
• ...and a "few more surprises" :)

One question that comes to mind is to how the "Buy Button" will be implemented. Who will SIRIUS partner with to fulfill the purchases? XM partnered with Napster to get this done - who will SIRIUS partner with?

UPDATE: The reason why the summer is targeted as a release date is to ensure adequate supply for the Holiday Season. The Sirius S50 came particularly a little too late than expected, so they want to ensure a decent supply to meet demand.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio just announced their record fourth quarter and full-year 2005 financial and operating results - and as expected, these are some real good numbers. Ending 2005 with 3,316,560 subscribers (a 190% year-over-year increase) and record net subscriber additions of 2,173,302.

For the fourth quarter, SIRIUS added 1,142,640 net subscribers, pushing SIRIUS to the market share leader position for satellite radio subscriber additions for the quarter, and a 138% increase over net subscriber additions in the year-ago quarter. SIRIUS' market share of satellite radio net subscriber additions was approximately 45% for full-year 2005 and approximately 56% for the fourth quarter.

Average monthly churn for the fourth quarter and full-year 2005 was 1.5%, in line with guidance. Last year, SIRIUS added 1,554,108 net subscribers from its retail channel, up 123% from 2004. SIRIUS Satellite Radio also added 620,224 net subscribers from its automotive OEM channel, up 241% from 2004. For Q4, SIRIUS added 900,645 net subscribers from its retail channel and 241,705 net subscribers from its automotive OEM channel.

Subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) per gross subscriber addition:

Q4 SAC = $113
2005 SAC = $139 (21% better than last year when it was $145)

The conference call begins in about a half-hour.

There's this group called the FamilyMediaGuide (which is actually a division of the Media Data Corporation) who thinks its a great idea to sit there and track the amount of profanity occurences on the new Stern Show on SIRIUS. They even go as far as to dramatically call the system the "Shockulator" - a real bunch of silly geese over there. All in all, it's just an excuse to create press releases and generate awareness over their service.

Anyway, they counted the number of "profanity" occurences from the inaugural January 9th show, to the February 9th show - and discovered that overall occurances increased from 2.23 "bad words" per minute to 3.08 per minute. Isn't that shocking?

If you're really into it, check out the full breakdown of each word here. Otherwise, just move on with your life like the rest of us.

SIRIUS Canada will be offered as a factory option on most 2007 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep model year vehicles available in Canada.

Customers who purchase Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles equipped with a SIRIUS-ready audio system will receive a free one-year pre-paid subscription to SIRIUS Canada satellite radio service. More information about this deal will be provided later this year.

SIRIUS Canada will also be an exhibitor at the Canadian International Auto Show February 17-26, 2006. SIRIUS Canada's booth number is N6 and is located in the North building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

[Press Release]

Howard Stern wants retroactive pay and monetary damages for his daughter Emily Stern, who he says abruptly quit the Jewish Theater of New York production of "Kabbalah" because the theater's Web site had posted her unauthorized photo to exploit her father's name.

Yesterday, the theater fired back with a letter from lawyer Ron Kuby, who also happens to co-host a daily WABC terrestrial radio show. Kuby said he's ready to fight a Stern lawsuit against the theater and said Emily was trying to "bully the very theater that gave her the opportunity she so craved."

[FOX News]

WorldSpace will release results for the fourth quarter of 2005, after the close of the market on today (March 16th) and will host a conference call and webcast to discuss those results at 4:30pm ET. Noah Samara, chairman and chief executive officer, and Sridhar Ganesan, CFO, will host the conference call.

You'll be able to listen to a webcast of the conference call here.

Sirius Satellite Radio's Cosmo Channel will be arriving soon, along with several other new channels like Playboy Radio, Blue Collar Comedy, and more.

Sirius already has a page up on their website showing the Cosmopolitan Radio lineup (with hot lil' shows like Look Good Naked, Guy Spy and Love Doctor) and they have a teaser page for Blue Collar Comedy.

[via Get Sirius Info] 

XM Satellite Radio Director Pierce J. Roberts, Jr submitted his letter of resignation on Monday, February 13th. While the nature of the disagreement was not explicitly stateed, it is believe it primarily involved a disagreement between the strategic balance of growth versus cash flow.

Director Roberts has historically favored more stringent cost control in XM Radio, specifically involving lower marketing, programming and promotional expenditures. The other XM Directors, however, believe that high growth rate, market leadership and large base of subscribers are strategically important assets to ensure the long term value of XM and can be sustained while also reaching positive operating cash flow later this year.

