SIRIUS XM SATELLITE RADIO NEWS

The media is once again abuzz about Howard Stern. This time it is not about whether or not he will renew his contract with Sirius XM Radio, but rather whether or not he become part of the pop music phenomenon known as American Idol.

Satellite radio investors seem to like the idea of Stern becoming a judge on American Idol. His fans seem to like the idea as well. After all, this will bring more exposure to Stern, and by extension, to satellite radio. It would seem to make all of the sense in the world that this is potentially great news, right?

Well, the exposure would help satellite radio gain some “free” publicity, but in my mind this deal would have been better a year or two ago. As many already know, Howard is in the last year of his contract with Sirius XM. As any business man will tell you, you want to increase your market value as much as possible prior to negotiating a contract. Thus, the American Idol speculation brings added value to the Stern brand, as well as his negotiating power.

If Howard is a success on American Idol, it would be a gig that would pay him handsomely. Perhaps it would even pay him enough to make that his main form of employment. Being a judge on American Idol would increase the amount of leverage he has at the negotiating table with Sirius XM. Even the speculation serves that same purpose. Yes, it would bring exposure to Sirius XM. Perhaps the added exposure will even be enough to make it in Sirius XM’s best interest to try their hardest to keep The King of All Media on board. The risk however is all with Sirius XM. If Howard were to cut a deal with Idol, he is in the drivers seat when it comes to a potential contract with Sirius XM.

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Sirius XM announced today that it would offer introductory 3 month trial subscriptions of the Sirius Everything package upon the purchase of all Sirius equipped Ford and Lincoln Mercury Certified Pre-owned vehicles. The Everything package delivers more than 130 channels of premier sports, news, talk, entertainment and commercial-free music programming plus traffic and weather information… unlike the recently announced Sirius XM BlackBerry application which has a limited 120 channel line up.

I have always been a huge advocate for free trials to new customers so, it will come as no surprise that I think this is great news BUT… why do people buying a used car get a 3 month trial while new BlackBerry application users only get 7 days? I am sure some over-thinker has crunched the numbers but, you can’t in one breath tell us that you have a hugely diverse lineup of programming and then in the next breath tell us we only have 7 days to get a taste of it all!

Ford will continue to offer Sirius as a factory installed feature with a 6 month subscription of Sirius included on most new Ford and Lincoln Mercury vehicles.

Sirius XM finally announced today that they are getting into the BlackBerry game by offering access to a 120 channels of programming on the BlackBerry Storm, Bold, Tour, and Curve.

The best news? The new Sirius XM BlackBerry application will come with a free 7 day trial for new users. Do I wish it was 30 days? One has to wonder if it will be tough to get a real taste of the breadth all this programming in such a short amount of time.

The worst news? Once again, Howard Stern will not be on the BlackBerry mobile app. This comes as no surprise as The Howard Stern Show was a glaring omission on the Sirius XM iPhone application…sigh.

The future seems to be looking up for the Sirius XM mobile offerings and I am hopeful that they are ready to take this mobile thing a little more seriously. They now have a dedicated Sirius XM mobile page up… now that it is, lets make sure we add Windows, Palm, and Android support like Pandora.

Once again Sirius XM announced today that it will broadcast Super Bowl XLIV in 10 languages, across 14 different live broadcasts plus live talk programming from South Florida throughout Super Bowl Week.

Starting Monday, SIRIUS NFL Radio (ch.124) will broadcast live every day from Radio Row at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center with the latest news and analysis leading up to the big game, plus dozens of interviews with players, coaches, league executives and celebrities.

NFL Radio will also broadcast live from Sun Life Stadium on Media Day, Tuesday 10 am – 1pm ET, offering one on one interviews with players and coaches from both the Colts and Saints.

On Saturday 4 pm ET, NFL Radio will provide live coverage as the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 is announced. Listeners will hear the live announcement as well as one on one interviews with the newly elected Hall of Famers.

If you are unlucky enough to not be planted in front of an HDTV on Super Bowl Sunday, Sirius XM will air an expanded lineup of live play-by-play broadcasts from Sun Life Stadium in South Florida. The 14 different game calls will be available to Sirius and XM subscribers with the “Best of Sirius” programming package as follows;

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Today Sirius XM announced that it ended the year with 18,772,758 total subscribers, adding 257,028 net subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009.  Even more important then this being the second consecutive quarter of net subscriber additions, CEO Mel Karmazin notes that this is the first year in the companies history that they have generated a positive free cash flow for the entire year.

