XM Sat Radio Tops 2006 Consumer Electronics Show

[Gooch]

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XM Satellite Radio, the nation's
leading satellite radio company with more than six million subscribers, won
top honors for its ground-breaking satellite radios at the 2006 International
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nev.

[Keyser Soze]

they make some nice radios

[Gooch]

lowering the old radio prices to $99 and then coming out with those two new bad boys is great on XM's part. Technology sells...as Howard said last night on CNN, and right now, XM leads.

[Keyser Soze]

yep, Sirius needs to come up with better radios for sure but i disagree that people are gonna get XM just cause the radio is nicer. if they like Stern more than O&A they won't give a shit. XM is in the lead but Sirius is growing in leaps and bounds and will only exponentially grow with Howard now on.

[Gooch]

people do what is affordable. i tried to get my dad a portable Sirius. the price was crap, the product was crap, they lost my sale. my dad loves his XM Pioneer Airwave. Sirius lost a lot of potentials, who are not core fans, based on the price and quality of the equipment they are on, be assured.

[Keyser Soze]

well, you are right and wrong. price matters, but the sirius radios are dirt cheap, so thats not the issue. the price is not crap, the product is substandard to the XM radios.

i think your statement has some validity, some consumers could be swayed by the equiptment but i think in the long run, content is the most important and Stern is the killer app.

[Keyser Soze]

Sirius had about 600,000 subscribers when his deal was announced and that number and has now jumped to more than 3.3 million, with 1.1 million new subscribers enrolling in the fourth quarter of 2005 alone.

[Gooch]

content of being a Stern/OA fan..sure. but the majority of the main demographic after core fans is those on the fence and who are just casual listeners who want choice/selection/affordability/quality.

the core fans follow the leader....OA or Stern. But to someone who wants to listen to something better than regular radio, both products fit bill..so it comes down to which company caters to their needs. I think XM being ahead on this is key.

[Keyser Soze]

lets see where both companies stand by the end of the year. i'll bet that sirius has closed the gap by then, if not sooner.

[Mad]

Please save Keyser's post and frame it for when he has to eat crow. Likewise it XM bites the bullet and chokes I'll eat crow.

The doggy will be a two pump chump after people realize it's FM lite.

[HollywoodJewMoses]

everyone knew thered be an initial surge when howard joined sirius. it will die down and xm will still be superior.

[fbd]

my dad's car came with sirius, so i've listened quite a bit..its a pretty underwhelming service if you dont want one of the niche stations

[Bill the Cat]

it would actually be better if both these companies are successful. competition is good. if Sirus or XM lags and falls, it will be bought out and become part of something else. Sat radio is here to stay, but don't be surprised to see it gobbled by Time Warner or something of that ilk, in order to provide another service.

[Mad]

I do believe Mel and friends are preparing the doggy for a take over by his buddy's at Viacom or CBS Radio or whatever the fuck they call themselves these days.

[Keyser Soze]

the only difference content wise is on 2 additional music channels on XM, nascar and baseball as opposed to football and basketball. sirius also has bruer and eminem's shady station.

[Mad]

Deeper content vs shallow playlists, Shallow Hal.

[Keyser Soze]

SIRIUS is the exclusive partner of manufacturers including BMW, MINI, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Mitsubishi, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Mazda, Land Rover, Volvo and Aston Martin.

XM is only the partner for GM, Honda, Hyundai and now, Toyota.

[Keyser Soze]

heres a review from someone with both systems...

"I was a previous owner of both systems and I have completely made the switch to Sirius.

First off, I got tired of XM nerfing my favorite channels and replacing them with empty channels. XM may claim they have more channels than Sirius but nearly all of their sports channels (27 MLB channels, the various college conference channels) are offline 20 hours out of a day and they play the following annoying message "The programming for this channel has not started yet".
Why should I pay to have my favorite channels being relegated to internet only and be given empty programming. Also, Sirius truly covers College Sports, unlike XM. Sirius has 10 - 15 college football games covered every weekend... XM has their ACC game of the week or whatever... I'd rather have the larger selection of games to choose from.


XM's tendency to eliminate non-mainstream channels has become highly annoying. They remove XM Liquid Metal (Very hard rock) and made it internet only. The removed Special X which was the channel for non mainstream items like William Shatner sings, Leonard Nemoy sings Christmas Carols, Wesley Willis, etc... I believe Special X is now internet only. The also cancelled Discovery Radio, Playboy Radio and replaced them with Golf and Tennis channels.

It just seemed that XM was becoming this SAFE radio medium... which is the same as terrestial radio. I enjoyed XM at first because I could hear genres of music that I can't hear otherwise, but they continually kill risky or experimental channels.

Sirius has all of those experimental channels and they even have multiple channels of the most popular genres of music. Not to mention, they have more celebrity power in my opinion... it seems that everyone has a show on Sirius... Lance Armstrong, Phil Jackson, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, Jason Ellis, Jimmy Buffet, Eminem, Martha Stewart, Howard Stern, Jim Breuer, Marky Ramone, Dave Mirra, Bode Miller, and Kelly Slater. These are just the host that I'm aware of, they are always having guest hosts in the studio... Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones, etc.

On a side note, Sirius has reunited the original MTV VJ's from the 80s and they DJ the Big 80s station... Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman, and Alan Hunter.

Sirius has also made a large investment in Radio Drama as seen on Cinematic Radio for Oscar winning filmakers, Charlie Kaufman, Joel and Ethan Coen to create 2 "made for radio" plays starring the likes of John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Meryl Streep, Marcia Gay Hardin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hope Davis, and John Slattery.

For me, I want to support a medium that is seizing the moment and opportunity to air cutting edge, experimental and risky programming that I can't hear anywhere else... so Sirius radio was the obvious choice.

For those who want to pay for terrestrial radio, go buy your XM radio. Also, I could care less about the "technology" behind XM vs Sirius. I bought my Sprint cell phone because they are one of two carriers with "next generation" technology... and you know what, it freaking sucks. Unless I'm in a major city, I dont get a signal.. yet my friends with Billy Bob's cellular phone service continue to get a signal in the middle of bumblef*ck. So don't come at me with that lame "technology" argument."


another multi platform user....

"I feel that Sirius has MUCH better programing. I see just as much repetition with XM, and since most of their channels are automated, there is less personality.
I feel that Sirius offers much better options for Rock being the stuff you know or Indie rock. XM may have deep playlists, but their stations are too diverse. There are channels on Sirius I can stay on all day, I'm always jumping around on XM, and most of what I DO find on XM is stuff I hear on FM.

The perfect system would be Sirius programming on XM technology but that's not what we have. Since you're probably getting Satellite radio for the programming rather than mobility(or you would be looking at IPODS), I would have to recommend Sirius.

If I were to keep only one.. it would have to be Sirius."

[fbd]

Not to mention, they have more celebrity power in my opinion... it seems that everyone has a show on Sirius... Lance Armstrong, Phil Jackson, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, Jason Ellis, Jimmy Buffet, Eminem, Martha Stewart, Howard Stern, Jim Breuer, Marky Ramone, Dave Mirra, Bode Miller, and Kelly Slater

maybe its just be, but i honestly dont understand how a celebrity makes for good radio. some, yeah, they'll have great stories to tell, but i just dont see what lance armstrong brings to the table

[Keyser Soze]

cheating death, winning the tour de france a couple times, banging cheryl crowe....prob not much.