Read the full resignation letter after the jump:

XM Satellite Radio just announced their Q405 and full-year 2005 results. In 2005, XM added more than 2.7 million net subscribers, to more than double subscription revenue to $503 million. XM also reiterated that they expect to be cash-flow positive in the fourth quarter of 2006 with $806 million in subscription revenue, and expect to exceed 9 million subscribers by EOY 2006 as well. By 2010, XM Satellite Radio is expecting to have more than 20 million subscribers.

2005 closed with exactly 5,932,957 subscribers (a 84% increase from 2004) with net additions for the 4th quarter being 898,315 subscribers. During the first week in January they then beat the 6 million subscriber number, just nearly missing their guidance for 2005, attributing slower than expected Holiday activations.

And now for the very closely tracked SAC/CPGA numbers (Subscriber Acquisition Costs and Cost Per Gained Acquisition):
Q4 SAC = $89 ($64 in Q404)
Q4 CPGA = $141 ($104 in Q404)

2005 SAC = $64 ($62 in 2004)
2005 CPGA = $109 ($100 in 2004)

Increased SAC/CPGA were attributed to higher marketing expenses to combat Howard Stern's move to SIRIUS Satellite Radio (or as XM calls it a "one-time competitive event"). In the first quarter of 2006, XM expects a more normalized market environment and projects that SAC and CPGA will decrease in 2006.

The conference call begins in about an hour. 

NASCAR superstar drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson will each launch their own weekly radio shows tomorrow February 16th, on XM Satellite Radio.

Jimmie Johnson: Not What You Expected with Marty Smith will debut at 7:00pm ET on XM's NASCAR Radio - XM Channel 144. Featuring Johnson and co-host Smith giving a behind-the-scenes look at the sport each week for a fresh perspective on racing, music, and more.

Dale Jr.'s Unrestricted will premiere at 7:30pm ET, also on XM's NASCAR Radio. Earnhardt will be talking about the latest happenings on the NASCAR circuit, as well as providing music and other personal interests on the show.

Jeff Jarvis' Buzzmachine has a great writeup on his recent visit to Howard 100 News and his experiences with the people and the processes of the channel. Very detailed, very well written and the underlying concept that this is the "New News" is an interesting one. Equating Howard 100 News to John Stewart and the Daily Show is an appropriate comparison - they are a satire of radio news. Yet another way that satellite radio is taking a jab at terrestrial.

The humanizing of news is another facinating point. Snip:

To old news folks, this is counterintuitive, but I believe that the voice of news must become more human to be credibible. We don’t believe that voice now because it is so separate, so staged and packaged. But when we get to know the person, we can decide whether to trust him or her. [...] The news makes plenty of artificial attempts to inject humanity. That’s why newspapers hire columnists: we token humans with opinions. That’s why TV news is overrun with happy talk. But we see through that.

Perfect. 

ESPN Deportes Radio, the new 24-hour Spanish-language sports radio network, is now available on SIRIUS channel 181.

Offers Latino listeners a variety of sports talk programming, news, information, and live events and features a premier talent line-up anchored by Jorge Ramos, ESPN Deportes Radio is one of the country’s most respected Spanish-language sportscasters. SIRIUS Satellite Radio is the exclusive satellite radio provider of all of the talk and news programs available on ESPN Deportes Radio.

Check out some programming highlights after the jump... 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio's Alex Bennett (SIRIUS Left Ch 146) just broke a rumor that the delay in reporting the news that Cheney shot err "peppered" 78-year-old Harry Whittington in the heart was due to an effort to hide or spin Cheney's female companion, Pamela Willeford. Pamela Willeford was part of the hunting excursion with Cheney and Whittington and was next to Cheney when the shooting of Whittington took place.

According to the report, the vice president's Secret Service detail had to decide what to do with Willeford by way of perhaps covering up her relationship with Cheney - hence the delay in reporting the news.

[Yahoo News and more at The Huffington Post]

I usually don't do these because they're sorta cheesy, but I got tagged by Mike @ Beyond XM with the whole four things meme that's been going around (you're supposed to provide four things about yourself) so let's just do this...

Four jobs I've had in my life:

1. Tech Support
   
2. Web Designer
   
3. Creative Director
   
4. Marketing Manager
   

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Goodfellas
2. Friday
3. Dazed and Confused
   
4. The Godfather (Part 1 and 2)
   

Four TV shows I like to watch:

1. LOST
   
2. Web Junk 20 (yeah Patrice!)
   
3. The Office
   
4. My Name Is Earl
   

Four places I've been:

1. Panama City (Spingbreak 98)
   
2. Cancun (Spingbreak 99)
   
3. Kawai, Hawaii
4. Bahamas

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Steak (bloody)
   
2. Sushi
3. General Tso's Chicken
   
4. uhh.. Tacos
   

Four websites I visit daily:

1. Gmail (all day long)
2. Digg
3. Engadget
   
4. Gizmodo

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. At a bar
   
2. The Eck
   
3. McGraw-Hill Building
   
4. In bed
   

Four bloggers I am tagging just cause that's what you're supposed to do:

1. Damian L
   
2. Mike K
   
3. Jeff Jarvis
   
4. Sean Alexander
   

OK, your turn.

