September 2006 Archives

Or at least that's what people are being told by Crutchfield.

Several Orbitcast readers have received confirmation that their pre-ordered Sirius Stilettos are on their way. One keen reader points out that the Stiletto Boombox though is still back-ordered.

Sirius' own website is expecting orders that are placed now to arrive the week of October 9th.

I myself am holding off on getting one until I get a better sense of what the live Sirius signal reception will be like. Plus at $350, it's still a bit too rich for my blood.

The Copyright Modernization Act (HR 6052), which seeked to change the rules on the licensing and delivery of digital music, has died. XM Satellite Radio ran a grassroots campaign earlier this week, in a mass email sent to all subscribers, urging readers to oppose this legislation.

In the email, XM claimed that HR 6052 would "drive up our costs and stop us from offering radios that allow you to record XM channels for your later listening - in the same way that TiVo allows you to record TV for later viewing."

Well, it's dead. When the bill's sponsor, Senator Lamar Smith, said he'd like to delay HR 6052 until next year, "a collective sigh of relief was let out from a few rows of audience, comprised of consumer device manufacturers and some service providers," according to Public Knowledge.

[Public Knowledge via About The Image] 

Put down those Curling brooms kids, because Sirius Canada has finally started streaming online. Online streaming was never available to Sirius Canada subscribers before, but now that has changed.

Another interesting thing to note, Sirius Canada offers a 7-day free trial period as opposed to the 3-day trial from their southern counterpart. News to me. 

Thanks Mitch! 

Recently the topic of Sirius' "Car Lot Subscribers" seems to have been picking up steam with terrestrial radio. The source of this frenzy is based on comments by Sirius CFO David Frear at the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment Conference.

At the conference, Frear was asked exactly how many subscribers are "cars just sitting on the lot" - of which Frear responded that in Q4 2005 the number was about 10% of subscribers, and this past quarter it was in the 8% range.

Listen to the Audio here.

Now, the terrestrial radio has taken this and ran with it. David Rehr's keynote at the NAB Radio Show, specifically highlighted "those 500,000 subscribers in empty car lots." Inside Radio (which sometimes seems like a good resource, while at other times is just a megaphone for the NAB) was actually the first publication I could find that threw out the solid 500,000 number after Frear's speech. Even Jacob's Media has gone so far as to compare Sirius' "half million unsold vehicles on car dealer lots" to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. (wha?! Apples... meet Oranges.) UPDATE: Check out this PDF by Inside Radio (pictured) to see how this propaganda is being pushed (page 26 - or you can read the full thing and see a photo of Mancow in a monkey suit)

But let's break this down for a minute. Is the number really 500k? In 2Q 2006, Sirius reported something like 4,678,000 subscribers. At 8% that's around 374,000 "car lot" subscribers. And as Frear pointed out, the average days these vehicles spend on the lots is around 90 days (culmatively... Bimmer's have a tendency to fly off the lots whereas Fords and Chryslers stick around longer).

Now, just for the record, I'm not criticizing Siruis' policy for reporting unsold cars as subscribers - I'm actually disputing the NAB's propaganda of a "half million subscribers" that they seem to be enjoying. The practive is almost understandable from an accounting standpoint since Sirius gets paid at the time of production. The only thing it does is make it difficult to compare Sirius net subscribers with XM's net subscribers - which is a comparison that only Wall Street does (and those who are running the numbers should be factoring in that percentage anyway). Other than that, why does it matter? As if Arbitron reports exact numbers.

OK, so the burning question, what about the year's to come? Frear said that the percentage of car lot subscribers is shrinking. That makes sense when you consider that Sirius' subscriber count continues to grow. According to Bank of America estimates: in 2007 the percentage will drop to 6%, with car lot subs equaling 542,000. By 2010? Maintaining the 6% rate, you're looking at a total of 964,000 car lots subscribers.

[more on TheStreet] 

There were signs that this would happen a few months back, but as many Sirius listeners know from the channel update a couple days ago - PRI (Public Radio International - ch 136) is no longer available on Sirius.

