Banc of America Securities analyst Jonathan Jacoby said yesterday that the NPD-reported satellite radio unit sales grew an average 2% year-to-year in July.

Those numbers are better than June - which was pretty much flat - but XM’s growth was down year-to-year by 29%, likely due to the product shortages thanks to receivers that failed to pass the FCC emissions tests.

Sirius' growth, on the otherhand, was up 49% year-to-year. Jacoby said that "Sirius has taken share on account of product shortages for XM." He also warned that, "We do NOT believe that satellite radio is out of the woods yet regarding the fallout from the FCC issue." Ugh. Say it ain't so.

Interesting, there seems to be a growing interest in Internet Radio in the satellite radio industry. First Sirius registers for SIR: Sirius Internet Radio, and now XM has applied for Power Shift.

The trademark app simply give the description of Power Shift being "entertainment services, namely, an on-going radio program for broadcasting via satellite digital audio radio services and over the Internet."

So judging by the name and description, this sounds like a service that will switch between the XM  satellite signal (SDARS) and an Internet feed.

View the full trademark application at Satellite Radio TechWorld. 

The Wall Street Journal's Stacey Delo takes a look at the options available to people who are sick and tired of regular radio. She explores Internet Radio - highlighting AOL Radio (with 20 XM channels included) - as well as HD Radio, and of course Satellite Radio. She gives the Pros & Cons for each option, but gives a hearty endorsement for satellite - especially for in the car (where a majority of radio listening is done).

Check out the video (RealAudio) for yourself, I especially like the closing line about the iPod.

[MarketWatch]

Thanks Jimmy!

A new study by Bridge Ratings found that the renewal rate of XM/SIRIUS subscribers, when broken down by OEM channel and Retail channel acquisitions, differs significantly.

The report found that of those subscribers who purchased a satellite radio at the retail level plan on renewing at a 78% rate. Meanwhile, subscribers who acquired their satellite radios from the OEM channel (new car purchase) plan on renewing at only a 54% rate.

This shouldn't be of much of a surprise to anyone as it's also the difference between push and pull. In the retail situation, the consumer actively is seeking out the radio (or is sold on the idea by a crafty salesman), whereas in the OEM situation the radio falls on their lap with a free trial.

Actually, what is a surprise is the 78% retail renewal rate. That means that, based on this report's findings, nearly 1/4 of retail purchasers are unhappy with something. Either they didn't get what they expected, the unit was too difficult to setup, or the customer service was poor. Improving in all areas would be great - but better customer service would help in both the retail and OEM side. Something to think about.

[Bridge Ratings] 

XM Satellite Radio has inked a deal with Alltel Wireless that will give Alltel customers access to a wide range of XM Satellite Radio programming via their wireless phones.

The XM Radio Mobile service will be offered to Alltel Wireless customers for $7.99 per month. The application was developed by MobiTV, a company specializing in television and digital radio services for cellular, Wi-Fi and broadband enabled devices.

Audio streams of 20 popular XM music channels will be available including: The 70s, 80s and 90s decades channels, XM's Top 20 on 20 (Hits), Ethel (New Alt Rock), The City (Hip-Hop/R&B Hits), XMU (Indie Rock), Bluesville (Blues), Highway 16 (New Country Hits), and Viva (Latin Pop Hits).

Customers will be able to select these channels by genre. XM will deliver data to make it possible to view the song title, artist and album while listening on a variety of compatible handsets.

XM's announcement of the deal was very clear to state that this is first U.S. carrier to carry XM Satellite Radio - strongly indicating that there will be more deals like this to follow.

UPDATE: The application will available on all radio-capable handsets including the Motorola RAZR, the Motorola V710 & E815, Nokia 6255i, and the Kyocera KX5. More XM-capable handsets will be available.

Late last week Apple announced that they've partnered up with GM, Ford and Mazda (which is... uhm... Ford) to allow for "seamless integration" of the iPod into their vehicles. In fact, the number was thrown out that more than 70 percent of new 2007 model vehicles sold in the United States will have iPod compatability.

What sort of impact will this have on Satellite Radio? If you read into this ominous article - it spells certain death - but I'm not so sure about that.

Let's backtrack for a bit. None of this should come as a surprise for anyone. With millions upon millions of iPods sold, and 75 percent marketshare, there's no doubt in anyone's mind that this was bound to happen. Honestly, if this was a surprise, then you need a new crystal ball. iPods have become ubiquitous with digital music, and digital music is the evolution from CDs. The fact that some cars still offered cassette players simply became an easy solution to integrate the iPod with the vehicle for many people.

And actually comparing this "iPod integration" is with the cassette adapter isn't too far off. Ford's plans are to add a standard 3.5mm  audio-input jacks into nearly half of its lineup starting this fall - as standard equipement. It's the optional equipment, like Ford's "TripTunes Advanced" (at a whopping $200, plus installation) and GM's "Personal Audio Link" (which runs $160, plus installation) that allow for the "seamless integration" of the iPod.