According to Inside Radio, XM Radio's Scott Karnedy said at a IRTS Seminar that for the last two years “we’ve been selling the dream" and now they can "move the needle." Even so,SIRIUS' SVP Sam Benrubi says satellite radio is "not necessarily taking from traditional radio."

Analysts expect XM and Sirius to do $80-100 million this year - compared to $20 billion for over-the-air radio. Now, considering that the current satellite radio audience isn't anywhere near critical mass, the ad sales critical mass assumption is a little too preemptive in my opinion. That's like looking at Radio's ad revenue in say, 1946, and making an assumption on their own ad revenue.

Just as a report was released on XMSR, here's the report on SIRI (PDF). It includes thoughts about CFBE, Howard's effect on advertising, the end of the Content Wars and the question many are wondering about - SIRIUS' possible subscription rate hike:

"SIRI has stated that it has performed a number of price elasticity studies and that price points between $12.95 and $15.95 would not deter subscriber gains. While the street may applaud a price increase, we on the other hand would be more concerned about long term growth, increased competition from iPOD like devices, and perceived value when comparing cable/satellite subscription fees to satellite radio subscription fees."

Well said. 

The new Digital Antenna 233-XM-50 Satellite Radio Antenna is set to unveil at the Miami International Boat Show (Feb 16-20) at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Designed to work on boats, RVs and in home and office - the new 233-XM-50 is ideal for customers who want a high performance antenna at a great price. Tested to withstand extreme environmental conditions, the 233-XM-50’s UV stable acrylic sealed dome is impervious to damage caused by bad weather and salt water.

The 233-XM-50 satellite radio antenna will MSRP at $149.95.

[Press Release] 

WorldSpace's UPop channel will host three days of live broadcasts from Studio 2 at Abbey Road - the legendary recording studio of The Beatles - along with live pre-show coverage live from the red carpet of London's Brit Awards 2006 on Wednesday, February 15th.

"UPop @ Abbey Road Sessions" will feature three days of performances by some of today's global pop talent, including Katie Melua, Jim Noir, Kosheen, The Infadels, Backini, Young Knives, Asian Dub Foundation, Ellie Lawson, Jay Sean, Kray Twins and India hip hop stars Mentor Kolektiv.

[Press Release] 

Very interesting report here (PDF). They consider the GM spike in sales a one-time thing (makes sense) and that XMSR is a very strong buy since they're at a low that hasn't been seen in years (makes even more sense).

Disclosure: In an effort to maintain any level of editorial/blogger integrity, I do not own, short or have any sort of interest in seeing either XMSR or SIRI go up or down. So there.

I was reading through a recent press release by Sirius Canada (found via Get Sirius Info) and an interesting bit jumped out at me:

SIRIUS Canada began broadcasting in December 2005, delivering Canadians an unrivaled radio experience with the most channels, the best variety and the highest quality of coverage among satellite radio providers in Canada. Since its launch, SIRIUS has experienced tremendous growth and is now the fastest growing satellite radio provider in North America.

While SIRIUS Canada is not required to release subscriber numbers, though studies have shown they've gained more marketshare than XM Canada; still using that statement in a press release definitely caught me by surprise. Are we talking SIRIUS + SIRIUS Canada? That might be more believable seeing the incredible growth SIRIUS experienced from Q405. Calculating the rate of growth since launch-time in December could be easily misconstrued as something more than it really is.

Anyway, I'm just being an inquisitive little monkey and found that interesting. 

The Sirius Store is running a cool promotion from now until Sunday, February 26th where you can win yourself a free Sirius S50. But not just one S50 folks, oh no, two S50s will be given away in this contest. Here's how it works:

Write up a user guide on any of the eligible Sirius Satellite Radio receivers. Advantages, disadvantages, tips and tricks. These are the kind of instructions you can only get from people who use and love their radios. The two best user guides win the Sirius S50s.

Enter by sending in your submissions to contest@thesiriusstore.com (DOC or HTML please), or go to The Sirius Store and read more about the contest.

An interesting article on TWICE says exactly that. Apparently XM's contract with many suppliers prohibits the selling of XM Connect-and-Play style technology, without having some costly repercussions.