With no official announcement, the only "reason" we have to go by is what is stated on PRI's website:

Note: As of September 26, PRI programs will no longer be available on Sirius Satellite Radio. If you have questions and/or would like to provide feedback to Sirius, go to the contact page of the Sirius website.

I listened to PRI everyonce in a while, but judging from the numerous complaints in my inbox, there's a few more out there who are upset over this.

Starting tomorrow at 6am ET, SIRIUS Satellite Radio is devoting Prime Country (ch 61) to the music of George Strait.

You'll hear all George Strait music all the time, including his upcoming new album, It Just Comes Natural, which is being released this Tuesday, October 3rd.

"Strait Up" will broadcast music from Strait's entire career, along with excerpts from a recent interview, for five-days straight through midnight Tuesday night.

XM Satellite Radio will be broadcasting the Farm Aid 2006 concert live this Saturday, September 30th on XM's Americana channel X Country (ch 12).

The Farm Aid concert lineup will feature Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, as well as musicians Jerry Lee Lewis with Roy Head; Los Lonely Boys; Gov't Mule; Steve Earle; Steel Pulse; Shelby Lynne; and others.

XM's Ray Knight, Jessie Scott and others will co-host XM's coverage of concert starting at 3:30pm ET with artist interviews and live performances from the Farm Aid 2006 stage.

Just a quick bit of Howard talking about the Stiletto. Takes a couple shots at terrestrial radio as well. A good listen.

XM Satellite Radio in a recent SEC filing reported that they have lost their arbitration claim to recover  the remaining 20% of the value of the two Boeing 702 class satellites put in orbit (XM-1 and XM-2).

In July 2004, XM reached agreement with insurers that covered 80% of the amount insured. The problem lies with a progressive solar array power degradation issue that is common to the first six Boeing 702 class satellites put in orbit. XM-1 and XM-2 just happen to be the fifth and sixth Boeing 702s launched. XM walked away with about$142 million from the insurers thanks to this.

In August 2004, XM filed for arbitration to get the remaining 20% of the insured amount. It's this claim was rejected, and no further proceeds will be given.

Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

You know a message is just too complicated when the Local News simply cannot describe it to their audience.

Enter Minneapolis NBC affliliate KARE 11. They broadcast in HDTV, so it would make sense that they run a segment on HD Radio. The funny thing about this video is that in the middle of trying to explain what it is, the viewer undoubtedly will get completely confused. They couldn't have done a better job at driving people away from HD Radio.

Watch the video until the very end. That's where the anchor tries to sum it all up, yet she goes on so long that she has to make a joke about it (with her co-anchor and the weather girl chiming in as well). Unfortunately, the online clip doesn't show the end: where the male anchor crumples up his script and throws it away. Perfect.

Here's the problem. When you create a product based on the need of the company, and not on the need of the market, you're going to have an overly complicated message. The only people who need HD Radio and the companies who are pushing it. 

[KARE 11]
Thanks to lil' conner for sending this in!

So we all know that the Sirius Stiletto borrows its WiFi infrastructure from the Zing Player, so the next burning question is how the two stack up next to each other. Well, the folks at Gizmodo got an exclusive tour of the Zing player at yesterday's DEMO conference.

The verdict? It actually seems like they liked the Zing better. Granted, it doesn't have live satellite radio reception like it's bigger brother, but they gave the Zing the thumbs up for a better interface.

Check out the write-up for youself. They have a bunch of pics too.

[Gizmodo]
Thanks Zatz!

California First Lady Maria Shriver will host special coverage of today's 2006 California Governor and First’s Lady’s Conference on Women for SIRIUS Satellite Radio, set to be broadcast multiple times throughout the weekend of October 13-15, 2006 on SIRIUS Stars (ch 102).

Selling out in a record 72 hours, the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women hosted over 13,000 women to experience the theme "Connect Today, Seize Tomorrow."

