By Brandon Matthews
In an e-mail sent to customers, Sirius XM has announced the addition of over 20 new Internet channels, which is leading to speculation that their anticipated iPhone and iPod application will be released this week.
In many cases, some of these channels are exclusive to the premium Internet service and are actually unavailable on the basic subscription packages. You can’t get any of this from Pandora!
The new offerings include Radio Disney, Sports Nation II, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPN Radio, America Left, America Right, Book Radio, Bloomberg Radio, CSpan Radio, Fox News, Headline News, PLUS all of these:
20 on 20 - The biggest hits of today, from the biggest artists of the day, counted down by votes.
Cinemagic - Movie score music and soundtracks, film clips, news and interviews with starts and directors.
POP2K – The biggest hits and limited forgotten Hits from 2000-2008.
Music Showcase – SIRIUS XM’s exclusive music shows including The
Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan, Buried Treasure with Tom Petty,
and You and Me with B.B. King, plus Artist Confidential, shows from E
Street Radio, Faction, and Radio Margaritaville, and more.
Talk Showcase – SIRIUS XM’s exclusive talk shows including Here’s Barbara with Barbara
Walters, Ask Martha with Martha Stewart, American Voices with Senator
Bill Bradley, Jane Radio with Jane Pratt, plus shows from Oprah Radio,
Doctor Radio, Book Radio, and more.
The Village – From the ballads of early American songwriters to the contemporary masters of folk.
The Groove – The best in R&B, Funk, and Party Grooves from the ’70s and ’80s. Disco of the ’70s, funked-out jams of the ’80s.
Bootlegs - Selections from the thousands of exclusive live SIRIUS XM music
performances, including pop, rock, hip hop, country, jazz and more.
Comedy Showcase – SIRIUS XM’s exclusive comedy shows including The Jamie Foxx Show,
Fridays with Jim Breuer, Stand Up Sit Down, Unmasked, specials from
Blue Collar Radio and Raw Dog Comedy, and more.
Sports Nation I – Select sports talk shows from SIRIUS XM’s exclusive
sports programming including The Football Show, World Soccer Daily,
SIRIUS XM Fight Club, and more; plus select play-by-play from around
the world like Formula 1 and Indy Car races.
I have repeatedly asserted that the content available from the Satellite Radio provider would prove indefensible for the likes of Pandora and other Internet Radio applications. With Apple’s conference scheduled for next week, this seems to be a warning shot to those that had bet against Sirius XM.
Position: Long SIRI
Hopefully this is the start of something big. Or maybe even huge!
dont underestemate the power of the white dog
This is the best news Ive heard about the company in months. This makes the Iphone app a slam dunk.
Forgive me. I am having a bit of a deja vu moment. I am sure it will pass sometime this weekend.
They did this a while back (I think sometime last week). I noticed the additional channels online a while back can’t remember when but I know it was not today. In anycase, yeah, I was surprised and happy that they were expanding the channels online (makes you feel better about paying $2.99 since you are receiving additional content).
Officially announced today!
http://forms.sirius.com//asbs/servlet/WebContView?C=15288266&R=12081416&K=6ElY
now we talking
it only gets better’Sirius is reinventing themselves.
And to think from Bankruptcy to a growing Monopoly’
Sirius will be making the announcement by Monday after Apple Officially makes the announcement. Mel K will step to the plate next around 4pm & then at night time Howard Stern will go tell the world on Letterman. Then Stock Shock comes out 2 days later.
Mel K, told us all this back on March 12th, if anyone really listened. He said pretty clearly, by end of FY 09 2nd QT. Apple meeting on June 8th. This has been planned well before March 12th, hence Mel K being so mum.
well Mel K will not be Silent after June 8th. After Howard Stern going on Letterman and Stock Shock coming out, it will be a full onslaught of press releases and commercials, and other companies will be advertising for sirius xm. Car commercials, Apple commercials, cell-phone commercials and Sirius XM also goes on the attack, with the help of Stock Shock.
Dick, all I can say is I hope you are right, less than 48 hours away. It could have a dramatic impact the the company.
Not to be a Buzz Kill or anything…cause I am a long suffering long too….BUT…lets not forget this is SiriusXM we’re talking about people. How many times have we all gotten excited about some news that was suppose to turn everything around only to be let down when it happened? Merger anyone? Refinancing the debt anyone? Time and time again we whip ourselves into a frenzy over nothing. As cool and promising as this sounds…lets be real. Chances are it won’t sway Wall Streets opinion any more than the merger or refinancing the debt did.
Oh what the hell….
THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
20 new channels this is great news! Sirius is starting to ramp it up! WWDC is up next! I don’t think it is out of the guestion for Sirius to sell several million Applications in the first couple of months! We are at close to 19 million now! 30 million total subs by june of 2010! 50 million subs by June of 2011! There are twice as many cell phones as automobiles and if Sirius gets on a lot of them look out! I-Phone is just a start! If they lower the I-Phone to $99 everyone will want one! Over 21 million I-Phones sold through the end of March 2009! Remember: Content + Portability + Affordability = Sirius for Everyone! Mel don’t keep it a secret tell everyone and don’t forget to tell the Street too!
Brandon you should do an article on potential subscriber #’s in the future! Including internet, applications, and autos! I think people will be surprised just how quickly the internet & Application side becomes there core business! I think everybody including CNBC and Cramer focus to much on autos and miss the future!
I hope Dick is right on. Part of me feels that way but Bubba’s statement is very realistic. If anything is going to get this stock going its the iphone app but lets not set ourselves up for a big letdown. Keep in mind also for the next year or so predictions given by Nascar (the forum poster not the racing corp) could be a bit over the top due to the ongoing economy slump. The economy is still in very bad shape and probably won’t rebound for a good year or so. Please dont take me as being all doom and gloom as I hope as much as any of you all that I want this week to see our sp push upwards of the $1 (or more).
Good luck all and Godspeed Sirius!!!
So is everyone putting in huge buy orders for Monday morning? Doubt it. Now speculating that Sirius will grow 2.5 times in 2 years based on news of 20 new Internet channels is crazy talk. The iPhone app will help, but only marginally…I think the most downloaded app of all time represents about a 1 percent take rate. Do the math. What are there? 20-30 million iPhones? A couple million new subscribers over the next couple years at best.
please – for the love of God man – write another article or ten quick so that picture of Nancy Grace stops haunting me.
Rick
Brandon what is your take on bringing in new subs over the next year w/ the announcement of this new application? In your thinking is (#14) Brad being pessimistic or realistic? Is this the beginning of something big?
Great article….but HOLY CRAP! Why oh WHY did you have to put a picture of that shrill harpy Nancy Grace at the top of it???
@Brad
Hi Brad, don’t forget the ipod touch, the app will also work with it.
As the company becomes more ubiquitous, it becomes more dependable, ie something customers are dependant on. I was with Napster for years, as an investor, and four years after it went public, the ‘public’ still thought Napster was all about piracy.
Well, Sirius may be the same about the bankruptcy cloud that once surrounded it. Monday, there’ll be a lot more people that take Sirius e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Very positive!