Snip:

During XM's contract period, home audio suppliers wanting to offer Sirius service are presented with what contend are less-than-optimum choices: One is offering the same product as two separate SKUs, raising the products' costs and forcing retailers to stock additional SKUs. The second is to offer an XM-ready product with built-in Sirius tuner, further raising the suppliers' costs. Said one supplier, “The cost of adding a full-blown Sirius tuner in an XM-ready product is cost-prohibitive for us given the fact that the model has to have wide appeal, and consumer pricing is critical.”

Interesting. Can anyone confirm this? They also mention possible delays of a SiriusConnect "portable" like the XM Passport because of this contract. The article is worded in a fancy fashion, with no official comments from XM or SIRIUS - but then again, I wouldn't expect one.

[TWICE] 

XM Satellite Radio has signed a long-term agreement with The BIG EAST Conference providing XM with the exclusive satellite radio broadcast rights to the BIG EAST Men's and Women's Basketball Championships along with select regular season games during football and basketball season. XM will have marketing rights to all BIG EAST Championship events, and promotional use of the BIG EAST marks, media and other proprietary marketing assets.

XM will start broadcasting BIG EAST Conference games on February 15th at 7:30pm ET on XM Channel 200 when the University of Pittsburgh Panthers take on the Providence College Friars. DePaul vs Louisville is on Feb 22 at 9pm ET and St John's vs Villanova on March 1st at 7:30pm ET.

XM also will broadcast complete play-by-play of The BIG EAST Men's Basketball Tournament starting March 8th. (Go Huskies!)

There's some speculation over at Digital Home Canada that this may be the case. With the announcement of the Oprah and Friends channel to be broadcast in XM Canada as well. This has raised a few eyebrows because XM Canada will need to comply to the CRTC's regulations by either dropping a channel to make room for Oprah, or by adding additional Canadian content to the mix.

The obvious choice would be to add more Canadian content. Reason being that XM Canada has an obvious disadvantage by carrying only 80 channels versus SIRIUS Canada's 100 channels. So can we expect 2 more Canadian channels and 18 more US channels in Canada soon? Time will only tell.

[Digital Home Canada]
Thanks tim!

The Rolling Stones are holding an unprecidented concert in Rio as part of their "A Bigger Bang" World Tour on February 18th. The Stones will play in front of the Copacabana Palace Hotel on two stages: The Mainstage with 16 sound towers and 8 video image screens, as well as the Stones' famous "B" stage, which can extend 55 meters into the audience. While this will be the third time The Rolling Stones have played in Brazil, this marks the first time that they will hold a free concert.

The concert will be multicasted via Network LIVE on AOL Music, and XM Satellite Radio on Deep Tracks, beginning at 7:30 ET.

This is just the beginning of the exposure blitz by the Queen of All Media. Oprah announced on her TV show yesterday the upcoming Oprah and Friends show on XM Satellite Radio, and it was plugs for XM all around. Simply the power of Oprah saying "get your XM Radios" is enough to get us excited.

Since most of the readers of Orbitcast aren't necessarily Oprah watchers and didn't catch the show yesterday - a loyal reader put together a highlights clip of all the good parts.

So without further adieu, check out the video after the jump...

So check this out. Remember the Sirius Schedule from yesterday - DogstarRadio? Well, I come to find out that there's XM Schedule available in RSS and OPML for folks to put into their favorite readers.

Built by Michael over at Beyond XM, he first put together the RSS feeds, and then due to popular demand did an OPML feed as well. Just plug the URLs in your favorite feed reader and your good to go! I love it.

Take a look: RSS Info / OPML Info

SIRIUS Satellite Radio has created a special music lineup just for you lovebirds for Valentine's Day. Don't worry player-haters, because SIRIUS hasn't forgotten you - there'll be plenty for people who detest Valentine's Day as well.

Check out the entire Valentine's Day lineup after the jump... 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will air up-to-the-minute news, interviews with athletes, recaps of the days’ most exciting performances and previews of upcoming competitions on the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy.

The SIRIUS Sports Olympic Desk will air nightly throughout the Torino Games from 6–7 pm ET starting Friday, February 10th - just before the Opening Ceremonies – on SIRIUS Sports, channel 123. The program will then air 5-6 pm ET on Sundays and 7-8 pm ET on Mondays. SIRIUS' Mike Yam will anchor the series and veteran sportscaster Tim Ryan, who will be in Torino covering the Games for NBC, will provide a nightly recap for SIRIUS on location from Italy.

