Satellite Radio: Turn Right for XM, Left for Sirius

newsmax.com ^ | 11/25/03 | Carl Limbacher

[ovrtaxt]

With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

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Tuesday Nov. 25, 2003 4:30 p.m. EST Satellite Radio: Turn Right for XM, Left for Sirius XM Satellite Radio president and CEO Hugh Panero once touted his company saying, "I think that there are a number of people who are simply dissatisfied with their musical choices on terrestrial radio… The people who love jazz and blues and rock and roll and other kinds of eclectic music like reggae or opera just can't find it.” However, competing for the potential satellite radio audience in the roving U.S. market of some 200 million licensed vehicles has apparently gone beyond appealing to jazz lovers versus rock and roll devotees. XM competitor Sirius, for instance, offers 40 channels of stuff other than music, featuring more news and talk shows than XM. What’s more, the Sirius programming has more choices geared to liberal-minded listeners. XM appeals more to the middle and the right. Left-leaning Sirius has no less than three public radio channels, which tend to appeal to the liberal crowd, while XM doesn't have any. Sirius also features "Sirius Left,” a liberal talk channel. Covering the bases, however, Sirius offers "Sirius Right” as well. XM's stable of talk-show hosts includes conservatives Bill Cunningham, Michael Reagan, and libertarian Glenn Beck. Meanwhile, personality Phil Hendrie pokes fun at both sides of the political debate. Perhaps most telling, Sirius features a channel for the gay community, while XM has an exclusive channel for NASCAR racing buffs and a Playboy station that charges an extra tariff. All things considered, Sirius and XM have just 13 channels in common – for the most part rebroadcasts of cable nets like CNN. The rest comes from exclusive signings – Sirius has deals with NPR, the NBA, the NHL, as well as original programming. Critics have suggested that the varying political bents of the talk shows are defining the real difference between the competing services. When it comes to the musical content, the two services offer the same wide variety – XM channels, however, feature live disk jockeys who take call-in requests. In any event, don’t have an epiphany and switch from liberal to conservative or vice-versa once you bought the hardware for the service of your choice. That hardware is not interchangeable – at least not yet before open-standard radios become available on the market. It’s all about programming, as Sirius and XM ramp up their efforts to attract new subscribers. As more and more car manufacturers install satellite radios in their new models, they're expected to attract 25 million subscribers in the next five years. Whether liberal or conservative, that’s a market to reckon with.

[macrahanish #1]

NPR is "free" but you have to listen to tripe like I happened to hear
last night. The interviewer on the news asked his guest, "Is the feeling of
anxiety about economic security greater today,during the Bush administration,
than it was during the Great Depression, in 1932?"
The guest responded(of course)that people are much more anxious today. I about blew
a gasket! Then I thought about it. If people are more anxious today, wouldn't it be
due to 70 years of increasing governmental intervention in their lives, and the resultant
rise of a class of people who can't wipe their butts without
help from Uncle Sam?
Can anyone tell me why we subsidize NPR?

[macrahanish #1]

I've heard that Sirius is more financially stable. Sirius offers
Fox News, although I'm REALLY sick of all Scott Peterson, Kobe Bryant,
and Michael Jackson all the time.
Sirius does inject incredibly lefist propaganda in the guise
of "Icicle Minutes."

[Lee'sGhost]

"Sirius has deals with NPR, the NBA, the NHL, as well as original programming."

I'm not sure which of those three I care least about. Looks like a trifecta of losers to me.

[mhking]

From CNet.com:

XM Radio vs. Sirius programming by genre

Here's our comparison of the two services as their programming packages stood on August 20, 2003. You can use it to match up the services to your personal taste. If you like Latin music, for example, XM is the clear winner, while talk fans will find more variety on Sirius. To take a closer look at each services' programming, click the logos. (Note: Sirius's programming list is a PDF document.)

GENRE: MUSIC	XM RADIO	SIRIUS
Pop	11	3
Hits by decade	6	5
Rock	12	12
Hip-hop/R&B/urban	8	9
Jazz/blues	7	7
Dance/electronica	4	6
Country/folk	6	7
Latin	5	2
World	5	3
Classical	3	3
Christian	2	1
Kids	2	2
Live specials	1	1
Total music	72	61
GENRE: TALK	XM RADIO	SIRIUS
News	9	10
Weather	1	4
Sports	5	8*
Talk and variety	9	14
Comedy	3	1
En Espanol	1	4
Total talk	28	41
Total streams	100**	102

*This includes three dedicated streams playing live NBA games, which are not always active.
**This total doesn't include XM's optional Playboy Radio stream, which costs an extra $2.99 per month.

[Musket]

And as I understand it, neither of these is worth a crap if you live or work in a building that you can't mount an antenna on, so for me that means they are worthless.

[babaloo]

I am so glad there is a discussion of the 2 services. I am considering getting one and have been trying to figure out which was better. We are taking a driving trip to Southern California for Christmas again this year and last year we discovered there are vast areas of the southwest where radio reception is not good. Other than Fox, are there other network or cable TV stations available on the services?

[glock rocks]

I'm sitting inside a steel/concrete building listening to XM, with the antenna on my desk, under my PC monitor. Reception is excellent. YMMV.

[mattdono]

No. Rush isn't on either...yet. One would have to think that the Maha-Rushie would cut a deal with them. However, it would depend on his arrangement for his current contract.

