Isuzu has officially decided it is abandoning the North American market, and discontinuing sales of its i-Series pickup and Ascender SUV.

Isuzu has an exclusive installation deal with XM Satellite Radio. The status of their partnership is unknown, but it's a pretty good assumption that it's a done deal.

Not that it mattered much anyway.

While Isuzu's sales topped out to 100,000 units in 1999, led largely by the popular Isuzu Trooper, sales have plummeted to dismal levels since. In 2007, the automaker sold a mere 7,906 units, and that's down from 15,751 units in 2006.

And with sales numbers like that, you surely can't blame them for bailing out.

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Pop-rock band Maroon 5 will be taking over XM Satellite Radio’s hits countdown channel Top 20 on 20 this Friday. And to make the screaming masses happy, they'll even perform a song or two.

The group is dropping by XM's studios to play some songs of their liking, talk about their music, and will treat the XM Nation to a live performance.

Maroon 5 is getting ready to head out for concert dates in Asia and Australia in support of their current album It Won’t Be Soon Before Too Long. But you'll be able to catch them on Top 20 on 20 (ch 20) this Friday, February 1st, at 9am, 3pm, and 9pm ET.

For those baseball fans who are starving for games during the long, cold winter months - next week you'll have something to stave off that hunger, at least for a little while. That's because XM will be broadcasting the 2008 Caribbean Series this Saturday, February 2nd, through Thursday, February 7th.

This year marks the 50th edition of the 12-game tournament, which features Major League Baseball players and prospects from the Caribbean winter leagues. Four teams will compete in this year’s tournament, representing Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic.

And yes, it's in English.

The Caribbean Series, aka Serie del Caribe, will air live from Santiago, Dominican Republic, on XM’s MLB play-by-play channels 176 and 177. Check out their channel pages for schedule details.

PlayNetwork, the company that is now managing XM's commercial business sales and service, just signed on their first official customer: Chateau Ste. Michelle.\

Located in Woodinville, Chateau Ste. Michelle is Washington’s oldest winery and through its daily tours, tastings, and culinary events - the winery hosts some 300,000 visitors annually. Chateau Ste. Michelle is not only recognized for pioneering vinifera grape growing in the Columbia Valley, but is also a leader in modern day viticultural research.

And so the acclaimed winery and PlayNetwork are hosting a private reception on January 30th to celebrate the move to XM for Business.

Not only will the event feature a selection of wines from Chateau Ste. Michelle, but also music by jazz musician LeRoy Bell. Sadly, although I was invited (much appreciated), I will not be attending. Have a glass of Merlot (or two even) for me.

Tony Bruno, who was a mainstay on Sporting News Radio, has officially left the network.

His three-year contract expires in April 2008, but he'll remain on the payroll for the next two months.

"Unfortunately, our strategic objectives and Tony’s personal interests are not in alignment at this time, and we have each agreed to move in a new direction," said Clancy Woods, President of Sporting News Radio, in a statement. While Sporting News Radio is in search of a replacement, Bob Berger and Bob Stelton will host SNR’s morning program during Super Bowl week starting January 28th, and Arnie Spanier will host the program the week of February 4th.

Bruno was heard on XM Sports Nation (ch 144) on weekdays from 10am - 1pm ET, and on Sirius Sports Central (ch 123) on weekdays from 9am -1pm ET.

Thanks Rich!

"Grammy Radio" is returning to XM featuring a multitude of special Grammy Week events, plus highlights from the past 50 years of the coveted awards.

Grammy Radio will air on XM's exclusive programming channel (and Orbies Nominee) XMX (ch 2) from February 8th through February 10th, the evening of the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.

To kick off Grammy Radio, XM will broadcast "Fifty Years of The Grammys," a 50-hour retrospective highlighting past winners since 1958 in a range of categories in all genres of music, including "Record Of The Year," "Song Of The Year" and dozens more.

Grammy Radio will also, once again, offer the only live broadcast of this year's pre-telecast Grammy Awards, as well as red-carpet interviews from the Grammy Awards and broadcasts of unforgettable performances by superstar artists during Grammy Week.

In addition, XM recently launched the "XM Radio Mobile Grammy Sweepstakes" with mobile partner AT&T Wireless.

Through January 31st, AT&T Wireless customers can automatically enter to win a trip for two to the 50th Annual Grammy Awards (including airfare, hotel and $500 cash) by downloading the XM Radio Mobile application to their phone. Get more information about this here.

Grammy Radio's dedicated content is part of XM's multi-year programming and marketing partnership with The Recording Academy.

[XM Grammy Radio]

Following the shutting down of its kiosk program, XM Satellite Radio has discontinued its contract managing store level retail field support staff with Wal-Mart, Orbitcast has learned.

The national team, which was employed by National In-Store (NIS), was comprised of over 30 field personnel and 4 regional managers. Their duties were primarily to manage the training and merchandising compliance of the Wal-Mart associates at the store level.

It's important to note that this does not affect XM's retail partnership with Wal-Mart which is XM's largest retail partner. This team supported over 2,000 Wal-Mart stores nationwide, according to a person familiar with the matter.

