OutQ, the first 24/7 channel dedicated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community, will be coming to the XM airwaves starting on Monday.
January 2009 Archives
OutQ, the first 24/7 channel dedicated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community, will be coming to the XM airwaves starting on Monday.
Bubba the Love Sponge is welcoming Super Bowl XLIII to Tampa by hosting the "Ultimate Man Party" at Thee Dollhouse, Tampa's premier men's club. The event will be broadcast live and uncensored this Friday, January 30th, exclusively on Sirius XM Radio
Multi-platinum Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol will be featured on the newest installment of Sirius XM Radio's Artist Confidential series. The Artist Confidential series will continue with exclusive new performances and classic shows from the Sirius XM "vault" that fans have grown to love, including performances by David Gilmour, Graham Nash, Herbie Hancock, Faith Hill, John Mayer and many others.
Sirius XM Radio are launching Sirius XMU Sessions, a series of in-studio performances from ground-breaking artists. Sirius XMU Sessions will debut on Wednesday, January 28th on Sirius XMU (Sirius channel 26 and XM channel 43) with a performance by indie rockers Blitzen Trapper.
Orbitcast has received word from multiple sources (one of which is extremely reliable) that the uSirius StarPlayr iPhone app - which will allow you to play Sirius XM Radio on your iPhone - will be going public soon.
Oh sure, we've known about the Sirius XM price increases for a while, and even got confirmation from Customer Service reps, but those CS folks are hardly valid sources of information.But nothing says "official" like a good ol' website page. And XM made the first move, adding a new page today outlining what you need to do to lock-in your rates.
And so it begins...
[View XM's Page]
[View Sirius' Page]
Thanks Nathan!
And so it begins...
[View XM's Page]
[View Sirius' Page]
Thanks Nathan!
SaveSirius.org, group of dissident shareholders led by Michael Hartleib, has asked Sen, Sam Brownback (R-KS) to call for a Congressional subpoena of Sirius XM Radio Inc.In his letter to the Senator, Hartleib claims that the protected documents are "nothing more than an attempt to obfuscate a crime."
Just when everyone was wondering whether Sirius Canada and XM Canada would merge, word comes out from the investment banking community that "the door is now open."
Starting Sunday, Sirius XM Radio will air a two-part
special celebrating the 100th episode of Nordic Rox, Sirius XM's
exclusive Scandinavian music show. The first part of the special will air tomorrow, and the second part will air next Sunday.
Sirius XM Radio's POTUS channel was broadcasting live at Inauguration Day, and we managed to get couple photos showing the great vantage point the team had.Pictured above, from left-to-right: Joe Mathieu, host of "POTUS Press Pool," POTUS producer Katherine Caperton and Tim Farley host of "Morning Briefing."
The rumors that Sirius XM Radio Inc. are raising the rates of some subscription packages have been confirmed by Reuters, as well as by several others. Sirius XM representatives haven't denied it to me either, which isn't "a confirmation" but it doesn't leave much room for doubt.So we now know that on March 11th, the online listening packages will increase to about $3 a month, and multiple radio accounts will go from about $7 to just under $9 a month.
The question I have: is this a good move by the company?
Word has come out over recent days that Sirius XM Radio Inc. is planning a price increase for multiple satellite radio subscription packages, according to a report on Digital Radio Central.
Additionally, Orbitcast's own sources have received word confirming these reports and adding further details about the rumored subscription price increases.
(Photo Credit: Scott Harrison)Bubba the Love Sponge held a in depth interview with the folks from FMQB in their latest issue of eQB. During the interview, FMQB asked about the reaction from Bubba's fans on Sirius XM after renewing his contract with the company.
"I think Howard said it best," replied Bubba.
Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. left the door open for a merger between its XM Canada operation and Sirius Canada yesterday at its investor meeting, but there was no clear signal that one is in the works.
"Are there synergies? Sure there are synergies," said CEO Michael Moskowitz after the meeting.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. was able to exchange more common stock for debt, again, this time it's 100 million shares for $13 million worth of 2.5% notes due this year.
Meanwhile, a group of shareholders led by the exuberant Michael Hartleib has demanded to review Sirius XM's books under Delaware law.
HD Radio has finally figured out a useful offering. It has nothing to do with "local" DJs or regurgitated "multicasted" content. In fact, it pretty much has nothing to do with radio at all.
Rather it seems that iBiquity has finally figured out that it needs to leverage the one true asset it has: bandwidth.
DCRTV is reporting that XM's in-house traffic and weather channels will come to an end tonight at midnight (Eastern), with Westwood One's Metro Traffic taking over. There were rumors dating back to October that Sirius XM Radio Inc. was debating renewing its deal with Westwood, but if DCRTV's sources are right, that debate is over.
The iPhone may be stealing the limelight lately, especially with apps that allow for listening to satellite radio on the iPhone, or most recently Slacker on the iPhone. But don't discount Windows Mobile phones. Especially when 20 million Windows Mobile phones were sold last year (that's right, 20,000,000).
The folks at StarPlayr aren't missing out on the opportunity for Windows Mobile phones either, and so the retail version of their StarPlayr for Windows Mobile was released today.
You saw a sneak peek of Slacker on the iPhone last week, and now the Slacker iPhone app is officially available in the App Store. What's even more interesting to see is the user response - already there are dozens of comments singing the praises of the Slacker iPhone app.