I am lucky, I have an FM talk-radio station that broadcasts Rush. The difference between his show on FM vs. AM is unbelievable. I can only imagine the crystal-clear quality of satelite.

[Moonmad27]

Strangely enough, a liberal friend of mine just got Sirius, while I just bought a car CD player that's set for XM. Glad to see I bought "right"!

[southernnorthcarolina]

I am a huge fan of Sirius.

Newmax's implication that Sirius leans to the left is absurd. Yes, NPR, BBC, "Sirius Left" and more are available; but so too are Fox News, two financial channels, "Sirius Right," and more.

But the primary reason I'm a subscriber (and a shareholder) is the 60 AD-FREE music streams. It is true that XMSR has fewer ads than standard FM, but they seem to be increasing in frequency, and there's no guarantee that the number won't increase further. Once the camel's nose gets under the tent... Sirius, on the other hand, has staked themselves out as the advertising-free choice (on the 60 music streams; ads do play on some of the news/talk/finance/sports streams, many of which, unlike the music streams, are not in-house productions).

Another thing I like about Sirius is that the disc jockies keep their comments very brief, very infrequent, and very relevant. They'll tell you the name of the piece, the album it's from, maybe where the artist in question is touring; I do NOT want to hear how wasted the DJ was last night, etc., and on Sirius, I don't.

Pay for radio? Absolutely! The reception is CD-like, and stays with you cross-country. I'm literally getting ready to walk out the door for a drive of several hundred miles, and am actually looking forward to the trip.

Both sat radio services have a feature that I find fascinating: they display the name of the group and the song title on the faceplate of the receiver. This is particularly useful for long classical pieces; I'm a novice in that area, just getting into it, and I find it helpful and educational to know whether I'm listening to Brahms, Beethoven, or Bach without having to wait for the end of the piece for the DJ to tell me.

Of the 60 music streams, I like about 20 a lot, and find some redeeming qualities in another 20 or so. Personally, I can't stand hip-hop, bluegrass, or opera, but they're all represented on Sirius for those who do. My favorite is Stream 16 ("the Vault") which plays album cuts mostly of well-known 60s-80s rock groups, but not necessarily the cuts you hear over and over on FM -- a lot of "B Side" stuff. But I spend a lot of time on other rock streams (alternative, new wave, garage bands, a stream devoted to the 60s, another to the 70s, another to "stadium rock," etc.); on several jazz streams (a broad selection of old "standards" such as Basie and Ellington on one stream, swing bands on another, modern jazz on another, blues on another, etc.; and on two of the three classical streams (symphony and chamber; I give opera a pass).

Here's a programming guide; check the links on the right side of the page, toward the bottom.

Personally, I'm convinced that satellite radio will be a standard feature on most cars within 3 to 5 years; it's too good a product not to. A wide variety of home and portable units are available, too.

I'm off to the hinterlands, with . Best Thanksgiving wishes to all!

[FreedomPoster]

I would bet money it is. They build high-end trade show booths. I've seen a little of their shop, when picking up some signs vigilantcitizen made for us for a McKinney FReep.

[FreedomPoster]

>>I should clarify, I'm a talk radio FIEND. . . From what I've seen, XM doesn't offer much.

You're right, and I don't think Sirius is much better. I've sort of burned out on talk, especially since 90+% of what they talk about gets covered here at FreeRepublic a day or three before they talk about it.

[Rebelbase]

"(We live near Cleveland and get good radio reception from Ashtabula, Youngstown, Akron, Detroit/Windsor,Ontario, not to mention our local radio.) "

Must be nice. In a majority of the country away from the cities radio station selections are minimal. I can see the appeal of having satellite radio.

[Rebelbase]

"I've sort of burned out on talk, especially since 90+% of what they talk about gets covered here at FreeRepublic a day or three before they talk about it."

Indeed. I don't know who to credit the quote to, but someone here calls FR "Show prep for the world".

[Lando Lincoln]

I have had XM for a year now. I just love it. Most days, I catch Brit Hume on it and the selections are great. I installed a better antenna for my car that I picked up thru Crutchfield - I highly recommend it.

Lando

[Timesink]

Hmmm. Now why would they advertise exclusively to an audience that has already purchased their services?

Because they can't sell the ads yet. Those of you with XM or considering XM should keep in mind that once they can, they will. In addition, they already have a plan in place to increase the number of ads per hour on their commercial stations once they get enough subscribers to make ad sales worthwhile. It's an inherent part of their business plan, just as the Sirius business plan is for no ads at all on any music channels.

Ovrtaxt: It'll be a couple of hours before I can come back and post, so just let me say that, like so much that Newsmax publishes, this article has a lot of bunk in it. XM is not "right wing" and Sirius is not "left wing". I personally prefer, and pay for, Sirius, and generally agree with southernnorthcarolina's post 30. But I'll come back and say a little more in a few hours.

[Dog Gone]

I'm having trouble imagining Playboy Radio.

[Maelstrom]

I sold my stock in Sirus and stayed with my stock in XMS.

[Maelstrom]

When XMS gets Rush Limbaugh, I'll look to save for it.

[Paul_B]

No way. Sirius is a financial wreck; just diluted yet again!

XM is in fairly good shape, and growing rapidly and increasingly. Sirius just downgraded its projected growth rate.

XM also carries Fox news.

p.