News Articles From Days Gone By

Sirius Bowling
(18 December 2009)
SiriusXM has announced that it would be providing coverage for 25 of this year's bowl games. The schedule begins tomorrow with the New Mexico Bowl at 4:30 PM(ET) and continues through the BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena on 7 January. Prior to the national title game the satcaster will broadcast live from Pasadena every weekday with hosts Bill King and Chris Childers interviewing coaches and players (Sirius 122, XM 143). Fans can join in the conversation on Mad Dog Radio (Sirius 123, XM 144) with Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, Gary Williams, Andy Gresh, Bruce Murray, Bill Pidto, Dino Costa and others.    more>>


World Extreme Cagefighting Scores
(18 December 2009)
Score Media is ready to enter into a partnership with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC). “WEC has attracted millions of fans around the world, and in Canada specifically. By adding this franchise to our existing line up of comprehensive MMA content, The Score strengthens its reputation as a destination for hardcore MMA fans,” Benjie Levy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Score Media Inc., said in a release. Score Media operates "The Score," which can be heard on SiriusXM. Coverage of WEC begins next month.    more>>

HD Radio sales double.
(17 December 2009)
HD Radio purveyor iBiquity says that about 734,000 HD receivers have been sold so far this year, twice the number sold in 2008. About 28,000 HD Radio receivers were sold in 2006, 140,000 in 2007 and 366,000 last year according to iBiquity boss Bob Struble. Struble's remarks were made at the Virtual Event's "Monetizing Audio Technology" conference.    more>>

ECHL All-Star Hockey on XM
(16 December 2009)
The East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) is playing its all-star game at the home of the Ontario Reign in Ontario, California on 20 January and XM will be there. The event features the best ECHL talent and young prospects, 56 of which have advanced in the past to the National Hockey League. The action starts at 7:00 PM(PT).    more>>

The History of Howard, Part III
(16 December 2009)
As a special holiday gift to all SiriusXM listeners, the third installment in the History of Howard Stern is going to be featured on Howard 100 and Howard 101. The program features Stern's coronation as "King of All Media" as well as the publication of Private Parts and Miss America. So get ready to relive all the special events from his days on WNBC (later WFAN) in New York and later in syndication, including saving a caller from jumping off the George Washington Bridge and a tribute to Sam Kinison. Enjoy hearing the evolution of the show as Howard takes us through the Bathroom Olympics, Lesbian Dial-a-Date and Fartman. Hear Howard talk about the Voyager mission to Neptune when he describes the images as being "a whole lot more impressive than those ugly looking pictures of Uranus." The show premieres on 21 December at 6:00 AM(ET).    more>>

The Rise of Internet Radio
(16 December 2009)
According to Bridge Ratings the number of listeners to Internet radio continues to rise. Overall 93.2 percent of Americans listen to the radio and 60 million listen to Internet radio in a typical week. The 19 million subscribers to satellite radio accounts for roughly 6 percent of the total U.S. population. HD Radio reaches nearly 650,000 listeners per week.     more>>

The trouble with HD Radio imports
(14 December 2009)
CBS Radio is facing legal problems for its operations in Los Angeles, where it is importing content from non-local stations to provide programming for its HD Radio subcarriers. According to a lawsuit filed by the Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters (MWFB), CBS is already over its legal limit of six stations in one area. CBS operates television stations KCBS and KCAL as well as AM stations KNX and KFWB and FM stations KCBS, KRTH, KTWV KAMP and KROQ. CBS is currently importing HD content from KFRG in Riverside and KSCF in San Diego.    more>>

The de-orbiting of WorldSpace
(14 December 2009)
The possibility of de-orbiting the two WorldSpace satellites is currently under consideration by the failed international satcaster's creditors. Thanks in part to the pending acquisition of WorldSpace by Liberty Media (see RUsirius.com story dated 20 October 2009), SiriusXM may take control of WorldSpace's market to expand its satellite radio service internationally. Whether or not the WorldSpace satellites would be needed for such an operation is probably under consideration.     more>>

