First we learn that Sirius XM Radio Inc. will begin charging for online streaming of satellite radio. The initial benefit? That everyone will be upgraded to a higher-quality bitrate.Then we learn that an official Sirius XM iPhone App is in the works and nearing the final phases of development. This App would be available for free download, and to all paying subscribers.
Now rumors are growing that more Internet-based services are currently in the works, including word that satellite radio could be available as a native service in the Roku (pictured above).
All signs point to one thing: an evolving internet radio strategy for Sirius XM.
According to the Motley Fool, rumors are swirling that Sirius XM is working on making its internet stream available on Boxee.
For those who aren't familiar, Boxee (screenshot pictured below) is a cross-platform media center that allows for streaming on connected laptops (running OSX or Linux, with a Windows version in the works) or HDTVs. They're said to be working on a dedicated set top box hardware this year. You can seamlessly access online streaming services like ABC, CBS, MTV Music and Last.fm to name just a few.
Additionally, Sirius XM is said to be working on an update for Windows Media Center. Presumably this would be an expansion of XM's existing relationship with Microsoft which currently allows for XM Radio Online listening on Windows Media Center (which is available on both Vista and XP Media Center Edition). My guess is that they would be allowing for Sirius Internet Radio listening as well.
All signs point to an expansion of Sirius XM's Internet Radio strategy. And if they implement it correctly, this could open up a wonder of possibilities.
Initially, when word came out that online listening would be charged a premium, I thought it was a plain stupid move. To me, it should be the exact opposite. Internet radio should be used as a prospecting tool, as a way to bring in new listeners who otherwise wouldn't experience the service. Open it up rather than hide it.
But I do know that there's a different philosophy in corporate: that exclusivity is the key to converting subscribers. And I get it.
Afterall, if you don't have something that people want - but can't access - then why would they ever pay for it? That the core theory behind the "content is king" mantra we've heard over the years.
But distribution is a key element to any media company's survival. It doesn't matter how good your content is if no one can hear it. And there's no better method for distribution, than the internet.
If "content is king" then "distribution is queen" - and together, they rule.
Charging for online listening could only work if Sirius XM greatly improve the online listening experience. That means being everywhere, and being more than just a selection of channels with a "play" button.
And I'm not talking about simply offering tabletop radios with internet radio included either, like the Grace Wireless Internet Radio. Sirius XM need to be embedded in existing connected devices, much like how Slacker is available on Sony Bravia TVs. And then take it up a knotch by making the experience truely engaging.
If all the signs are right, and Sirius XM are truly on track to bring the experience to the next level, then we've potentially got a winner in our hands.
For those who aren't familiar, Boxee (screenshot pictured below) is a cross-platform media center that allows for streaming on connected laptops (running OSX or Linux, with a Windows version in the works) or HDTVs. They're said to be working on a dedicated set top box hardware this year. You can seamlessly access online streaming services like ABC, CBS, MTV Music and Last.fm to name just a few.
Additionally, Sirius XM is said to be working on an update for Windows Media Center. Presumably this would be an expansion of XM's existing relationship with Microsoft which currently allows for XM Radio Online listening on Windows Media Center (which is available on both Vista and XP Media Center Edition). My guess is that they would be allowing for Sirius Internet Radio listening as well.
All signs point to an expansion of Sirius XM's Internet Radio strategy. And if they implement it correctly, this could open up a wonder of possibilities.
Initially, when word came out that online listening would be charged a premium, I thought it was a plain stupid move. To me, it should be the exact opposite. Internet radio should be used as a prospecting tool, as a way to bring in new listeners who otherwise wouldn't experience the service. Open it up rather than hide it.
But I do know that there's a different philosophy in corporate: that exclusivity is the key to converting subscribers. And I get it.
Afterall, if you don't have something that people want - but can't access - then why would they ever pay for it? That the core theory behind the "content is king" mantra we've heard over the years.
