XM Canada is adding a new comedy showcase program, entitled Comic Stripped, to the lineup of Laugh Attack.

Comic Stripped, will also air in the U.S., is a dedicated half-hour of interview peppered with excerpts of each comic's best work.

"Having my comedy played on XM's Laugh Attack channel creates fans in places where they would otherwise have never heard of me, particularly in the U.S.," said Canadian comedian Glen "That Canadian Guy" Foster. "Shows like Comic Stripped provide a glimpse of the person behind the 'funny' and offers an opportunity to engage comedy fans in a way that goes beyond simply playing clips from my show."

Comic Stripped will air live every Friday at 8am ET on Laugh Attack (ch 153) with encores every Saturday at 3am/pm ET, Monday at 10am/pm ET and Wednesday at 5am/pm ET.

[via Marketnews.ca]
Thanks Lee!

Follow the jump for a list of upcoming shows...

XM Canada is likely to outpace the subscriber growth of XM in the U.S., the company said yesterday.

"We believe the Canadian market will surpass the growth predicted for the U.S., given the U.S. is in its sixth year of business and we're still in our early stages of growth cycle here in Canada," Michael Moskowitz, the company's new president and CEO.

XM Canada reached 350,000 subscribers as of the end of their first quarter (ending Nov. 30th), a growth rate of 86% over the same period the prior year.

Moskowitz said XM Canada has benefited from the promotional campaigns and product penetration in the United States. The awareness helped prepare Canadians for the rollout of the service.

"We're really at the infancy stage here," Moskowitz said. "We still have a low percentage of cars that come with XM, so I think there's tremendous opportunity."

"The best years are to come because we're at an earlier stage in the whole development of satellite radio in Canada," he added in an interview after the meeting.

As for the merger, Moskowitz said it's still business as usual up north. "Even if there was a merger it would take several months - upwards to a year - because there's (Canadian) government regulations that would have to come into play as well," he said.

[The Canadian Press]
Thanks Lee!

XM Canada has appointed Janet Gillespie as their new Vice President of Marketing. In addition, Donald McKenzie will leave as XM Canada's Senior VP of Sales & Marketing today.

Janet comes from Palm Canada Inc. where she started off as the Director of Marketing roughly eight years ago.

She led the marketing efforts for Palm handheld computers and smartphones, including the successful positioning and launch of the Treo smartphone product family. Most recently, Gillespie was responsible for wireless carrier business development where she held overall sales and account management responsibility for Treo smartphones to Canada's leading wireless carriers, including Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility.

In total, Gillespie has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and sales from a variety of leading technology and communications firms.

[mediacaster]

XM Canada has just announced that they've hit the 350,000 subscriber mark as of November 30th, 2007 (the end of their first quarter). That's a growth rate of 86% over the same period last year.

In order to align the definition of exactly what a subscriber is "more closely with industry norms," XM Canada's subscriber numbers now include rental cars installed with XM Canada's service for which they receive compensation.

When you remove rental cars, XM's subscriber base was 338,000 this quarter and 306,300 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2007. Still not bad, especially since almost all the growth is in self-paying subs.

[Press Release]
Thanks Roland!

Toronto based, Pop Up Retail Group, announced today that they successfully launched XM Canada kiosks in mall locations across three markets, and had them selling radios in less than 90 days.

The exact number of kiosks was not disclosed, but the timeline was supposedly aggressive enough to put Pop Up Retail Group's turn key approach to the test.

"Kiosks give us incremental sales, a great brand presence and further support to our existing subscribers," said Donald McKenzie, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing at XM Canada. "We are not interested in shifting volume from our valued retail partners. We expect their sales to increase as well in the markets where we have a corporate presence."

I suppose that kiosks must actually work for satellite radio, since they've been using them for so long. But my own anecdotal (and granted, limited) experience is that they're fairly low-traffic and low-key. I love the concept of a focused, branded retail environment - but just think it could be more immersive than just slapping some logos and letting people play with a radio. Even just to include one of those funky car displays (pictured) that are seen in tradeshows - or a variation of them - would be nice to see. The goal not necessarily being on creating a point of sale, but rather a place for people to experience the service.

Just my $0.02.

There's a bit of a shakeup up-north. Michael Moskowitz is being appointed as XM Canada's new CEO and President, effective January 1, 2008.

Chairman (and former CEO) John Bitove will continue his leadership role, but under the new title of Executive Chairman of Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.

“After an extensive search, we felt Michael was the best fit due to his outstanding leadership in the Canadian communications technology industry. He has a strong background in management, particularly operations, marketing, sales, distribution and finance. Michael is perfect for XM Canada today,” said Bitove in a statement.

Michael Moskowitz is former President, Americas International of Palm, Inc., which encompasses Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to Palm, he worked at several leading global consumer electronics product companies. Michael was a Top 40 Under 40 award recipient in 2004 and holds an honours degree from York University and an MBA from Dalhousie University.

Donald McKenzie, who was serving as acting President and COO since June, will return to his position as XM Canada's Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing.

It seems that the rumors were true, although the number was a bit off: XM Canada has added several new channels to its lineup.

While not the rumored 40 additional channels, XM Canada added 10 new channels to the roster.

• Radio Disney (ch 115)
• ESPN Radio (ch 140)
• ESPNEWS (ch 141)
• IndyCar (ch 145)
• ATN-Asian Radio (ch 159)
• Pac 10 Play-by-Play (ch 193)
• NHL Play-by-Play (ch 237)
• NHL Play-by-Play (ch 238)
• NHL Play-by-Play (ch 239)
• Big XII Play-by-Play (ch 241)

"Our enhanced sports lineup further solidifies XM Canada's position as the leader in sports programming," said XM Canada EVP Stewart Lyons, in the press release. "Not only do we have an exclusive agreement to broadcast every team and every game for the next eight NHL seasons, but we also cover MLB, PGA Golf, IndyCar Racing and much more."

[via Orbitcast Forums]

XM Canada is rumored to be announcing the addition of up to 40 new channels in the coming days, according to sources at Digital Home.

XM is expected to announce that it has increased its channel count from 160 channels - up from 120 channels currently be broadcast today. Digital Home thinks that at least 10 or 20 new channels will be added to the pack, including the new ATN Asian channel and Radio Disney.

An XM spokesperson confirmed that changes would be announced shortly but added that the “details have yet to be finalized.”

[Digital Home]

XM Canada has said that they've more than doubled their subscriber base since 2006 for their fiscal fourth quarter ending August 31st

XM Canada ended their fiscal year with 306,000 subscribers. Note that back in March, XM Canada changed how they are reporting subscribers in an effort to align subscriber numbers "more closely with industry norms." XM Canada's subscriber numbers now include vehicles factory-activated when automakers have agreed to pay for a portion or all of the trial period service.

Sirius Canada announced they broke 300,000 subscribers over seven months ago.

[Press Release]