There's a controversial article on Billboard Radio Monitor about Sirius running 2.5 minute long commercials (on their non-music channels - music channels remain commercial-free as they should be).

This all comes from a comment made by Sirius' Senior VP of Advertising Sales Sam Benrubi at Wednesday?s Gundersen Partners Power Breakfast. Sirius recently closed an ad campaign with a "spirits manufacturer" that will feature a two and ?-minute spot.

Before you get your panties in a bunch, keep in mind that this doesn't mean that there will be MORE commercials on Sirius as opposed to Terrestrial - in fact, the number of commercial minutes per hour will still be far less. It just means there's the potential for longer spots (and quite possibly - more entertaining commercials because they have more time to deliver the message). Mel has made it a point in the past that he intends on maximizing the profits from advertisers - and what better way than giving them longer ad spots?

(I'm downplaying this a bit because I've gotten some heated emails from people. XM runs ads on their non-music channels as well, and in my opinion, it's not that big of a deal. Longer ad spots might be more entertaining anyway as long as the actual commercial breaks don't get longer. Just my $0.02.)