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.
this will be a new channel. probably the name of their new racing channel (since they lost the Nascar rights)
It's sounds to me more like the name of a show. Would they bother trademarking a show name, though?
XM already trademarked "Willie's Place". You can search it right here at Orbitcast. My guess is that it is going to be a new drag racing channel. XM has a drag car and will want to fill the void of NASCAR even before it leaves.
I think they're right. Notice how the trademark specifically said, "entertainment services, namely, an on-going radio program for broadcasting" They didn't say anything about adding an extra service to switch from Satellite to Internet, but rather Power Shift might be a new Talk show on XM.
> probably the name of their new racing channel (since they lost the Nascar rights)
They didn't "lose" the rights, they just didn't feel it was worth paying over 7x what they paid previously for it. I'm sure if the costs were reasonable they would have worked something out. With the TV ratings down for almost every race this year (with some as high as 10% fewer viewers), they may have made a wise decision in the long-term.
Power Shift
Weekdays 6-7PM
This daily fan call-in show hosted by Joe Castello discusses the issues and opinions on all things in the world of motor sports.
http://www.xmradio.com/xmsn/index.jsp