Also from the SIRIUS Faction crew, Olympic gold medalists Jonny Moseley and Kerri Walsh and former Olympic skier Carrie Sheinberg will provide reports from Torino on Faction.

Following yesterday's Crutchfield speculation that early-April will be the ETA for the new Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix units, I come to find out that JJI Electronics has them listed for a "late March" arrival. Close enough to "early April" to maintain a realistic optimism, but more gooder nonetheless.

Have you been saving your lunch money kids?

SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio have both announced deals with Subaru to offer satellite radios as options for several 2007 model year vehicles.

SIRIUS radios will be offered as a port and dealer installed option in the 2007 Subaru Forester, starting in May of this year. In August, Subaru will begin offering SIRIUS as a port and dealer installed option in the 2007 Subaru Impreza. Subaru will also offer SIRIUS as a standard feature in the 2007 Outback Sport Special Edition.

XM radios will also be offered as a port or dealer installed option in Subaru's top-selling Legacy and Outback 2007 models when they debut later this year. The new B9 Tribeca SUV will also offer XM satellite radio when it goes on sales in June, and the new B9 Tribeca Special Edition will feature XM as standard equipment.

Both XM and Sirius will offer 3-months of complimentary service and waive activation fees for Subaru customers. 

[Press Release] 

Corey Deitz of About.com got the chance to interview Bubba The Love Sponge and learn more about the series of events that led to him joining Sirius Satellite Radio as Stern's afternoon drive guy.

Bubba also talks in depth about how liberating it is to now broadcast on satellite radio compared to terrestrial radio. There's a full transcript of the interview on About.com, or you can listen to the interview on Corey's Radio Radio Show podcast.

[About.com via Get Sirius Info]

I know it's a publishing faux-pa to write a headline with exclamation points, but this deserves one. And bold type as well:

Oprah has signed with XM Satellite Radio!

Oprah has signed an exclusive, three-year agreement with XM Satellite Radio, to launch the "Oprah & Friends" channel in September 2006. We heard a lot of rumors of Oprah signing on with either XM or SIRIUS for almost a year now, and now it seems it's finally come to fruition. This is huge for XM and for the satellite radio industry as a whole.

"Oprah & Friends" will feature original daily programming on a variety of topics including nutrition, fitness, health, self improvement, home, and current events from popular Oprah personalities including: Bob Greene, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Robin Smith, Marianne Williamson, Nate Berkus, and Gayle King.

More info on this as news develops. 

[Press Release] 

UPDATE: The deal is apparently for $55 million. That's $18M a year (not $55M a year).

UPDATE 2: XM Radio reports that the Oprah deal will not affect its target to break even on a cash flow basis by the end of this year. Currently at over 6 million subscribers, XM says its goal to reach 9 million subscribers by the end of the year is also unchanged.

UPDATE 3: That was fast, XM Canada will also launch Oprah & Friends in September 2007.

UPDATE 4: XM Radio CEO Hugh Panero told Reuters in an interview, "We're done with the big programming deals. With this last piece of the puzzle, after you sign a deal with the likes of Oprah, we see nothing else on the horizon of this magnitude."

Additionally, Oppenheimer analyst Tom Eagan found the deal to be very economical for XM. "On a per-subscriber basis, XM can break even on this deal if they add 145,000 subscribers over the three-year period," he said. "That should be very easy for them to do."

I'd have to agree. 

I'm happy to say that I finally was able to get TypeKey working again, so go ahead and sign-in again (or register if you haven't already). Also, the "remember my info" checkbox actually remembers you now. Brilliant!

I am unhappy to say that the intermittent errors (Error 500) that people have been encountering is a problem still at large. If you get one of these stupid messages, just ignore it, your comment HAS been posted (so don't hit "Back" and post again). Trust me, I'm working on it as best I can.

As always, keep sending me those emails with any problems or comments. I try my best to read and respond to every one of them. 

Yes, my heart skipped a beat when I read this headline as well - but we're talking about Charlie Logan, not Eric, which nonetheless is a sad event. Charlie Logan, three-time winner of Billboard's prestigious Music Director of the Year award and one of XM's original programmers, has left his Senior Program Director of Rock position (focused mainly on  Boneyard, Squizz and Deep Tracks).

Until a replacement is found, Dan Turner (VP Operations) will be taking over his duties.

[Billboard Radio Monitor] 

Ok ok, so maybe that's a slightly misleading headline, but a little horn tooting is in order. On yesterday's Howard Stern show, Howard brought up the biased survey we all got fired up over a couple week's ago. Stern pointed out exactly the same things everyone else thought of - even with a biased survey, 14% of the population is still 40 million people. Not too shabby.