But distribution is a key element to any media company's survival. It doesn't matter how good your content is if no one can hear it. And there's no better method for distribution, than the internet.
If "content is king" then "distribution is queen" - and together, they rule.
Charging for online listening could only work if Sirius XM greatly improve the online listening experience. That means being everywhere, and being more than just a selection of channels with a "play" button.
And I'm not talking about simply offering tabletop radios with internet radio included either, like the Grace Wireless Internet Radio. Sirius XM need to be embedded in existing connected devices, much like how Slacker is available on Sony Bravia TVs. And then take it up a knotch by making the experience truely engaging.
If all the signs are right, and Sirius XM are truly on track to bring the experience to the next level, then we've potentially got a winner in our hands.
I listen to XM online on my Verizon Wireless, LG Dare. Plays great. No features like album art or track info. Just audio. I'd love to see a down loadable app for my phone. Doubt it would happen. But a webpage that could stream in 3g2/aac would work.
Interesting...but I'm wondering if this is the BIG news?
Last Friday we were told we would hear something in a week. That leaves today and tomorrow.
Add this to TiVo, too! I'd use it all the time, like the Amazon and Netflix additions.
TK
During all his years at CBS, mel was notoriously dismissive of Internet content. Funny how things are changing.
thj
XMGUY,
I have a Dare as well. How do you listen to XM on it? Do you simply navigate to the XM webpage and go to online listening? I am a subscriber on the Sirius side but I bet it would probably work too. Any details would be great.
Sirius is already available on the (quite excellent) Squeezebox line.
Having an iphone/blackberry app would be nice, but why would you pay an additional $9ish/mo to get streaming when you're already paying $40ish/mo for the data plan to use it with?
I say let's get ready to rumble!!! Holy smokes!!! I can't live without my satellite radio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and all these NEW listeners are going to wonder why the music channels are any different then what is already available to listen to online.
WHAT?! POSITIVE news from Sirius/XM???
I BANISH THEE!!!!
I'm good with this. I rarely listen online but my wife does almost all of her listening online. IMO online listening is the future....maybe 10 or 15 years in the future...but I can see online being more important than satellites at some point.
That said (you kow I can't be completely positive) how about streaming some of the content that was trashed? Online bandwidth limitations can't be an excuse as they are with satellites. How about bringing back Special X, Fine Tuning, the real Soul Street (not the lame Soul Town), the 50s Harlem shows, TJ Lubinski, Matt the Cat, etc? Remember Special X ran for quite a while online after it was taken off the satellites.
.....and what would be really cool would be nonstop IT on the internet!
I don't pay that much attention, but whenever I post something I think it says something about my message being reviewed first. How come this loser keeps getting past the censors.
Please stop with the never ending teasing. Show us subscribers something soon, or else we will show you.... to the door! Man up, Mel - you're acting like a pussy.
I'm cancelling one of my two subscriptions because 1.Price increase for internet access and 2. Price increase for the 2nd subscriptions. Charging more for a service in todays economy is a non starter to me. I love Sirius and have had 2 subs. for over 3 years but not anymore.
I have the Netflix Roku player and it's great. If Sirius/XM were added to it, that would fucking rule. I live in rural CT and have a commercial grade outdoor antenna and use the Delphi signal repeater to get XM through out my home. Even with all of the effort it took to get the antenna mounted on my roof at just the perfect position, I still get signal interruptions through out the day. Sometimes it will be just once or twice for a second or two. Sometimes it is much worse and it happens frequently through out the day. It drives me nuts. A stream through Roku would be reliable and drop out free. I would imagine the sound quality would be an improvement as well. I am guessing that the non-music programming would be available as well because in my opinion that isn’t strong enough to carry the service. I hope this comes to be. The repeater and required antennas just don't cut it. I would be thrilled to retire it and sell it on eBay.
