Omni Hotel has put together a Sensory Advisory Board to shape "sensory initiatives" in an efort to enhance the hotel customer's overall experience. Ten members were selected for the board to provide non-hospitality expertise, one of which is SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

SIRIUS joins the ranks of other panelists like Apple, The Julliard School, Whole Foods Market, Benziger Family Winery and Bon Appetit magazine. The Sensory Advisory Board will convene several times a year.

Thanks Dave! 

SIRIUS Fan Network found a neat limited edition run of a SIRIUS branded Ford Fusion. Only 200 of these vehicles will be made available in the Toronto area  (so yes, this is to promote SIRIUS Canada).

The SIRIUS Ford Fusion comes with tinted windows, 16" aluminum dubs, a decklid spoiler, and a chrome tip exhaust. Oh, and SIRIUS Satellite Radio with a free 1-year subscription. 

Check out the landing page and the 8 videos promoting the car here. 

[SIRIUS Fan Network] 

XM Satellite Radio and WCS Wireless have announced the termination of their agreement for XM to acquire WCS Wireless.

At the time of the acquisition agreement between XM and WCS Wireless, announced about a year ago, the two companies had expected to close their transaction by this time. But despite both XM's and WCS' efforts to obtain government approval, it has not been forthcoming to date. The NAB strongly opposed the XM/WCS deal, and worked very hard to block federal approval.

As a result, XM and WCS Wireless have agreed to terminate the acquisition agreement in order to free WCS Wireless to pursue other alternatives for its spectrum licenses.

In commenting on the termination, Gary Parsons, Chairman of XM, stated, "With the inability to obtain the necessary government approval for this transaction in a timely manner, WCS Wireless needed to pursue alternatives for its spectrum with greater certainty of regulatory approval."

It was widely speculated that the acquisition of WCS Wireless would provide XM the bandwidth to broadcast additional satellite radio services such as video, giving way for devices like the XM Satellite Video Player. Whether or not this halts the satellite video project altogether is unknown, but XM did indicate that they would be able to provide these additional satellite services even if the WCS acquisition didn't go through.

Satellite Standard Group points out to us that SIRIUS Satellite Radio is now showing up in Home Depot stores, just in time for Father's Day. Very interesting point of purchase.

At first glimpse you would think that Home Depot is a perfect outlet to appeal to the male demographic. That is until I learned that while 50% of Home Depot sales are made by women, an even higher percentage of sales are being influenced by women.

So while the timing will have some perks, there's definitely some very well thought out long term benefits to this partnership. The fact that the Home Depot sponsored Tony Stewart just signed on board can't be much of a coincidence either.

[Satellite Standard Group]
Thanks Todd!

SIRIUS Satellite Radio has teamed up with the Archdiocese of New York to create a 24-hour, 7-day a week lifestyle radio channel entitled, The Catholic Channel, expected to launch in the fall.

The Catholic Channel will feature a modern format with an open dialogue focused on Catholicism in the 21st Century, as well as live daily masses from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

Listeners will be encouraged to call in to talk about the issues that are on their mind and in the news - everything from what’s happening in the Church today, to the headline stories of current events and politics, and the latest in the world of entertainment, the arts and sports.

Daily program hosts and guests will include members of the clergy and distinguished laity from across the land, including periodically appearances of His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York. Regular and previously unavailable content from The Vatican will also be a part of the channel, including programming from Vatican Radio.

Honda, who first introduced its factory-installed XM vehicles in 2003, has recently sold its one-millionth vehicle with a factory-installed XM Satellite Radio in the United States. American Honda will equip more than 550,000 of its 2006 model year vehicles with XM.

XM Satellite Radio is a factory-installed feature on the 2006 models of the Honda Civic, Ridgeline, Pilot, Accord, Accord Hybrid, Odyssey, and Element. XM is also standard equipment on all Acura RL, TL, TSX and MDX models, and will be standard in the all-new 2007 Acura RDX Sport Utility Vehicle.

Be Jane Inc, a media firm that develops female-targeted home improvement content, will be provding original content for MSN's new original content venture entitled... wait for it... MSN Originals. Set to launch on July 1st within MSN's Lifestyle channel, the programming features female-targeted do-it-yourself content.

Amid this article about MSN Originals hides a hint that Be Jane will be providing similar female oriented content to satellite radio. Whether or not the MSN Originals content will be distributed to satellite radio, or whether the content will be exclusive to satellite, is still up in the air.

So who will they partner with? Very good question. Both XM and SIRIUS are pushing hard for the female market mindshare, so it could be either. And if MSN is actually in this game, there's little clues there either. Microsoft has relationships with both XM (in the form of Windows Media Player) and SIRIUS (in the form of upcoming video content). So speculate away folks.

[ClickZ]
Thanks Tim!