The only thing that's even funnier about the whole thing is that the only people who care about these surveys are people in the industry. So, if you're on the terrestrial camp you can point to it as being gospel, and if you're on the satellite radio camp you can point to it as being biased and crap. But no one outside of radio cares. So let AMS pat terrestrial on the back... no one's listening.

[HowardStern.com]
Thanks to Ian and CrankyMediaGuy for sending this in!

I'm foaming at the mouth waiting for the Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix XM2go portables to hit shelves, so any word of a possible release date warrents a new post. A couple weeks ago the New York Times mentioned a March release date.

This time, the information comes from Crutchfield, where the shipping date is scheduled for "early April" for all three new XM receivers.

[Pioneer Inno XM2go on Crutchfield]
[Samsung Helix XM2go on Crutchfield]
[Samsung Nexus XMP3 on Crutchfield]

Win a trip to the 2006 NFL Draft on April 29th - 30th, with roundtrip airfare for two to New York City, plus hotel accommodation for three nights courtesy of SIRIUS Satellite Radio. All you need to do is enter in the sweepstakes before March 31st. Good stuff.

Thanks Rob! 

XM Satellite Radio will carry all 39 games of the World Baseball Classic, an unprecedented baseball event that features many of the best players in the world competing for their home countries and territories, on XM's Major League Baseball play-by-play channels 176 to 189.

XM will provide complete play-by-play coverage and in-depth analysis of the historic competition, which will open play at the Tokyo Dome on March 3rd and conclude with the two semi-final games and final game at PETCO Park in San Diego, Calif. on March 18th and 20th, respectively.

[XM Radio's World Baseball Classic via BeyondXM] 

According to Consumer Reports, the XM2go Battery Recall is being fulfilled at a rate of nearly 10,000 batteries per week to customers. The number of MyFi, AirWare, and Tao XM2go owners might be as many as 660,000 total - XM identifies those with suspect batteries through its subscription records. At that rate, it could take up to a year to get all the batteries out.

So here's a question, has anyone not received their replacement battery yet?

[Consumer Reports] 

According to The Street, there's a bit of speculation flying around that Sirius may announce a price hike at the conference call next Friday.

"Sirius has spent a fortune acquiring talent like Stern, and some investors are starting to want to see some payback on their investment. One analyst says it wouldn't be surprising to see Sirius raise its monthly rate $1 to $14. Consumers might not flinch if they think Sirius has better programming, and Wall Street can appreciate the move's boost to the top line."

Mobile phone combined with satellite radio

Abstract
A wireless telephony network provides satellite radio program information and content, in addition to conventional wireless telephony services, to eligible mobile stations of the wireless telephony network. The wireless telephony network receives satellite radio programming from a satellite radio service network, establishes one or more bearer channels (e.g., conventional voice channels or higher-bandwidth data links) and sends the programming to the one or more mobile stations via the one or more bearer channels. The wireless telephony network monitors and obtains billing information associated with integrated service delivery and coordinates the billing information with a satellite radio service provider. A controlling provider may be selected to control billing for the integrated services such that the customer receives a single statement.

Blogcritics' Craig Lyndall faced off XM vs SIRIUS in terms of technology in a review today. It's a somewhat biased review, not because Craig is admittedly a XM subscriber, but moreso because he's comparing a device that has been out for months now (the Sirius S50) to the Samsung Helix and the Pioneer Inno units which have yet to be released. Yes, he mentions the first-gen XM2go units, but the article really comes across as compairing the Inno/Helix to the Sirus S50.

Now, that of course doesn't elude the fact that Craig is pretty much correct in his statements. XM is definitely ahead of Sirius in term of technology. Even the most devout of Sirius subscribers/investors has to admit to that. Even just comparing currently available devices illustrates this. The S50 is a huge leap for Sirius, but the lack of portable on-the-go listening is definitely something that needs to be addressed. And articles like these only highlight Sirius' weakness. Not to be a negative-nelly, but I'm really hoping to see some true portable Sirius receivers in the coming months.

[Blogcritics]

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will release their 2005 financial and operating results on February 17, 2006 and will hold a conference call at 8:00 am ET to discuss the results.

You can listen to the conference call online on Sirius' Investor Relations website, or by tuning to SIRIUS Channel 125.

XM Satellite Radio has scheduled a conference call on Thursday, February 16, 2006, at 10am ET to announce and discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2005 financial results.

To listen to the conference call, you can either listen in on the webcast online, or call (877) 265-5808

Any speculations? 

BIGresearch ran a study recently that profiled the influencing factors for purchasing decisions by satellite radio listeners. Oddly enough, and I know this is going to shock everyone, but one of the things they learned is that the lack of commercial content on satellite radio music channels has less of an impact on our purchase decisions. Yeah, wait.. what?

