News and musings on Sirius, XM, DirecTV and the DISH Network.

Sirius Satellite Radio boss Mel Karmazin raked in $3.45 million in compensation last year - but so far this year stockholders have fared less well.

The company’s stock has dropped nearly 25 percent this year, following the launch of shock jock Howard Stern’s show on Sirius.

According to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Karmazin made $1.25 million in salary plus a cash bonus of $2.2 million. Karmazin inked a five-year contract with Sirius in November of 2004 after resigning as president of Viacom.

Opie & Anthony replaced David Lee Roth on CBS’ New York-based Free FM radio network. The duo were fired by CBS Radio’s WNEW-FM in New York for coercing a couple to make love inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral and have been working for XM Satellite Radio since August 2004.

In what may be the first satellite to terrestrial radio deal, sources say XM and CBS are working out a deal to air three hours of Opie & Anthony in the seven markets where Roth replaced Howard Stern in January, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Cleaned-up versions of the duo’s satellite broadcast would be heard over the airwaves of WFNY New York, WYSP Philadelphia, WBCN Boston, KLLI Dallas, WNCX Cleveland, WRKZ Pittsburgh and WPBZ West Palm Beach, the newspaper said.

Sirius plans a weekly talk show featuring Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban, the tech entrepreneur who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo! for $4 billion during the Internet boom of the late 1990s, will host a show from noon to 2 p.m. EST starting this Sunday.

“I’m fired up about doing the show on Sirius,” said Cuban. “I plan on raising hell and covering any and all topics that I think are interesting and taking no prisoners along the way.”

Monster Unveils SIRIUS Accessories Line

Monster, that company which brings you all of those A/V cables and the like, is getting into the satellite radio accessories market as today they unveiled a line of products aimed at SIRIUS subscribers.

The first two products out of the gate, according to a Monster press release, are a $49.95 home antenna and $59.95 car antenna. Both connect to a SIRIUS enabled device, with the home antenna having a hinged base for easy positioning and the car antenna a powerful magnet so it can hold on for the ride.

Dish’s new tricks

Dish Network has long been seen as the Wal-Mart of home TV services, offering a cheaper package of cable-type channels than either the local cable service or its main satellite competitor, DirecTV.

But over the past two years, Dish also has built a reputation for delivering advanced technology and new features. Last year, it became the first satellite service to offer a receiver with a built-in digital video recorder (DVR) capable of recording programs in high definition.

This spring, Dish began selling the DVR 942 ($699), an upgraded version of the receiver, which comes with even more new tricks. Two in particular stand out:

Multiple recording. The 942 has three built-in tuners — two for satellite channels and one that works with an over-the-air antenna. That means you can record three different programs at once, with one in high-definition.

Remote delivery. Other satellite services make you buy separate receivers and sometimes pay a monthly surcharge if you want to watch different programs in different rooms. The 942 can service two TVs in different parts of the house with just a simple coaxial cable connection. The extension TV gets its own remote control that can order up live or recorded programs, but not high-definition.

The 942 has other features that make it compare favorably to digital cable or DirecTV.

The unit has a 250GB hard drive, which can hold up to 25 hours of HD programming or 180 hours of standard broadcasts.

XM Satellite Radio Extends Lead With More Than 640,000 New Net Subscribers During Second Quarter of 2005

XM Satellite Radio in early July announced it added more than 640,000 new net subscribers during the second quarter of 2005 for a total of more than 4.4 million subscribers. This subscriber gain represents a 53 percent increase in new net subscribers compared to the second quarter of 2004, when XM recorded 418,000 new net subscribers. Additionally, the 640,000 new net subscriber gain represents an 18 percent increase over the first quarter of 2005 when XM recorded 540,000 new net subscribers.

“This was the best second quarter in the history of XM. The momentum behind XM’s subscriber growth is undeniable. In just one year, XM has more than doubled its subscriber base from 2.1 million in the second quarter of 2004 to over 4.4 million subscribers today,” said Hugh Panero, President and CEO of XM Satellite Radio. “Millions of consumers are choosing XM because of our outstanding programming, including unprecedented coverage of Major League Baseball and the most commercial-free music in satellite radio, as well as strong support from our automotive partners and breakthrough products like our line of XM2go portable, hand-held radios.”