XM made the announcement internally on Friday, but the program will continue "business as usual" until the end of February. The company cited budgetary constraints and lack of company revenue to justify keeping the program going forward, according to the source.

As a result, XM will manage their relationship with Wal-Mart directly (much like what Sirius already does). This is yet another sign that the company is reducing retail-related expenditures, especially following weak holiday shopping sales.

XM is adding a whole new slate of ESPN programs to its line up, and is rebranding XM channel 141 as a new ESPN Radio-dedicated channel, starting next Monday, February 4th.

XM's ESPNEWS (ch 141) will be getting a name change to "ESPN Xtra." The channel will grow its current schedule of ESPNEWS programming with new shows and specials, including three ESPN Radio talk programs from its stations in New York and Dallas.

Interestingly enough, it looks like ESPN is expanding its reach with satellite radio. In December, ESPN and Sirius announced that they would be adding SportsCenter and other ESPN programming to Sirius' lineup.

The ESPN Xtra channel will also air content produced by ESPN exclusively for XM throughout the year, live coverage of events ranging from the X Games to the ESPY Awards, and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons' popular podcast from ESPN.com.

Don't worry, XM will continue to offer ESPN Radio (ch 140).

Click the jump to see a rundown of the new shows making their way to ESPN Xtra...

When Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. announced their plans to merge, no one expected the process to be easy. But what I don't think anyone expected, was for the process to take so long.

Oh sure we knew there was trouble when the preliminary review process dragged on to the point that it earned the dubious distinction of the longest application-to-clock delay in FCC history. But that simply meant that the Commission was dragging its feet in starting its unofficial shot-clock - a timeline that made no difference anyway, since the FCC blew past the deadline regardless.

But the Department of Justice had already begun its process long before. XM and Sirius even certified their compliance with the DOJ's Second Request back in early September, causing industry experts to predict a decision as early as October (the Second Request compliance usually triggers a 30-day clock).

So here we are, 342 days later, and still no decision in sight.

Take a look at the graph above, mergers with far bigger valuations and/or far more monopolistic concerns, were decided upon earlier than the XM-Sirius merger. That graph illustrates the length of time from when a merger was announced, to when a government body actually made a decision.

And remember, Sirius-XM haven't had a decision yet, so that red bar will continue to grow.

It's sad, because in the case of Whirlpool-Maytag, the washer/dryer market was consolidated to a 70% share and it was ultimately approved by the FTC. In the case of Whole Foods-Wild Oats, the FTC charged that prices could go higher, while quality and service could get reduced - but that deal ultimately went through - in almost half the amount of time that Sirius-XM have been in limbo.

Need more examples? The FCC approved the AT&T-Bellsouth merger (valued at a whopping $85 billion - Sirius/XM is estimated to be 10% of that), which controls 22 states, and includes local phone service to 70 million residents - in some states, it made AT&T the only choice for business access services. Google's purchase of DoubleClick combined the two largest online advertising distributors - which was criticized for hurting competition by two companies that are no stranger to antitrust concerns: Microsoft and AT&T - and it was ultimately approved as well.

Even EchoStar-DirecTV, arguably the most similar to the Sirius-XM merger - and was ultimately denied by the FCC - took less time to come to a decision than the satellite radio merger.

Echoing the sentiment of others: it's time for the government to come to a decision. Whether it be to approve or deny the merger, the DOJ and the FCC need to stop stalling, and start acting. Not only investors, but also consumers and especially employees, of both Sirius and XM are suffering at the expense of the government's indecision. And this constant state of speculation needs to end.

Make the decision, and let's move on.

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) submitted a letter to the FCC yesterday, voicing their general opposition to the Sirius-XM merger.

And one of the main reasons as to why they don't approve of the transaction is... Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and Bubba the Love Sponge.

"One only has to evaluate the current programming now offered by Sirius and XM to recognize that our concerns and fears are well founded," the NCNW wrote in their letter to the FCC Chairman. "Programming such as Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, and Bubba the Love Sponge - which help to perpetuate racist and sexist stereotypes in our culture - drive the business of both companies." (emphasis added)

The African-American women's organization goes on to say: "A Sirius - XM satellite radio monopoly will focus it (sic) resources on only its most profitable audiences, with more of the same lowest-common-denominator programming of the Howard Stern variety."

That's quite the assumption for a post-merger scenario.

And if that's the case, why wait? Both companies already seek profitability right now. Why would XM hire Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Maya Angelou, and the Reverend Al Sharpton - after hiring Opie & Anthony mind you - if selling out to the "lowest-common-denominator" was such a priority?

Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and Bubba the Love Sponge constitute only 3 channels out of over 300 combined - that's 1% of all programming offered by Sirius and XM together - let's not forget that.

The National Council of Negro Women goes on to voice their support for Georgetown Partners. Georgetown, which also has the support of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, is asking that Sirius and XM be required to hand over 20% of their channel capacity so as to "create competition and diversity" in satellite radio.

Disgusting.

[Read the full letter (PDF)]