California First Lady Maria Shriver will conduct exclusive interviews with featured guests and speakers. SIRIUS will also broadcast portions of select speeches from the main stage including Shriver, Martha Stewart, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Suze Orman, Anna Quindlen, Maureen Dowd, Tyra Banks, Tim Russert, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the first ever address to a women’s conference by his Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Martha Stewart’s speech was broadcast live today on Martha Stewart Living Radio (ch 112). Judith Regan also will tape a special edition of her SIRIUS show set to be broadcast at a later date on SIRIUS Stars (ch 102).

The launch of the Oprah & Friends channel, accompanied by frenzied blogging by your's truly, was also billed as the most successful channel launch in XM's five-year history in terms of ad sales, according to a report by AdAge.

Normally fellow listeners are accustomed to hearing ad spots by the likes of StubHub and BoDog.net - all fine establishments mind you - but not necessarily "A-List" in the world of advertising. So when big names avertisers like Acuvue, Dove, GE, Iams, JC Penney, SlimFast, Splenda, Target, Warners TrueFit, AirTran, Honda and Rinnai all buy into Oprah's XM radio show, one has to be impressed.

While XM is mum over the terms and length of the advertisers' contracts, they have categorized many of the deals as investments worth millions of dollars. Harpo and XM split the ad revenue between each other.

[AdAge]

UPDATE: The photo is of Oprah and Friends all pressing the on-air light together at a breakfast at the Rainbow Room in NYC.

Well, this is the day we've been waiting for. SIRIUS Satellite Radio has officially announced the Stiletto 100 featuring WiFi, Yahoo! Music Jukebox, the ability to save music, and more notably this is Sriius' first live portable radio.

The Stiletto is pretty much the worst kept secret in satellite radio, and if you're an avid reader you already know the features of this device and know that we've beaten this thing to death over the recent months.

One thing to highlight is the "official" inclusion of Yahoo! Music Jukebox with the Stiletto (suprise surprise). Any bookmarked song on the Stiletto 100 is moved to a favorites list, which is accessed when connected to PC. Yahoo! Music Jukebox then lets you purchase songs, full albums, or explore other artist offerings through the software or "other compatible online music download or subscription services."

Oh, and the MSRP is set at $349.99.

Read the full press release after the jump... 

The Sirius Stiletto is now listed in the SIRIUS online store for $379. Clicking the "Buy Now" button only results in a refresh to the store's homepage.

Sirius Direct also has the Stiletto listed for $349 which also indicated that shipping will begin on October 4th.

I'm also getting reports that SIRIUS' Behind the Mic newsletter has the same October 4th date listed, though the version that I received doesn't have this anywhere.

Behind the Mic did link to some great Stiletto information pages including a demo video (which we've seen before) and a full Stiletto mini-site.

Sirius Backstage has a good discussion thread on this.

Thanks to Tim, Steven and Nelson! 

Jane Pratt, founder and former editor-in-chief of both Sassy and Jane magazines, will host "Jane Radio," a live, weekly three hour show on SIRIUS Stars (ch 102).

Jane's show will feature several segments: from the "Jane rant" of each week to short segments produced "on the street," and "Jane Needs Help" (where listeners help Jane with her problems) and "Songs We Love."

"Just as 'Jane' magazine always maintained a 15% male readership, I am sure 'Jane Radio' will inevitably get some men to listen in and learn," said Jane Pratt.
 

Hugh Panero, CEO of XM Satellite Radio, and Oprah Winfrey rang the NASDAQ Opening Bell this morning to celebrate the debut of the "Oprah & Friends" channel on XM Satellite Radio.

Joining them were Oprah's "friends" who host shows on the new XM channel: Dr. Maya Angelou, Nate Berkus, Jean Chatzky, Bob Greene, Gayle King, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Robin Smith and Marianne Williamson.

Check out photos from the NASDAQ opening bell after the jump...

The highly anticipated "Oprah & Friends" channel (ch 156) launched today at 11:00am ET on XM Satellite Radio, with a special appearance from Oprah herself as she sat in with Gayle King for the debut broadcast.

