SIRIUS Satellite Radio has inked a deal with Barbara Walters to air a weekly two-hour series that replays many of the interviews Walters has conducted since joining ABC in 1976. The two-hour series, entitled Barbara Walters' Best of the Very Best, will begin next year on SIRIUS Stars (ch 102).

Walters has also agreed to host "Ask Barbara Anything," a one-hour show where she will take calls from listeners. This show will air four-times a year.

"It is a wonderful way for them to be heard," Walters told The Associated Press. "So many of them are classics. It is everything from Lucille Ball and John Wayne and Bing Crosby and George Burns to Matthew McConaughey and Julia Roberts."

[The Washington Post] 

With local television stations carrying only 23% of MLB games now - with a total of seven major-legue teams being exclusive on cable - some feel that the same result is inevitable for radio. Edison Media Research's President Larry Rosin said to the WSJ, "it is probably inevitable that baseball radio broadcasts will go to a 100% subscription model... It will happen because there's too much money in it not to do it."

That could spell real good news for XM Satellite Radio as they will hold the exclusive rights to all major-league baseball games for over-the-air broadcasts. The MLB's own online subsription Internet radio, MLB Radio, will undoubtedly benefit as well.

And since revenue between XM Radio and MLB Radio is split evenly among the 30 teams, there's an added financial driver to make this happen. With already 23% of XM subscribers signing on primarily to hear the MLB, the revenue driven (and shared) due to exclusivity would make dropping terrestrial radio the inevitable future.

[Wall Street Journal (subscription req'd) via Inside Radio] 

RadioShack has a very nicely integrated product section dedicated soley to Sirius Satellite Radio. The integration of Sirius' content into RadioShack's site is really very well done. Just click through on the links from this page and you'll see what I mean. It links to pretty much everything you'd want to know about satellite radio and Sirius in general - all within the RadioShack site.

Really quite impressive. 

[RadioShack.com Sirius Store]

SIRIUS Canada and BMW Canada have inked a long term deal that will make SIRIUS Satellite Radio receivers a factory and dealer option for BMW vehicles sold in Canada.

Starting this fall, SIRIUS Satellite Radio will be available in select Canadian BMW models bundled with a subscription to SIRIUS Canada's satellite radio service.

By 2007, all BMW models will be SIRIUS Satellite-ready.

Here's an interesting deal. XM Canada and Toyota Canada announced the signing of a multi-year agreement today, offering XM Canada in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

Starting on August 6th, XM Canada will supply their satellite radio service to select Toyota and Lexus vehicles. 

Under the agreement, XM Canada will offer free activation plus 3-months of free satellite radio service. An additional 3-months is then matched by Toyota Canada, providing a full trial period of 6-months to the customer.

[Press Release (PDF)]

Looks like CNET has given us a photo of the upcoming Zing Wi-Fi MP3 Player - this very well could be the first actual glimpse we get at the new SIRIUS Wearable device - or at least something close to it.

Pictured above is the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled Zing prototype shown at D4. These "Wi-Fi Radios" have the ability to share music among friends, download music and upload data, and of course features a Buy Button (via Yahoo). There's also push-to-talk functionality via a Wi-Fi network as the device has a built-in speaker and microphone.

CNET makes it quite clear - the device allows you to stream SIRIUS content over a Wi-Fi network - not satellite. And state that the first Zing-powered players should ship this year, carrying the Sirius brand. 

Connect the dots.

[CNET Alpha Blog]
Thanks tim!

Zing issued a press release today where they officially announce the partnership between Zing and Sirius Satellite Radio. The release reads:

ZING also announced it is working with SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI), the fastest growing satellite radio service and its first collaborator, to stream live digital SIRIUS programming over mobile devices.

Bob Law, Senior Vice President and General Manager Consumer Electronic Division for SIRIUS commented: “The market for digital audio on-the-go is exploding. We are working with ZING to expand the availability of SIRIUS content on new platforms and bring the best in satellite radio programming to an increasingly mobile audience.” 

Closing with:

The ZING engine is also the first portable audio and entertainment solution that can combine wireless and satellite radio capabilities.

Definitely sounds like the Sirius partnership is at the core of Zing's business plan.