Sirius Satellite Radio Chairman Joe Clayton had his beautiful home featured in Electronic House, and it's absolutely gorgeous.

The 16,000-sqft English mansion is set on 5.5 acres overlooking the 18th hole of a golf course. And it's wired to the gills.

Twenty zones of audio inside and another eight on the manicured grounds, pool area and tennis courts. Kaleidescape video server. Two Fireball music servers. Six Dish HD receivers with HD DVRs. And of course, six Sirius Satellite Radio receivers.

Beautiful pics and more info in the article. Very impressive. 

[Electronic House] 

Karmazin's latest comments to SmartMoney hinting toward a possible Sirius/XM merger are being eaten up by the press. Gee, who saw that coming.

No surprise as suggestions of a merger seem to get the media into a tizzy over even the slightest hint. This time around it the merger whispers haven't sent either stock soaring  though. Interesting. Perhaps investors are getting wise to this ruse. Personally, I feel it's a distraction. And a useless one at that.

But maybe Mel isn't to blame. Maybe it's the unoriginal media and their boring obvious questions. Maybe a better question to have asked Karmazin, rather than this XM/SIRIUS merger nonsense, should have been: "How is Sirius planning on beating last year's Q4 subscriber additions?"

Perhaps then we would get an answer that's truely newsworthy.

The November 27th issue of Forbes Magazine has a scathing article, entitled Dethroned, talking about Howard Stern's move to Sirius and how he has "slipped as a cultural force."

The article cites several pieces of data to prove it's point - some of which are legitimate - others are unrelated in my opinion. 

For example, Forbes states that Stern's media mentions are down 23% year-to-date compared with 2004. It also highlights that Sirius has less of an audience than his terrestrial show. These are facts that can't be disputed and are related to the story.

Unrelated is Sirius' loss of $853 million last year, and the fact that Sirius' stock is down 44% since his first show debuted - there's a lot more factors in stock price than just Stern. It is intriguing to learn the 31.3 million shares Stern had handed to him back in January - then valued at $236 million - are now worth $116 million today (who knows if he's dumped any along the way).

Forbes does stick to facts though, if only to prove their point. They acknowledge his "antics" at CBS helped add 2.2 million subscribers for Sirius in 2005. They also point out that Sirius added 1.8 million subscribers since Stern's first show - but that rival XM added 1.2 million subscribers during the same time, sans Stern.

This graph illustrates the figures very nicely: 

And while the "dethroned" concept is probably only of interest to celebrity-watchers and the media (since they loathed referring to Stern as their "King"), the data itself`makes some good points - and if anything wakes up those who thought this was going to be an ongoing trend. I think that's really the bottom line here. Everyone needs to understand that there's a finite number of hardcore Stern fans, and there was a finite date to hear him on terrestrial, so this created an event. This is not a sustaining event though - and the numbers alone show it.

Where do we go from here? That's the question.

WorldSpace recently released their 3Q06 results and quite frankly, they stink. All the key metrics (subs, churn, ARPU, etc) came in lower than expected, and their net loss nearly doubled in the prior-year quarter ($28.9 million vs $15.4 million).

The big news is that WorldSpace has hired UBS to "evaluate strategic partnership alternatives" that "may enhance shareholder value and further the execution of our business plan." Guess what, it's a move that's absolutely necessary. They need to leverage that infrastructure for a serious cash infusion, and do it quick. It can't come soon enough. (Psst, why do you think Gary Parsons resigned from their board?)

Seth Jayson at The Motley Fool seems to think that WorldSpace is doomed. Noting that automobile use is something that WorldSpace simply can't do yet, as indicated in their annual report. They first need to add terrestrial repeaters and a next-gen of receivers able to receive both terrestrial and satellite signal. Hence why those repeaters in Italy were so important.

So one of the key drivers of growth, OEM distribution, is currently out of reach for WorldSpace. And they're burning cash much faster than they can make it. Not to mention the regulatory hurdles with 130 countries to deal with. Not good. Seth poignently ends his article with, "if WorldSpace isn't bankrupt within two years, I'll buy one of those Indian receivers myself."