Apparently the lack of commercials means there's less exposure to advertisers, which means that satellite radio has less of an influence on purchase decisions. This is ground breaking stuff people.

So they paired off XM vs SIRIUS listeners in purchasing influences, and here's the results:

Word of Mouth:
Sirius: 34.4%
XM: 36.9%

TV/Broadcast:
Sirius: 28.3%
XM: 29.6%

Terrestrial Radio:
Sirius: 16.6%
XM: 17.3%

Satellite Radio:
Sirius: 9.1%
XM: 8.1%

These are all for car/truck purchases mind you, with home improvement purchases showing similar numbers. Over the next six months, 17% of Sirius listeners and 16.2% of XM listeners plan on making a home improvement purchase, and 13.1% of Sirius listeners and 10.9% of XM listeners will purchase a new car or truck.

And since we're all such early adopters, satellite radio listener's planned purchases of big ticket items exceed the overall market place and generally exceed terrestrial radio. So while hearing a commercial on terrestrial is more influencial than satellite, the satellite radio listener is still more likely to act on it.

[FMQB]

Speck Products has just released a line of Skin-Tight Skins for the Delphi MyFi and the Sirius S50.

Well known in iPod circles for their well made iPod covers (they make skins for the Crackberry and the RAZR as well), Speck has set their sites on a new line of products for portable satellite radio receivers.

These are perfect for those of you who still leave the plastic on the screens of your players in hopes to prevent scratching.

The MyFi skin has an interesting texture that I can only describe as "gooey" with a finger-print looking pattern on the sides. They come in three different translucent "candy" colors: blue, pink and clear.

So for those of you who are obsessive about scratching, or if you just want to make your portable satellite radio player look unique, these are definitely a great option.

Rumor has it that the Hard Rock Hotel is in discussions with SIRIUS Satellite Radio and Howard Stern to bring Howard back to the casino. They're also supposedly in discussions for a co-branded original programming agreement. Let's see what comes of this...

Get Sirius Info reports that Playboy Radio, expected to be launching in early 2006, will in fact start on February 15th with a full programming launch by March 1st on SIRIUS Channel 198.

Interestingly enough, although this channel won't cost any extra to subscribers, it will require listeners to opt-in through Sirius.com or by calling SIRIUS Customer Service. A nice way to ensure parents won't damage little Joey's psyche when stumbling through the channels.

[Get Sirius Info] 

Using XStreamXM and SiriuCE, you can listen to your favorite online streams of both SIRIUS and XM the on Treo 700w. When connected to Verizon's EV-DO high speed network, and you're good to go.

Welcome to the very beginnings of convergence.

It's not just marketshare everyone's competing for, it's pocketshare. Cellphone + PDA + MP3 Player + Satellite Radio is inevitable. Just take a look at Verizon and how much they're pushing V-Cast as a music alternative. I would put money on seeing more convergence solutions coming down the pipe later this year.

[Everything Treo] 

SIRIUS Canada folks get to finally hear Howard Stern (legally) in Canada since he was cancelled in 2001 from Q107 Toronto. But now as a result the CBC finds themselves in a bit of a PR conondrum. The CBC, who owns a 40-percent stake in SIRIUS Canada, has a lot to lose should they piss off the CRTC - directly or indirectly. So while they own a lot in the business side of things, they need to ensure everyone understand they have little to do from the broadcast side of things.

"It's no secret that Howard Stern's program is not consistent with the kind of programming that you find on our [the CBC's] airways. But Sirius Canada made a business decision that was right for it, a decision that was based on the market's demand," said CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald. "We've expressed concerns about some aspects of the content. But Sirius Canada has in place significant safeguards to make sure that the people who are going to hear Howard Stern are the people that want to hear Howard Stern."

[globeandmail.com] 

Looks like the Dell DJ Satellite may be vaporware despite earlier rumors, as Dell just recently announced that they will stop selling hard-drive based MP3 players.

"We saw an opportunity to streamline and consolidate our portfolio," Dell spokesman Liem Nguyen said. "We made a decision to transition from the hard-drive products to flash players at the beginning of this year."

Well at the very least, we know that a hard-drive based Dell DJ Satellite is toast. Will Dell go the flash-based route like the Samsung Nexus? I'm not putting any money on it, but it could be a possibility.

[Daily Tech]
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Hey all. As you can tell I've launched the 3rd redesign of Orbitcast. There's a few kinks I'm still trying to work out and I'm sure a bunch more that I haven't discovered yet. Soooo I'd really appreciate any input on problems you all might be experiencing (especially from you Mac folks).