I have bitched on this board 1000 times about the merger, the awful changes made to the channels after the XM raping, the downgrade in sound quality over the years, Mel Karmazin in general, etc. Truth of the matter is I have had XM for five years and would be lost without it. I am still rooting for this all to work out and become a better product for all the hell it’s gone through. I am of course still skeptical, but if the service is heading towards the internet for growth I still think there’s a chance for things to get better. If Mel Karmazin and crew can’t get the job done, then I am sure that someone else will pick up the ball and run with it.
Here’s hopin’ ………
Since Sirius dumbed down the music channels, I rarely listen any longer... so more ways to listen to poor content doesn't excite me.
I want deep playlists and long, interrupted sets of music. I do not want to hear the same "hit" songs over and over nor do I care for annoying channel ID's/bumpers/motormouth DJ's. That might be fine on the bubble gum chewing channels, but not for the adult ones. "FM without commercials" is not worth paying for IMO.
I hate how everyone is iPhone centric (even though the phone is very popular). How about all the other millions of people with windows mobile phones, blackberry's, and java enabled phones? Making a universal application would be amazing and would reach far more people than a straight iPhone applicatoin, even though it is a step in the right direction where people these days want everything in one device, me included.
I think SiriusXM is taking a step in the right direction, and are starting to look into a lot of different solutions to access their service.
I wanna know why in a world where even Andy Rooney from 60 minutes has a blog, that SiriusXM hosts don't even have email addresses any more since the merge. All signs point to the Sirius execs living in 1987. If SIRI is on the verge of rolling out a comprehensive Internet presence, I'll be overjoyed. I'm pretty skeptical they have that kind of foresight, but here's hoping!
HUGE LETDOWN. Huge. Mel is an ASS!
If they're working with Apple for the iPhone, why not the Apple TV as well?. .. much (MUCH) smaller audience, but why not go for ALL set-top boxes? The Netflix player, Roku, Amazon, etc etc make it easy to subscribe without having to buy receivers and docks and people might be willing to pay the subscription without having to front he initial hardware costs.
Shasta Todd,
I couldn't agree more.
The BIG question is:
What does this mean for me if I'm barrleing down I-95 south in the middle of Tobaccoland,NC in my 2004 Ford Ranger???
Answer: ZILCH/NADA/Big f**king ZERO that's what!!!!
SiriusXM claims their bread & butter is in new car subs with plug & play are secondary. All of a sudden the internet portion is the next big draw.
I'm all for covering all bases but this niche beats all. Talking about staying at home in your PJ's. I have enough to listen to with internet radio and Slacker on my home 'puter with having to pay extra for the crappy programming that Mel offers now
What are these people thinking???
Free app for Iphone, but $7/month for Blackberry users??? Why!?!?
They should have went with StarPlayr.
slackers
The distribution delta talked about here is nothing compared to the internet. If this is CD quality, believe me, the Windows connection doesn't matter. The problem is that the content has to improve relative to the internet. I can get free slacker and internet radio which blows their crap away.
Well now that we all have to pay, they need to put ALL the channels on. I'm tired of a crippled stream product.
The best music product I've bought over the years is called Sonos. If interested you can get more info at www.sonos.com. It's a mulitzone, multisource music system for the house that uses your home network to communicate (wired or wireless). You get full access to your mp3 library, Pandora, Rhapsody, last.fm, local radio station that stream into the system and YES OF COURSE SIRIUS SATRAD. Simply put in your ID and password into the setup screen and you can listen in any zone. You control everything from a wireless controller, your ipod or a PC. BEST PRODUCT IVE BOUGHT IN YEARS AND HAS SIRIUS BUILT IN!!!!!
Obviously satellites have been proven to not be the most effective distribution method on the market today for audio content. Wifi/Internet is and will be the future. SiriusXM is making a smart move to jump on this bandwagon so as they are not obsolete in 5 years.