"Oprah & Friends" will feature a mix of celebrities and everyday people in conversation with the shows' hosts, as well as caller-driven programming. Names such as Donald Trump, Julia Louis- Dreyfus, Annette Bening, Jon Bon Jovi, Nora Ephron, Carnie Wilson, Norman Lear, The New York Times' columnist Thomas Friedman, former presidential candidate Sen. Dennis Kucinich, and others are scheduled to appear on the channel during the first few weeks of broadcast.

Check out the original shows in the lineup for the "Oprah & Friends" channel on XM after the jump...

SIRIUS Internet Radio (or SIR) has officially launched today, and the pricing learned unofficially has turned out to be true. $12.95/month gets you an online-only account for non-subscribers. If you are a SIRIUS subscriber, you get two options:

1. An additional SIRIUS Internet Radio subscription for $6.99 a month. This includes a separate username/password plus the high-bandwidth streaming.
2. Upgrade your current free SIR account to high-bandwidth (CD-quality) streaming for $2.99/month. This uses your current username/password.

So what do you get? Improved sound quality plus and 75+ music & talk channels. View the sign-up page here.

Thanks Eric, Branford and Ryan! 

A recent article in AdAge highlights the fact that Howard Stern's ad rates have dropped to $5,000 - $6,000 per spot - with live reads maxing out at $10,000. That's about 1/2 of what Sirius was originally asking, and back in his terrestrial days Stern was commanding a live-read upwards of around $30,000.

But that's not really the interesting part of the article, because well it's not really much of a surprise. The interesting part is the listener number data coming from Sirius.

While XM does offer some audience data from a custom Arbitron report, Scott Greenstein, president-entertainment and sports at Sirius, said Sirius has hired a third-party research company to get audience data on "certain things our advertisers would need." The third-party data, culled from the unnamed research company, shows that 58% of subscribers listen to Howard Stern during the week.

That means there's about 5 million Stern listeners according to this data. Take 4.7 million Sirius subscribers multiplied by an estimated 2 listeners per subscription, equals 9.4 million total Sirius listeners. Multiplied by 58% and you've got Stern's audience of about 5 million people.

"Given the state of terrestrial, there are a lot of shows and hosts that would like to have that [many listeners]," Mr. Greenstein said.

[AdAge]

Howard Stern's former sidekick, Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling, is rumored to be getting his own show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

Insiders say Stern will announce on his show next week that Martling will have his own program on Sirius, which "will debut mid-October," says a New York Daily News source.

Martling said through his rep he has "no news" about a new radio show just yet. If this were to be true, it would be a great move in my opinion. Jackie rules. 

[New York Daily News via Wizbang Pop]

Oprah Tracker: Oprah will be on Good Morning America today (Monday) before the NASDAQ opening bell.

UPDATE:
Go watch the video of Oprah and Gayle's appearance on Good Morning America, where Oprah told Diane Sawyer that she looks forward to relaxing and chatting on the channel.

It took a couple days, but finally I was able to get video of the XM plug on The Oprah Winfrey Show. See it after the jump...

Oprah Winfrey and XM Satellite Radio CEO Hugh Panero will be ringing the NASDAQ opening bell on Monday, September 25th, to celebrate the launch of the "Oprah & Friends" channel on XM.

Oprah’s fellow on-air hosts from "Oprah & Friends" will also be there. Remember, later that night Oprah and her friends will also appear on Larry King Live on CNN at 9pm ET.

Sounds like it's going to be a big day.

NAB President and CEO David Rehr wrote a letter (PDF via SSG) to Sirius and XM, that coincided with his opening speech at yesterday's NAB Radio Show, where he called on the satellite radio industry to "voluntarily withdraw and replace all noncompliant satellite radio devices in circulation."

"...now that the FCC has approved the resumed manufacture of newly compliant satellite radio receivers, NAB urges XM and Sirius to take the next logical step of voluntarily withdrawing and replacing all noncompliant receivers already in circulation, to resolve existing interference to terrestrial radio service," Rehr wrote in his letter.

