Archive for April, 2005

The best things on air aren’t free

Tuesday, April 26th, 2005

The best things on air aren’t free

It’s a common refrain, one that XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have heard too many times to count: No one will pay for what they already can hear for free.

So what happens if you can’t get it for free anymore?

Numerous announcements during the past year by XM […]

Coming soon? MP3 and satellite radio

Tuesday, April 26th, 2005

Coming soon? MP3 and satellite radio

Combine the iPod with satellite radio and what do you get?

“The killer app,” said Kit Spring, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company.

Spring isn’t the only one who thinks so.

iPods and satellite radios are the hottest electronic gadgets on the market today. Consumers can buy their favorite songs using an […]

Review: Audiovox SIR-PNP2

Friday, April 22nd, 2005

Review: Audiovox SIR-PNP2

I received this unit at no cost when I signed up for a year’s worth of service from Sirius Satellite Radio (it was a special, limited-time offer that I don’t think is available any longer). I wasn’t expecting much, as they were giving these and the car or home unit docking station away… […]

Karmazin: Sirius Ad Revenue Will Hit $100 Million By 2007

Friday, April 22nd, 2005

Karmazin: Sirius Ad Revenue Will Hit $100 Million By 2007

In a wide-ranging interview with AdAge.com, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin discusses his hopes for the satcaster’s future, and predicts big business on the horizon. Karmazin says that using analysts’ forecasts of 10-30 percent growth annually, that 2004’s $1 million in ad revenue “becomes $7 [million] or […]

Sirius In Talks With Apple, Moto & Sony

Friday, April 22nd, 2005

Sirius In Talks With Apple, Moto & Sony

Of course, this could just be public pressure tactics to get them to be serious in these talks, but Sirius Satellite Radio’s CEO Mel Karmazin told AdAge that his company is in exploratory talks with the likes of Apple, Sony and Motorola to embed satellite capabilities into iPods, […]

DirecTV Offers Rebate to Voom Customers

Friday, April 22nd, 2005

Voom subscribers who switch over to DirecTV will receive a $200 rebate and three months free of DirecTV HD, according to SkyReport.com. Voom subscribers, who will be stuck without the service’s 39 HD channels when they officially go off air April 30th, can choose from either an HD system or an HD digital video recorder […]

Martha Bats Cleanup For Sirius

Wednesday, April 20th, 2005

Martha Bats Cleanup For Sirius

The deal is the latest effort on the part of Sirius to stockpile enough on-air talent to tip the subscriber scales in its favor, as it continues to trail competitor XM Satellite Radio Holdings. As of the end of the first quarter of 2005, XM had 3.77 million listeners; Sirius, which […]

Martha’s getting Sirius about radio

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

Martha’s getting Sirius about radio

Just six weeks after her prison release, Martha Stewart has cooked up another gig - on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The domestic diva will dole out tips on decorating, child rearing, weddings, pets, cooking and gardening to Sirius’ 1.2 million subscribers on her own 24-hour radio channel set to launch in July.

“I don’t […]

DirecTV Completes $2.5 Billion Senior Secured Financing

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

DIRECTV Completes $2.5 Billion Senior Secured Financing

The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (NYSE:DTV) announced today that its subsidiary, DIRECTV Holdings LLC, has completed its previously announced senior secured credit facility. The size of the facility was increased to $2.5 billion as DIRECTV elected not to proceed with an anticipated $500 million unsecured notes offering.

The new senior secured […]

Google, Yahoo! could link up with DVR pioneer TiVo

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

Google, Yahoo! could link up with DVR pioneer TiVo

[Tivo] has to have such grand visions for its service, otherwise it risks being lost in the woods as other companies try to pick off customers. The biggest threat to its business involves TiVo’s largest customer, DirecTV.

The satellite service operator accounts for more than half of TiVo’s […]