Well, something is up with StarPlayr beyond the iPhone app issues -- their apps are "temporarily unavailable" and the mods on their forums are tight-lipped about it.
Either SiriusXM has frozen them out or made a deal with them?
If content is truly king, and I agree that it is, Sirius XM has a problem, and it will be exacerbated by putting more emphasis on people listening online. Yes, I'm a listener, and I pay my money because Sirius XM is a turn-key product that works in my car, on a portable unit, etc. Take away that factor and put them up against other stuff available online, such as AOL Radio, Soma FM and countless others, and I just don't see why many will pay Sirius XM for a bunch of mediocre channels that have been stripped of depth and creativity and are now run by terrestrial radio-style consultants.
I may be daft, or stuck in the Middle Ages, or outdated or both.
I have Cable TV (analogue, found neither use nor interest for Digital Channels yet), ADSL Internet, a GSM phone, an analog phone.
But can someone, sometime draw me a diagram, a table, of what hardware, what software I can choose from to listen to this 150-channel satellite station?
I know this is The Netherlands, Europe, and we are lagging.
But tell me how, how, can anyone out there in the US figure this all out without a proper guide? How do all these marketing gurus think anyone can receive their signals?
Yes, when I buy a new car it is clear... is it? Do I join XM or Sirius or what package or what Best of? How can anyone make a proper decision and enjoy, without fearing to miss all the fun?
How much churn is induced by this confusion?
Elucidate me, please, in this radio wilderness.
Isaac
I still love the stern show, he should do his own radio network and let the nicemac guys do his app for the iphone.
The screenshots are fake.
"Since Sirius dumbed down the music channels, I rarely listen any longer... so more ways to listen to poor content doesn't excite me.
I want deep playlists and long, interrupted sets of music. I do not want to hear the same "hit" songs over and over nor do I care for annoying channel ID's/bumpers/motormouth DJ's. That might be fine on the bubble gum chewing channels, but not for the adult ones. "FM without commercials" is not worth paying for IMO."
Keep voicing these kind of complaints (I see yours too, xcountry)!
Sirius is in denial. Jon Zellner will tell you that subscribers are very
happy with the music programming. Just go send an email of complaint
to customer care and they will send you a form reply saying the same
thing.
Unless Sirius takes their music delivery seriously, nobody is going to
pay for what essentially is glorified FM radio. In fact, there are so many
Internet radio services already online offering superior music programming for a lot less money or even free. And you know what? They don't feel the need to have blabbering DJs talking all over the music or putting a morning zoo on one of the most popular music channels.
Somebody needs to moderate the comments on some of these articles.
STAY ON TOPIC. If you're not here to talk about the article and topic on hand (which happens to be Sirius XM's Internet Radio Strategy), then get lost. Their philosophy on music programing or shock jock choices has nothing to do with this or many other threads you plague.
This especially goes to all the Stern, O&A, Bubba, and content whiners.
I agree that content is king, but for some reason the assholes at Sirius apparently don't consider music to be content.
I'm not very interested in talk, and I could not possibly care less about sports. I subscribed to XM solely for the music, which was absolutely amazing before the merger. I would have paid twice as much for the service back then.
Now, Deep Tracks is really the only reason I still subscribe. All the other channels I loved are either gone or replaced with profoundly inferior "equivalents" that are obviously programmed by the same incompetent turds who ran terrestrial radio into the ground.
I still am unhappy with the music channel changes after the merger. I still like my talk channels and I LOVE the sports channels. Unfortunately, SiriusXM Internet radio doesn't stream ALL channels.
Until this changes, I will never pay for an Internet account. There are enough free services out there that cover my net music needs without it.
And with price increases, I am canceling my second tuner, my wife hates the music changes and users her iPod in the car now. I could divert that money to the net listening, but why buy broken access.