Web Baseball
(14 December 2009)
It's becoming increasingly apparent that Major League Baseball is relying more and more on the Internet to support trades and negotiations during the current winter meetings in Indianapolis. Of particular interest is the site MLB Trade Rumors, the creation of Tim Dierkes. Says Dierkes, "This is definitely the first meetings where Twitter was the whole deal." His site uses tweets from the Internet to gather trade rumors and other information as it is exchanged by general managers as they decide the fate of players like Milton Bradley and Carlos Silva.    more>>

Sirius Snoop Dogg
(11 December 2009)
Get ready for Snoop Dogg Nation, a week long SiriusXM channel featuring the hip-hop icon. The limited-run channel starts this Monday, 14 December, at 12:00 PM(ET) on Sirius 40 and XM 57. Hosted by Cordazar Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus, the channel is expected to feature everything from his early collaborations with Dr. Dre to his new album, Malice N Wonderland, released this week.    more>>

Second City gets Sirius.
(11 December 2009)
SiriusXM is launching Second City Comedy Radio, a two-day channel celebrating the 50th anniversary of the famous comic troupe. The limited run channel premieres tomorrow, 12 December, at 12:01 AM(ET). The channel, on Sirius 105 and XM 151, features a reunion of famous Second City stars Stephen Colbert, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, Jim Belushi, Steve Carell, Dan Castellaneta, Jeff Garlin, Isabella Hoffman, Richard Kind, Robert Klein, Jack McBrayer, Harold Ramis, Horatio Sanz, George Wendt and Fred Willard.     more>>

HD Radio is now software defined
(11 December 2009)
Thanks to a new chip from Microtune, HD Radio can now be implemented via software defined radio (SDR). The technique demodulates radio signals using software rather than hardware to produce the audio that we are all acustomed to hearing. At center stage is the MT3511 RF MicroDigitizer from Microtune, a new multi-standard RF-to-digital converter. SDR represents a revolutionary approach to vehicular radio including HD and conventional radio.    more>>

Is Howard no longer Sirius?
(10 December 2009)
For a variety of reasons it appears that Howard Stern may leave SiriusXM when his current contract expires. The Wall Street Journal apparently thinks the "King of All Media" won't return due to financial considerations. When Stern signed with Sirius in late 2004 his contract gave him $500 million in cash and stock over five years and a bonus of 34.4 million shares in 2006. Unfortunately for all parties involved the satcaster's stock price has declined from $3.67 a share when Stern signed to about 60 cents a share today. So there just doesn't appear to be enough money for Stern without diluting the stock price still further.    more>>

Justin Bieber rocks the holidays on Radio Disney,
(10 December 2009)
Radio Disney (Sirius & XM 115) is celebrating the holiday season with a special concert featuring Justin Bieber and the soon to be announced "Next Best Thing" (N.B.T.). The big event takes place in Celebration Florida on Saturday, 19 December starting at 6:00 PM(ET). Two of Bieber's hit singles, "One Time" and "One Less Lonley Girl," are featured on Radio Disney's Top 30 Countdown. N.B.T. is a daily programming feature putting the spotlight on young recording artists.    more>>

SiPort goes mobile with HD Radio.
(9 December 2009)
Leading HD Radio component supplier SiPort (see RUsirius.com story dated 21 October 2009) has announced its first application in the automotive aftermarket. Dual is introducing SiPort's SP1010 transceiver into its XHD6430 in-dash HD receiver. “Entrance into the automotive aftermarket marks a major milestone for SiPort because a large percentage of radio users listen while they drive,” noted Aiman Kabakibo, CEO and founder of SiPort. “By leveraging the performance and features of our SP1010 receiver, Dual Electronics is bringing the highly attractive advantages of HD Radio to the customer base at an excellent form factor and price point.”    more>>