Can't say I disagree. Here's my verdict:

[Fool.com]
Thanks John! 

According to a recent Bridge Ratings study, 12.8% of Howard Stern's terrestrial radio fan base have converted over to Sirius Satellite Radio. Bridge estimates that's a total of 1,530,758 subscribers.

Bridge also feels that 20% of his original terrestrial radio audience were his most loyal fans, and are the most likely to convert to Sirius (makes sense). So using those numbers, Sirius has roughly 7.2% of his "most loyal" fans left - a group that I assume they'll pursue this Holiday season.

Converting 1.53 million ain't too shabby, but that doesn't prevent the NAB's favorite publication Inside Radio from spinning it to say that Stern's "impact is lessening." Of course it's lessening, there's a finite number of hardcore fans out there (and we're only talking about 20% of his audience - the other 80% are familiar with Stern, and as such, Sirius). Take a look at this graph to see The Stern Effect in action:

Now tell me if adding over 300,000 retail subscribers a month can be realistically maintained. No? Then it's lessening. Isn't that crazy? Note to the people at Inside Radio: if want to know something that's lessening, try looking at your status as a legitimate media publication first.

[Bridge Ratings] 

Yet another great e-QB special from FMQB, this time around the e-QB features an interview with Tim Sabean (the Program Director for Sirius' Howard Stern channels).

Howard fans, and others alike, will find this interview a good read. It not only captures the excitment behind working on Howard's channels, but the level of opportunities that satellite radio presents for creative-types.

Questions range from the biggest challenges in going from terrestrial to satellte; to working with strong personalities; to Pete Townshend walking off the show; to the creation of The Bitter Half - it's a great interview and must-read.

[FMQB e-QB] 

Opie and Anthony are featured in the December issue of FHM magazine. Jim Norton and the cast of regular comedians who frequent the show are featured as well.

Note that XM gets the plug from FHM in this case, whereas the terrestrial stations they're on are only described as "stations across the country."

There's some benefits - especially in terms of marketing - to being a national medium.

[FHM] 

CNET also got the opportunity to review the Delphi SkyFi3 a week or so ago, and gave it a 7.3 (out of 10) rating. There's also a video review you can watch here.

While CNET liked the big display and microSD card option, they felt that the build quality felt a bit cheap. They also commented on the large tactile buttons which is great for the car.

Highlights -

The good: The Delphi SkyFi3 is a competitively priced plug-and-play satellite radio receiver/recorder. It can pause and replay programming up to 30 minutes, is lightweight and easy to use, and includes a large and legible screen. It plays back digital audio files via the expansion slot and can be used while afoot with optional antenna headphones. It includes a car kit and a remote control.

The bad: The Delphi SkyFi3 has a budget build quality, with a monochrome screen with no channel graphics and no built-in antenna, so you must use optional headphones for true portability. It lacks a Micro SD card, has subpar rated battery life, and can't store your own digital audio files on internal memory. It has a substandard FM transmitter and charging the device over USB isn't guaranteed.

[CNET Editors' Review]

CNET had the lucky opportunity to review the Sirius Stiletto, and overall they gave it an 8.0 (out of 10) rating. That's not a bad rating, especially since this is Sirius' first attempt at a live portable.

Read the review (plus video) for yourself.

While CNET found the Stiletto "intriguing" and packed with features, they also found it to be bulky and weren't impressed with the battery life. Also on the video, they refer to the antenna-headphones to be "kind of dorky" and "very uncomfortable." They loved the interface though.

Highlights -

The good: The Sirius Stiletto 100 can stream online content via built-in Wi-Fi, record live satellite songs, and be used as an MP3/WMA player with subscription compatibility. You can pause and replay live streams, the GUI is intuitive and fun to use, the main controller is well designed, and it comes with two batteries.

The bad: The Sirius Stiletto 100 design is a bit chunky; you're limited to less than 1GB of MP3 or WMA music; the antenna headphones are uncomfortable; its USB port is proprietary; Wi-Fi does not support 802.11a/g; audio quality when using Wi-Fi isn't top rate; rated battery life for live radio isn't stellar; pricey.

[CNET Editors' Review]