If anything looks kooky or doesn't work right, please please please shoot me an email and tell me. Also, if there's features you'd like to see - tell me!

Thanks, and I hope you like it! 

UPDATE: The TypeKey system seems to be going a little crazy. For now I'm opening up unauthenticated comments, so feel free to post away even if you're not logged in. (BTW: HTML is now allowed for comments as well.)

According to a study by Deloitte, in 2006: search will displace email as the most used digital application, girls will hit the video games, and subscription radio will soar. 

Using the interesting moniker "Subscription Radio 2.0" - Deloitte predicts radio will follow television as its business model evolves from being advertising-dominated to subscription-dominated. New delivery mechanisms, such as internet-based services, will be launched. That sounds pretty darn cool to be.

Unfortunately, someone got their nominclature a bit mixed up with thier press release. It states, "There are currently over 12 million US satellite radio subscribers; this market is expected to grow 35% through the end of the decade." I think they meant to say "listeners" instead of "subscribers" but oh well.

XM Satellite Radio will be launching "GRAMMY Radio," a dedicated channel providing unmatched coverage of GRAMMY week events on XM channel 200 starting February 6th through February 8th (the day of the 48th Annual GRAMMY Awards themselves). GRAMMY Radio will feature red-carpet interviews from the GRAMMYs as well as broadcasts of unforgettable performances by superstar artists at the most exclusive events during GRAMMY week. These include music legend James Taylor and a live broadcast of the memorable performances from the Clive Davis party (of which XM an official sponsor of).

This dedicated channel is part of XM's multi-year programming and marketing partnership with the GRAMMY Awards. Sirius, while not officially partnered with the GRAMMY Awards, will be doing their own coverage of the event.

[XM GRAMMY Coverage]

In addition to the big game itself, SIRIUS Satellite Radio will be partying it up with a variety of Super Bowl music and comedy specials on the big day itself, Sunday February 5th. Perfect for pre-game binge drinking, these live performances, guest hosts, and Super Bowl centric shows will be great background for your Super Bowl party. And for those of you who hate football, there's plenty of stuff to check out while everyone else is busy flushing their toilets at halftime.

A selection of some of the programming can be found after the jump... 

New England Patriots quarterback, three-time Super Bowl champion, and two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady will host a special two-hour program live from Detroit, on SIRIUS NFL Radio airing this Friday, February 3 (5-7pm ET).

Brady will host SIRIUS MVP Radio with regular SIRIUS NFL Radio hosts John Riggins - who was named MVP of Super Bowl XVII - and Adam Schein. The special, which will feature guest appearances by other Super Bowl MVPs, will offer SIRIUS listeners the authoritative breakdown of Super Bowl XL by some of the greatest players in Super Bowl history.

Start celebrating Canada! Starting this Monday, subscribers to the Sirius Canada satellite radio will begin hearing Howard Stern on his Howard 100 channel. Stern was not originally included in Sirius Canada's initial lineup announcement, so a grassroots movement of Canadian fans started purchasing American receivers and using US addresses (ie, the Canadian "grey market") to access Stern's new satellite channel. It was also the source of some product confusion as some Sirius Canada subscribers assumed they were getting Stern as part of the deal and we're truly pissed when they learned otherwise.

Well, now everyone can breath a sigh of relief because Stern is coming to Canada on Monday February 6th. Woohoo!

[Press Release]

SIRIUS will be launching a new exclusive comedy channel, called Blue Collar Comedy, featuring Blue Collar Comedy comedians Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, and Bill Engvall, as well as many others.

The new Blue Collar Comedy channel, jointly produced and programmed by Parallel Entertainment and SIRIUS, will begin airing in mid-to-late March on SIRIUS channel 103. In addition, a block of Blue Collar Comedy for SIRIUS' Truckers, channel 147, will be put together as a treat for you guys chasing lot lizards.

As part of the relationship, Blue Collar Comedy on SIRIUS will be heavily promoted on the front of CDs and DVDs, at Blue Collar comedian performances, as well as on the home pages of comedians' web sites and through mailings to their fans.

Costal Electronics, a company that specializes in Toyota Prius mods, has come up with a kit that seamlessly integrates XM Satellite Radio into the 2004-2006 Prius. The unit adds factory-quality XM into the Prius' touchscreen, so you can control the channels from just a touch of the factory monitor or from the steering wheel.

No wires are cut or holes drilled during installation. 18 Presets are available and the kit includes the tuner, antenna and all the hardware you need for only $299. And that includes 6-months free XM and free Activation. Wow.

[Costal Electronics]