BRANDON MATHEWS AND TYLER SAVERY ARE A FUCKING JOKE!!! THEY HAVE CHILDRENS OPINIONS AND OWN TINY SHARES OF SIRI. THEY HAVE ALSO SHORTED THE STOCK 12 TIMES IN THE LAST 3 MONTHS!!! It's a fact! CLASS ACTION ON THE WAY BOYS!!! I HAVE FACTS!!!
Joe,
Your comment was completely off topic. Get lost, you hypocrite.
I do not believe Sirius XM takes subscribers outside of the U.S. and Canada, so even though it would be technically possible for you to access Sirius XM via the internet stream, you can't because it's only available to subscribers.
I'd suggest AOL Radio, which is free.
XM/Sirius's customer service is total shit. I called in the other night to discontinue service in one of my vehicles, extend it in my other, add service to my home and was told that due to this I would be able to continue accessing the service on-line for free which is what I had confirmed twice. I should have known better since I was dealing with some 3 year old girl in their Phillipines call center. What a joke, not to mention there was a birthday party going on and a lot of screaming and hollering in the background. The entire call, including being put on hold twice, only took 41 minutes. I was hoping it would be much longer ...
Went to log in online yesterday and I am now told I have to update my service. Total bullshit. E-mailed customer service regarding my problem and I got a reply that they would be getting back to me shortly. That was only 25 hours ago. There struggling financially and must think it's a great business to "F" with their customers.
I agree Content is King, but Sirius XM's content has taken a plunge since the merger. I'm still a subscriber, but I've jumped on the Slacker bandwagon.
I'm always looking for new gadgets. I've been watching the Roku Player and I love that they are progressing. They are looking to replace your Cable / Sat Television service. Once they offer HULU I'll place my order.
I like that Sirus XM is looking at new delivery methods, but they should have done this a year ago. Is this just a desperate attempt to stay alive? The content is no longer compelling.
Roko - Please add Slacker to your service!!!
You can bet that is going to change. You will be able to subscribe to the SXM internet service. But who would want to, with the free internet streams out there now.
"Their philosophy on music programing or shock jock choices has nothing to do with this"
Man you just don't have a clue, perhaps like SXM. The internet strategy has alot to do with content. And just slacker makes SXM look like crap, unless the strategy produces an upgrade to content.
Mel, why do this? Just to piss off the current subscribers? You already said to stock owners that the future of SXM was solid due to a sat rad in every new car. What happened?
"Their philosophy on music programing or shock jock choices has nothing to do with this or many other threads you plague."
WRONG JOE!
It has EVERYTHING to do with the topic at hand.
Nobody wants to pay extra for inferior music delivery content plagued with talk and obnoxious DJ banter when they can get better content that already exists for much less money per month or FREE.
Wait a minute here. I already pay for a subscription to Sirius. Or so I thought. I have been able to get it online as part of my subscription. Then it "merges" with XM, yet to get baseball and some of XM's programming they think I should pay extra. Now they want more money for online.
I can listen to online channels for free. Sirius XM is providing the content. If they can't afford to expand the technology of the SAME content to their customers, then don't do it. Especially given their financial status right now. Why would we have to pay extra to get what already get or should get???
Kevin, you are absouletely correct. siusbuzz is a complte joke! brandon mathews is playing make believe stock analyst and people r listening to his junk opinions! BAND SIRIUSBUZZ and follow ORBITCAST all the way!!!
Now that SiriusXM has more bandwidth opportunity over the internet, please bring back those microniche channels, suchs as On The Rocks, Special X and Audio Visions.
Also, hopefully the online subscription can be universal to multiple platforms (iPhone, slacker, TiVo) by simply signing in using one username and password.
hi, i'm asking specifically about the sirius windows media center integration. is there any more work on that?
thanks,
joe
If you have a Roku Digital Video Player(DVP, aka "the Netflix box') a developer called 'The Endless' has posted a beta for SiriusXM Online.
http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=30812&start=0
He says TVersity needs to be added to transcode the streams. Help him out.