Spin spin spin.

In all probability, this could be a benefit for the satellite radio industry. Now your plug-and-play receivers don't even NEED to have any FM-transmitters setup, because there's a crystal-clear audio-input jack at your disposal (NAB take notice). With satellite radio receivers built from the ground-up for vehicle integration - what with easy-to-read displays, and driver-friendly controls (areas that the iPod is NOT strong in) - this could work out to HELP the industry instead of hurt it.

Now, it's not all roses of course. iPods are everywhere, and soon all the content stored on your iPod will be easier to hear in your car. This does provide a few roadblocks for satellite radio in terms of public perception. One - it's harder to justify the additional expense of satellite when a customer has already invested in their iPod (both with hardware and in content). So when they're in the showroom and thinking about what options they want, *perception* comes into play very quickly. Second - even if they do have the satellite radio option in their new vehicle, this creates an additional distraction to usurp listening time.

These two issues are *very important* to both XM and SIRIUS, because they depend very heavily on users experiencing satellite radio. Most people look at satellite radio as a luxury, not a necessity. So when it's offered to them for free for 3-months or a year, they'll take it. And only once they experience it, they love it and "can't imagine living without it." It's getting people to experience satellite radio that is the number one objective. Once they do, the service sells itself.

One solution is to get away from being standard-equipment in vehicles, and get into being standard-equipment. Once you eliminate the hardware/installation costs, no one will turn down a free no-contract trial subscription. No one. Another solution is to bump up the satellite radio services offering. XM NavTraffic and SIRIUS Traffic are key services that give users more than just "radio" - especially as GPS navigation systems become more of a necessity for drivers (again, another piece of hardware that people "can't live without"). XM ParkingLink again is on the right path. All eventually evolving into satellite "radio" estabilishing "The Connected Car."

A 3.5mm audio-jack which is the equivalent to a cassette player is not a threat. But have no doubt that the iPod is.

An Orbitcast reader noticed at Wal-Mart that XM Satellite Radio is giving FM emission-restricting ferrite clips for free to the public. XM provided a box full of the black clips with instructions on how to apply the clips to your XM receiver to make it FCC compliant.

The clips are free and XM encouraged all owners to take one. The NAB has recently called for a recall of all satellite radio receivers in a letter to the FCC Chairman. It appears that XM is doing everything they can to make this an unnecessary course of action (which, well... it was unnecessary to begin with).

Check out how XM uses ferrite beads to reduce the FM transmitter emissions here (and it's a helpful lil' How-To if you really want to do it).

Thanks Mark!

Eleven XM Satellite Radio music channels will report airplay to Radio & Records and affect the R&R charts starting with the publication’s August 11th issue.

The following channels will report to R&R (with the associated R&R chart in parentheses):

• 20 on 20 (Top 40 Mainstream)
• Flight 26 (Hot AC)
• Ethel (Alternative Rock)
• Squizz (Active Rock)
• The City (Urban)
• Suite 62 (Urban AC)
• Watercolors (Smooth Jazz)
• BPM (Dance)
• The Message (Christian AC)
• Raw (Indicator...Urban)
• XM Cafe (Indicator...AAA)

The songs played on these XM channels will have a direct impact on the R&R charts.

In addition to these 11 XM channels, R&R is also publishing the latest songs added to the playlists of 25 other XM music channels: The Heat, XMU, Highway 16, X Country, The Loft, Hear Music, Fungus, Liquid Metal, The Village, Real Jazz, U-Pop, The System, The Move, The Torch, The Flow, The Blend, Spirit, The Verge, Enlighten, The Joint, XM Chill, Fuego, Viva, Caliente and Aguila.

Billboard magazine’s parent company VNU recently acquired R&R, which has been combined with Billboard Radio Monitor.

Robert Neil, Cox Radio's CEO had a bit of a holier-than-thou moment during yesterday's conference call with investors. When Mark Wienkes of Goldman Sachs posed the question about satellite radio's slowing momentum, Mr. Neil had some very bold things to say.

Things like, "I said those guys were going to get theirs in due course, and they have..." and "I don't think enough people are willing to pay for it, to make it a large generator of cash."

Keep gloating Robert, you won't be singing the same song in a few years.

Read the full transcript (via Seeking Alpha) after the jump...

Google has announced that they have inked a deal with XM Satellite Radio to provide commercial advertising inventory to XM's non-music channels through Google's dMarc service.

After months of trials, the new platform is now in full production for dMarc advertisers. Google AdWords' customers will soon be able to buy satellite radio spots when the dMarc platform is integrated into AdWords targeted in the fourth quarter of this year.

Back in March, it was speculated that this might happen - and I'm glad it has - this is very exciting news. I can see this combined with XM's upcoming Push-to-Purchase technology, and the next level of radio advertising being right around the corner. Targeted ads, combined with an immediate call-to-action and measurable conversion. Beautiful.

[Press Release]