Live from Irdeto, it's Air America.
(9 December 2009)
Air America listeners, and they're out there somewhere, should be aware that the enterprise is turning to Irdeto, a leading expert in content and business model protection solutions and services, to power AirAmerica.com multimedia content. "With Irdeto, we’ve found a partner to help us achieve the goal of making AirAmerica.com the leading online destination for progressive audio, text and video content,” said Bennett Zier, CEO of Air America Media. “We knew dynamic multimedia content and interactivity would be the key to ushering in the next generation of talk radio, and after assessing the market we found Irdeto was the one-stop shop with the technology and resources to make our vision for AirAmerica.com a reality.”    more>>

Liberty makes out on SiriusXM debt.
(9 December 2009)
Remember the big loan that John Malone's Liberty Media made to SiriusXM to help it avoid bankruptcy (see RUsirius.com story dated 28 April 2009)? It turns out that Liberty did very well indeed on its investment, which has returned about $175 million according to chief executive Greg Maffei. Liberty apparently made about $75 million on SiriusXM senior debt and $100 million on the satcaster's junior debt.    more>>

Pandora goes mobile.
(8 December 2009)
In what can only be seen as a direct assault on SiriusXM, webcaster Pandora is preparing to move aggressively into the automotive market. Pandora's chief technology officer, Tom Conrad, says that the first phase of the effort is smartphone apps that can be controlled from dashboard or steering-wheel interfaces. Conrad thinks that within a few years, new cars will have Pandora built in and "bundled with either ther price of the car or services associated with the car." Apparently some major announcements are due at next months Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.    more>>

Sued.
(8 December 2009)
SiriusXM is being sued by a Florida customer over alleged unfair pricing policies since the July 2008 merger. "Since the merger, Sirius XM has abused its monopoly power by increasing prices above competitive levels, breaching subscriber contracts, and making false and misleading statements to subscribers and the public," said the complaint by Carl Blessing, a resident of Florida, who is seeking class action status and unspecified damages.     more>>

National Press Club sirius about "Cousin Brucie"
(7 December 2009)
The National Press Club is about to honor SiriusXM's Bruce Morrow. The honor is, in part, because of Morrow's new book "Rock & Roll: And the Beat Goes On." "Usually, their guests are a little more highbrow," says Morrow with a laugh. "So this is a real honor. It means they recognize that the music I've been playing all these years is legitimate." Morrow can be heard every Wednesday and Saturday on Sirius and XM channels 5 and 6.    more>>

Artie on Howard
(4 December 2009)
Howard Stern's sidekick Artie Lange was recently interviewed in the Newark Star Ledger about the future of the show and of his career. Asked whether or not he thought the "King of All Media" would return to SiriusXM when his contract expires Lange said, "You know, honestly, everybody thinks that we all have inside information. I really don’t. I don’t think Howard even knows now. I’m pretty positive negotiations haven’t started. My gut feeling is, if he does come back, there will be an amendment in the schedule, in some way, shape or form. But I don’t know anything at all about that."    more>>

MBZ Sirius about traffic
(4 December 2009)
Mercedes-Benz USA has announced that Sirius Traffic is availale on all 2010 model year vehicles equipped with navigation and Sirius satrads. "SIRIUS Traffic will benefit Mercedes-Benz drivers with traffic information to help them navigate through our country's major roadways," said Sascha Simon, Department Manager, Advanced Product Planning, MBUSA. "We are pleased to add this service to SIRIUS' audio entertainment in Mercedes-Benz vehicles."    more>>

The FCC has the power now.
(3 December 2009)
The issue of whether or not to allow radio stations to increase the power of their HD Radio subcarriers (see RUsirius.com story dated 6 November 2009) is now in the hands of the Media Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is currently considering the compromise between HD Radio purveyor iBiquity and NPR to allow a voluntary power increase of up to 6 dB. Supporters of the power increase hope that it will spur the adoption of HD Radio among broadcasters that have not yet adopted the new format. "What comes out of this is a very strong signal to all of the industry stakeholders, especially the auto manufacturers, that the water is fine," said Mike Starling, NPR's vice president, chief technology officer and executive director of NPR Labs.     more>>

MOG not POG
(3 December 2009)
Music website MOG is getting into the music streaming biz with a new streaming service. For five bucks a month subscribers can access a library of up to six million songs ready to stream. A free trial is being offered for those who just can't seem to get the right mix from either Pandora or Spotify.    more>>