In his speech, he didn't just "urge" XM and Sirius to recall all non-compliant satellite radios, but he also went on to say that the interfering FM modulators are making satellite radio "both a subscription and a free service," and that satellite radio as a result "cannot have it both ways" when it comes to being beyond FCC indecency regulations.

Oh but David Rehr didn't stop there. He goes on to claim that the NAB isn't afraid of the competition because "satellite radio says it has at most 10 million subscribers, notwithstanding those 500,000 subscribers in empty car lots. But 260 million people listened to broadcast radio last week alone!"

You can read the full speech here. Feel free to email David Rehr, at drehr@nab.org and let him know what you think.

John Mainelli, the New York Post reporter who helped spread the rumor (twice) that Howard Stern is returning to terrestrial radio, has left the paper after receiving an ultimatum from editor in chief Col Allan.

Mainelli was told that he had to choose between his freelance job covering the radio industry for the Post and his consulting for terrestrial radio stations and owners. Something that was not disclosed in his articles, magnifying a possible conflict of interest.

Though Mainelli was pretty much regurgitating a report from Inside Radio, he did spice up his story a bit saying that Stern was having trouble booking celebrity guests (something that Gary quickly squashed).

Howard 100 News called attention to Mainelli's terrestrial radio consulting ties on air, which was quickly picked up by Jeff Jarvis' Buzzmachine.com. The information then made its way to the New York Post's Editor in Chief.

"I'm very disappointed, and I'm really pissed at Howard Stern," Mainelli said. "From now on, anything I write about him will have to have a disclaimer: John Mainelli has an ax to grind against this man."

[Radar Online] 

UPDATE: Listen to the Howard 100 News report below:

;

I wasn't able to grab video of Oprah talking about her upcoming Oprah & Friends channel debuting on XM Satellite Radio this Monday. But I do have the next best thing... audio!

So if you missed Oprah today and really really really need to hear what was said, g'head and feast your ears on this.

Audio: XM on Oprah 

Oprah is running a segment talking about her upcoming XM channel on The Oprah Winfrey Show this afternoon from 4pm to 5pm ET.

I'm working to get video of this, but if someone else is able to grab it please email me and I'll put it up for everyone to see.

The historic Ryder Cup golf tournament will air live from the K Club in Kildare, Ireland, on XM Satellite Radio September 22-24 on XM's PGA Tour Network (ch 146).

The biannual Ryder Cup pits the best golfers of the United States against the best players of Europe.   The U.S. Ryder team will be led by the world’s top ranked players - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk - and team captain Tom Lehman.

This will mark the first time that the Ryder Cup will be carried on satellite radio. 

Remember when SIRIUS and the Archdiocese of New York announced that they were teaming up to create a new channel? Well, that channel - The Catholic Channel - is going to debut next week on September 26th, on SIRIUS channel 159. Can't wait right?

His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, will be a contributor and a regular guest of the various programs on The Catholic Channel, as well as a regular celebrant and homilist for the Masses broadcast from Saint Patrick's Cathedral.

Check out programming highlights after the jump... 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio and Zing Systems will be presenting at the DEMOfall '06 Conference, September 25 - 27th, at the Sheraton San Diego.

The DEMO conference is generally used as a launch pad for new products offerings from leading tech companies. Previous DEMO events saw the introductions of TiVo, the Palm Pilot, the Danger hiptop, and Ask Jeeves, to name just a few.

Anyone want to take a guess about what will be debuted by Sirius/Zing? C'mon... take a guess.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio has teamed up with the Metropolitan Opera to create a new channel for opera lovers, appropriately named Metropolitan Opera Radio, set to debut on Monday, September 25th.

The debut airing will feature a live broadcast of the Met's opening night gala performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Anthony Minghella.

Metropolitan Opera Radio (ch 85) will feature an average of four live broadcasts each week throughout the Met's 2006-07 performance season, as well as Saturday matinee performances with live interviews and intermission programming. The channel will also feature hundreds of re-mastered historic broadcasts from the Met's 75-year history.