XM Radio Set to Turn Profit - Subscriber base grows as rival does too.

XM Satellite Radio will turn a profit next year, says the company’s chairman.

Gary Parson, XM chairman, said during a visit to Detroit that the company’s start-up plan, which included provisions for heavy losses, is unfolding as planned. Thus XM is on course to turn a profit next year and sign up as many as 20 million subscribers by the end of the decade and 40 million by 2015.

XM now has more than 4 million subscribers under contract and should have 5.5 million on board by the by the end of the year, Parsons added. “Every million subscribers adds about $100 million to our cash flow,” added Parsons after a speech to Detroit ’s Automotive Press Association.

Parsons added XM’s strong cash flow also is making it easier to cover the startup costs that are inherent in acquiring new subscribers and launching the new service.

XM also now reviewing the possibility of offering service in Canada. Canadian regulators have approved XM’s application to offer service north of the border. XM, however, haven’t decided to accept the conditions, which include offering a heavy dose of Canadian-oriented programming and music, Parsons said. A decision is expected in about 90 days. XM’s rival, Sirius, has indicated it plans to offer its service in Canada.

Parsons noted that satellite radio in general and XM in particular, has been accepted by consumers faster than any other entertainment technology introduced during the past 30 years, including the VCR and DVD player.

The popularity of satellite radio has made the cost of acquiring subscribers smaller than originally forecasted. In addition, the renewal rate is running at better than 90 percent, he added.

Parson added satellite radio’s automotive partners report they have never seen a feature with such quick acceptance from consumers and probably half of XM’s new subscriptions will be linked to new vehicle purchases.

A look at Dish Network’s HD receiver/recorder and Toshiba’s tunerless TVs

What’s the richest source for programming to show off your super-grade, high-definition TV? At present, that honor goes to satellite TV provider Dish Network and its second-generation HD receiver/recorder, the Dish Player-DVR 942.

While broadcast networks reserve most high-def shows for prime time or weekend afternoons, there’s always something super-sharp and sparkly playing on this box - live on Dish’s (unrivaled-in-quantity) 19 satellite-fed HD channels or waiting in reserve on its hard-disk-drive video recorder.

Dish Network is the “we try harder” brand in pay TV, and the DVR 942 is quite the technological statement. It features two high-definition and two standard-definition satellite TV tuners, plus high-def and standard-def broadcast tuners.

Working this box to the max, you can record from any two sources simultaneously while watching something previously captured on the hard drive. (The 250 GB drive holds about 25 hours of HD content, 120 hours in standard def, or combinations thereof.)

In typical tech guy fashion, I pretty much figured out how to run the show just from fiddling around with the logically laid-out remote control and on-screen menu/program guide, without reading that pesky owner’s manual.

Read the rest of this review…

Military might draft XM Satellite Radio

Customers of XM Satellite Radio aren’t the only ones who appreciate its digital quality and nationwide coverage. The U.S. military might draft XM’s service for homeland security purposes.

XM and Raytheon have jointly built a communications system that would use XM’s satellites to relay information to soldiers and emergency responders during a crisis.

The Mobile Enhanced Situational Awareness Network, known as MESA, would get a dedicated channel on XM’s satellites that would be accessible only on devices given to emergency personnel. The receivers would be the same as the portable ones available to consumers, with slight modifications to make them more rugged.

The military often leases transmission space on commercial satellites, but this collaboration between a massive defense contractor and a fun-loving radio network — XM’s first two satellites were dubbed “Rock” and “Roll,” and its next two might be “Rhythm” and “Blues” — is unusual.

BBC Radio 1 Invades Sirius

The British are coming, the British are coming! So says Sirius. The satellite radio company yesterday announced they had done a deal with BBC Radio to bring the popular BBC Radio 1 music channel to their line up later this summer.

BBC Radio 1, according to a Sirius press release, plays a mix of current pop, rock, R&B and hip-hop music, as well as covering music events worldwide. The channel also does many exclusive celebrity interviews. In the UK, BBC Radio 1 has a weekly audience of more than 12 million.