Mel speaks.
(3 December 2009)
SiriusXM boss "Mellow Mel" Karmazin met for an interview with PBS recently to talk about the satellite radio business. According to Mel, SiriusXM is doing quite well financially. Says Mel, "I believe we will be the leading company in the audio entertainment space in the years ahead and it's our position to lose and there's nobody, nobody that can compare with the fact that we have these 135 channels in every single market in the United States and we have all of these commercial-free music channels and Oprah show and Howard Stern. We offer the best radio on the radio."    more>>

Sirius negotiations at Reuters
(2 December 2009)
SiriusXM boss "Mellow Mel" Karmazin offered a peek at the satcaster's negotiations with "King of All Media" Howard Stern at this week's Reuters Media Summit. “It will start with Howard feeling that he is working too hard and doing too many shows and not making enough money,” Karmazin said. “Our side would say, ‘We want you to do more, and get less money.’” Mel went on to say “The hope would be that we would come out with Howard staying with our service. You have to now assume that the negotiations are at a stage where everything is in print, so if I were to say, yes, we got every penny’s worth, Howard would come in with that piece of paper and say ‘See? I sold myself too cheap.’”    more>>

Luxury cars love HD Radio.
(2 December 2009)
Forget satellite radio. Luxury automobile manufacturers are rapidly adopting HD Radio as factory-installed standard equipment. Leading the way are Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, Rolls-Royce and Volvo. "HD Radio Technology benefits are what the performance luxury class is all about - an in-car experience that surpasses all expectations," said Bob Struble, President and CEO of iBiquity Digital Corporation. "Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, Rolls-Royce and Volvo are innovation leaders, and we are delighted that HD Radio Technology is integral to the advanced in-dash entertainment systems that drivers demand today. HD Radio Technology is facilitating digital infotainment in cars, delivering unique music, news, sports and talk via HD2/HD3 programming, heightened sound quality and advanced data services." His comments were made at this week's Los Angeles Auto Show.    more>>

Elvis Sirius about The Boss
(2 December 2009)
Elvis Costello is taking over SiriusXM's E Street Radio (Sirius 10, XM 58) for a few tunes next Friday, 11 December, at 4:00 PM(ET). Costello's mix is expected to include "Brilliant Disguise," a song from Patti Scialfa's most recent album and a live cover of Jackie Wilson's "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher" from a concert Bruce and Elvis did together in New York on 7 November.    more>>

Frear presents!
(1 December 2009)
SiriusXM has announced that Vice President and Chief Financial Officer David Frear would be presenting at the 2009 UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York on Tuesday, 8 December at 8:00 AM(ET). Sirius investors and those just looking for a few good laughs can access the presentation on the SiriusXM website.    more>>

XM app at iTunes Canada App Store
(1 December 2009)
XM Canada has announced that its Apple iPhone or iPod touch application would be available a the iTunes Canada App store. The app has the same interface as the Sirius Canada iPhone app (see RUsirius.com story dated 18 November). The application is free but requires an additional $3 per month subscription.    more>>

Are they Sirius about WorldSpace?
(1 December 2009)
Rumor has it that SiriusXM and Liberty Media want to take over defunct global satcaster WorldSpace. Liberty has already bought up WorldSpace debt (see RUsirius.com story dated 20 October 2009), leading to speculation that Liberty boss John Malone has an interest in combining SiriusXM and WorldSpace. Says SiriusXM boss "Mellow Mel" Karmazin, "So one would think that if Liberty were to do something there that they would want as strategic partner somebody who has successfully done satellite radio in 5 percent of the world."    more>>

All Shook Up
(1 December 2009)
Thanks to a marketing blitzkrieg featuring Elvis Presley, Michael Jordan, Richard Pryor and Howard Stern, SiriusXM's sales for the holiday season are apparently meeting or exceeding expectations. Says SiriusXM boss "Mellow Mel" Karmazin, "We are in the midst of one of the most dramatic year-over-year improvements that I've ever seen in media."    more>>