DJ Liquid Todd and DJ Icey, both former jocks from the Boombox channel, will be debuting new shows on satellite radio starting this Friday. It is yet another example of Sirius XM Radio Inc. being attentive (and responsive) to listener feedback.
Last year at CES, HD Radio showed off how small their chipset could get in a compact (albeit, ugly) proof of concept, even in a cellphone. This year, it's no proof of concept, and it fits in an even smaller package.
Starting this morning, Sirius Hits 1's daily morning show, The Morning Mash Up!, started airing on XM's 20on20 channel. The move effectively makes The Morning Mash Up! hosts Rich Davis, Nicole Biggins, Stanley T Evans and Ryan Sampson available to "over 20 million subscribers," according to Sirius XM Radio.
Sirius' popular conservative talker Andrew Wilkow and his show, "The Wilkow Majority," will be debuting on XM Satellite Radio's America Right channel, starting this Wednesday.
Right in front of the Sirius XM display at the Audiovox booth was the FLO TV in-vehicle live TV technology that Audiovox announced on Wednesday. Live Mobile TV arguably could be the "next generation" of in-car entertainment, so I had to take a closer look.
While the Sirius XM Radio "booth" at CES might have been a lackluster showing, the off-site display was far more impressive. But Sirius XM still managed to maintain a presence on the LVCC floor thanks to their partnership with Audiovox, taking up nearly an entire wall of the booth in the Central Hall.
AT&T announced its entrance into the in-car satellite TV/satellite radio market this week at CES 2009 with its AT&T CruiseCast service. Orbitcast got an up-close and personal tour of the new service, including an demo ride around Las Vegas.Here's another example of Sirius XM listening and responding to subscriber feedback. Starting on Monday, January 12th, former XM Vox host Robert Aubry Davis will launch a multiple shows featuring choral music from the Vox library on the Symphony Hall channel. This is in direct response to subscriber feedback after the loss of the Vox channel.
It's not out yet, but Orbitcast got a sneak peek at the upcoming Slacker app for the Apple iPhone.
The Grace Wireless Internet Radio is a tabletop radio that connects to Sirius Internet Radio (SIR) so you can enjoy music, sports, talk and entertainment from Sirius - without an antenna.
The new MiRGE radio, which has the ability to play both Sirius and XM services on the same receiver, was on display at the Sirius XM Radio exhibit at the Bellagio. And Orbitcast had the opportunity to play with the unit, as well as learn some additional details about its capabilities.Sirius XM Radio Inc. might not have had much of a presence at the Las Vegas Convention Center here at CES 2009, but they were exhibiting their latest devices - including the MiRGE and some new Internet Radio solutions - offsite at the Bellagio hotel.
Orbitcast is live from the Ford Keynote at CES 2009 where Ford Motor Co. today unveiled plans to upgrade its Ford SYNC system to include live traffic, turn-by-turn directions and information services to the vehicle by Spring 2009. It's a move that instantaneously threatens XM NavTraffic and Sirius Traffic services, especially since it comes from an OEM.
OK, so maybe the Sirius XM booth at CES 2009 is a teeny-tiny little bit disappointing, but they put to good use some signage space outside of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
miRoamer and Blaupunkt have announced a partnership to bring the world's first Internet Car Radio to market to both North America and Europe.
And there it is. Sirius XM Radio's booth at CES 2009. It's not a booth at all actually, it's just private meeting space. Yet another sign of stringent cost cutting measures being put into effect.
We heard a few months ago that Slacker would be coming to the BlackBerry, and today the company has announced the availability of its Mobile Radio application on the smartphone - for free.
As promised Sirius XM Radio Inc. today unveiled the world's first interoperable satellite radio - entitled the MiRGE. In addition to the new satellite radio, which will receive both Sirius and XM signals, the company announced a new subscription package to accompany the device.
Buy the MiRGE direct from Sirius - the only place you can get the MiRGE. Includes interoperable "Dock & Play" Radio + Vehicle Kit. (Now a new lower price!)
[Click for more info]
Get the MiRGE Home Kit and enjoy both Sirius and XM in your home, office, or on your other stereo system/powered speakers.
[Click for more info]
Audiovox held a press conference today during Press Day at CES 2009, and while the company covered many other areas other than satellite radio, the recent partnership with Sirius XM warranted a visit.
The most interesting part was a last minute unveiling about a live in-vehicle mobile video partnership, which allows for TV programming in the car.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. said on several occasions that the merging of broadcast operations was going to be an ongoing process, and now Orbitcast is hearing that another round of channel changes will be going into effect sometime around January 15th. These changes are in addition to the return of Strobe and Backspin to the Sirius XM lineup.
When Sirius XM Radio renewed its contract with Bubba The Love Sponge for two years, the one thing that both parties failed to mention was the exclusive rights behind the contract. Fans learned those exact details yesterday when they heard turned on their satellite radios to hear replays from Bubba's FM radio show.
It's that time again. This week CES 2009 will begin, and Orbitcast will be there in full force delivering up-to-the-minute live coverage of the world's largest technology event.
If you weren't one of the lucky few selected for the iPhone app private beta, have no fear. Because Chris Pirillo was kind enough to make a video showing off the new StarPlayr app and all its capabilities.
So go ahead and watch the video or check out additional screenshots here.
[via Chris Pirillo]
The app that lets users listen to Sirius XM on the iPhone is still in private beta, but Orbitcast has a limited number of invites available to readers thanks to the folks at StarPlayr.UPDATE: I've added some exclusive screenshots of the iPhone app to this post. Check them out below.
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