The boys over at XM411 have the first hands-on look at the upcoming SkyFi 3, along with a nice quick review of the unit. Some of the features described are what we saw earlier, but there's a few additional things that we didn't know about.

Here's the rundown:

• This is Delphi's first unit since the release of the Inno/Helix.
• The 2.8" screen the largest of any plug-and-play satellite radio receiver.
• Screen display flips between horizontal and vertical with press of a button.
• The SkyFi3 allows for 30-minutes of pause/replay functionality. The 30-minutes of replay gets saved even with the power turned off (sweet!), so you can just power up and keep listening.
• The 10-hours of XM recording is separate from the 2Gb microSD storage - where you store your own digital music collection. (No doubt this is to appease the RIAA)
• You can create hybrid-playlists between the XM content and the microSD content, but you can't copy the XM content to the microSD card.
• No internal antenna, but it does have an internal battery. With the optional Standard Wearable Kit, you get a live-wearable unit but with 90-minutes of listening.
  
• The optional Premium Live Wearable Kit gives 7-hours of XM listening (longer than the Inno/Helix) and 40-hours (!) of pre-recorded playback time.

Very impressive, and a great review (plus a ton of pics).

[XM411] 

HD Radio, the new digital radio format, for those of you keeping score at home, is now available from about 1,000 stations who are simulcasting in HD and in traditional formats -- which is still less than 10 percent of all American radio. Furthermore, the price of a new HD radio still remains significantly higher than a pocket or tabletop analog radio. How much higher? Well, this newest offering will set you back $300 when it becomes available in November -- and that little $20 "transistor" radio your Mom gave you in 1987 still works great, doesn't it? So yes, we're still listening to National Public Radio and baseball games in analog, thank you very much.

Looks like the pre-order pages on SIRIUS Authorized Retailers websites like Crutchfield and TSS-Radio are now back online.

This news comes following information that Wistron NeWeb, the manufacturer of the Stiletto, has received FCC certification today for Stiletto and its car kit.

Meanwhile sources have indicated that the arrival date for the Stiletto is September 27th. This is not confirmed and may vary for different retailers, so let's just say "the end of the month or early October" to play it safe.

[Satellite Radio TechWorld & Satellite Standard Group]

WorldSpace Satellite Radio will be broadcasting from the Virgin Festival at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore on WorldSpace's UPop channel. Live reports from the festival as well as exclusive backstage interviews will be broadcast all day Saturday, September 23rd.

The one-day festival will feature over 20 acts on 3 stages (2 outdoor performance stages and 1 within a tent) featuring artists such as The Raconteurs, Wolfmother, Gnarls Barkley, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, DJ Tiesto and a few more.

WorldSpace will also carry the Virgin Festival via "U-Podcasts" on their website, and will feature replays throughout the month on Bob (WorldSpace ch 177), Spin (WorldSpace ch 44), and Voyager (WorldSpace ch 11).

XM Satellite Radio subscribers also get UPop (ch 29), as well as DirecTV subscribers (ch 824) and if that doesn't cut it, its also available on AOL Radio.

[WorldSpace Presents: The Virgin Festival]

XM Satellite Radio's Chairman of the Board Gary Parsons will participate in a question and answer session at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XV 2006 in New York City, Wednesday, September 20th, 2006, at 8:10 am ET.

A live webcast of the session will be available online.

An article by the New York Post's John Mainelli set off Howard this morning on his show. Citing Inside Radio's claim (which incidently Orbitcast cited as well) that Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin was in talks with Citadel's CEO Farid Suleman, John Mainelli expanded on the rumor hinting that WPLJ or WABC were possible outlets.

Howard Stern explicitely stated on his show that he has absolutely no intentions of returning to terrestrial radio. He's quite happy on satellite radio.

You all called bravo-sierra on this one, and obviously were right (did anyone believe this rumor?) but just in case there was any doubt... there should be no more.

[New York Post] 

Side Note: A post on SeekingAlpha seems to think that a good way for Stern to boost his popularity, and Sirius subscribers, is by... uhm, podcasting. Pure genius.