Sirius Off to the Races
When you’ve got only two satellite radio providers, exclusive deals are about landing prized content as much as they are about keeping them away from your lone rival. So when Sirius Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) announced that it would be inheriting the NASCAR broadcasting contract from XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR) come 2007 it was all about adding to its arsenal while subtracting from its larger competitor’s portfolio of offerings.
If you don’t think that XM is smarting, take a peek under the hood. While its original deal with NASCAR was signed five years ago auto racing had grown so popular on XM that the network launched a second 24-hour NASCAR channel a few months ago.