Karmazin attributes the recent upturn to what he says are “Improvements in automotive sales, conversion rates and better than anticipated self-pay churn suggest that the outlook for the auto sector and the effects of the economy on our business are beginning to improve.”

Another promising number is 2.2%, the increase in the conversion rate to a self-pay subscription from a trial included in the sale of a vehicle in Q4 2009 (46.4%) from Q4 2008 (44.2%). The fact that this percentage is still a little less then a coin toss is still troubling to me. I can’t imagine anyone listening to this service for a few months and not wanting to stick with it. If Sirius XM wants to improve moving forward, they need to get feedback from these non converting trials and figure out exactly what is holding them back.

“We expect to meet our guidance and report over $400 million in pro forma adjusted operating income, an improvement of over $500 million from the pro forma adjusted operating income for 2008, and an improvement of nearly $1 billion from the pro forma adjusted operating income for 2007, the last full year prior to the merger of SIRIUS and XM,” said David Frear, Chief Financial Officer, SIRIUS XM.

It should be noted that the company’s self-pay subscriber base increased by 247,182 in the fourth quarter to 15,703,932 subscribers, while total paid and unpaid trials included in the sale of a vehicle remained level with the prior quarter and the prior year at approximately 3.6 million.

Starting December 21st you will be able to hear the 3rd installment of the History of Howard Stern on Howard 100 and Howard 101 on the Sirius dial. The History of Howard Stern: Act III, exclusive radio documentary series offers listeners a rare behind-the-scenes look at the life, career and achievements of Howard Stern.

Act III takes an in-depth look at the era when Howard is crowned “The King of All Media.” Pivotal moments of Howard’s life and career covered in Act III include the publication of his bestselling books Private Parts and Miss America, the launch of the E! show, Howard’s run for governor of New York, the day Howard saved a caller from jumping off the George Washington Bridge, an all-star tribute to Sam Kinison, and much more.

The show will premier on December 21st and air through January 1st beginning at 6am ET on Howard 100 and 6am PT on Howard 101 in 10 separate original parts, with one installment airing each day that week and encore performances all day, nightly and throughout the weekend.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of listening to the show as long as I have because you were either too young, or now have the new found ability through Satellite Radio, this series is a must listen. To hear where this show has come from and how much it has evolved is an eye opening and entertaining experience. For more information check out sirius.com/historyofhoward.

Starting this coming Monday Snoop Dogg Nation, a commercial-free channel featuring music, interviews, and specials celebrating the career of the hip-hop icon, from his early days with Dr. Dre to his newest album, Malice N Wonderland will be taking over Hip Hop Nation on Sirius (ch. 40) and XM (ch. 67).

Snoop Dogg Nation, hosted by Snoop Dogg himself, will feature everything from his early collaborations with Dr. Dre, to Snoop’s first release in 1993, Doggystyle. Listeners will hear Snoop Dogg host an audio tour of his entire catalog, sharing stories about each album, including a track by track listen of his latest album. Snoop Dogg Nation will also feature a special countdown during which Snoop will count down his top 20 favorite hip-hop songs of all time.

Additionally, Snoop Dogg, will sit down with Hip-Hop Nation host Renada for an in-depth and revealing interview. Snoop will discuss creating his new album, his life as a ‘family man,’ his views on the music industry and more.

Based on what I have seen of Snoop Dogg on his own TV series Fatherhood and his episode of Man Caves, this should prove to be some interesting and compelling radio. One can only hope that Snoop gets interested enough in satellite radio that Shade 45 gets bumped for an all new Dogg Pound 45.

Ever since Michael Jackson passed away there has been a public yearning for all things Michael and all things Jackson. From devout fans to detractors, the Michael Jackson story has been major news. This Sunday at 9:00 PM Eastern, A&E will being airing a new series called “The Jackson’s: A Family Dynasty”.

The new series will give the public access to the Jackson’s like never before. Some may feel that the family is capitalizing on the death of Michael, but regardless of your feelings about Michael, there is a sense that people want to know more for many reasons.

The A&E network is heavily advertising the series and Sirius XM is a sponsor of the premier. Some network ads are even mentioning Sirius XM as a sponsor. The show is highly anticipated by Jackson fans and the premier will likely be viewed by a wide audience.

For Sirius XM, the sponsorship move makes sense. As a company that brings more music to listeners than any other, Sirius XM is smart to hitch their brand to all things music, including this new Jackson series.