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

Apple Not Serious About Sirius

Sirius is refusing to confirm reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has taken a fancy to the idea of partnering with the satellite radio provider. On Thursday, reports circulated around the Web claiming Mel Karmazin, Sirius chief executive officer, had discussions with Jobs during the D conference in California.

However, Sirius has told BetaNews that Jobs has not expressed any concrete interest thus far.

Apparently this is not the first time Karmazin has attempted to entice Jobs with the idea of pairing satellite radio with Apple’s iPod portable music player. In February, MarketWatch published a report stating that Karmazin approached Apple for discussions, but was met with the same result.

The future looks bright for Sirius

In early May, my esteemed colleague here at Strategy lab, Jon Markman, wrote a rather scathing piece regarding the valuation and future prospects of Sirius Satellite Radio. In the fairly emotional piece, Markman suggested that investors may finally be realizing the errors of their ways as the company continues to pile on losses amidst a healthy valuation.

Needless to say, I could not disagree more with Markman’s conclusions. Readers of my work know that I have been a long time fan of the prospects of Sirius so it should come as no surprise that I found the recent bashing by Markman to be nauseating at best.

While I agree that the company sports a healthy current valuation, my premise for treating Sirius as a Rational investment stems from the enormous future prospects of its business model. I do not, nor should any sane investor be focused on quarterly results and increased spending in the near term when it comes to a purely speculative and long term growth investment such as Sirius.

XM Radio asking interesting questions

XM Satellite Radio emailed me, one of their “selected XM Subscribers,” a little survey today. I thought I’d share some of it with you to give you something to speculate and pontificate about. So here are the juicy parts:

Suppose that XM Radio were to offer you a service that would allow you to “lease” downloaded music onto your XM Radio, and create playlists.

DirecTV Pulls Mega Project Together

DirecTV Group kicked off its enterprise architecture project last July with the idea of putting silos of information into a uniformed system.

The provider of digital satellite television launched its service in 1994, and since grew from 1 million customers to more than 14 million. News Corp. owns a 34-percent share of DirecTV, which has 6,000 employees nationwide.

DirecTV owns eight satellites with more than 225 channels in more than 135 markets nationwide. The company is launching five more satellites for 1,500 high-definition channels. Programming includes NFL Sunday Ticket, Mega March Madness, pay-per-view and DirecTV DVR with TiVo.

DIRECTV 8 Satellite Successfully Launched

DIRECTV 8, a high-power Ku/Ka-band, direct broadcast satellite built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Proton M/Breeze M launch vehicle provided by International Launch Services (ILS).

The satellite will provide selectable medium- and high-power Ku-band broadcast services to the U.S. on up to 16 high-power transponders. The Ka-band payload will use the full 1,000 MHz of Ka-band communications bandwidth available to link DIRECTV facilities as part of DIRECTV’s infrastructure development for the upcoming launch of local digital and high-definition services in the Ka-band.

Cost Question Orbits Sirius Satellite

As Sirius Satellite Radio debates the launch of another satellite, investors mull the costs.

Already burning through piles of cash to fund its money-losing subscription radio business, Sirius now faces a big capital spending decision. The New York-based pay radio shop is considering what to do with its fourth satellite, which currently sits on the ground serving as a backup in the event of trouble with any of its three orbiting satellites.

The company is weighing whether or not to launch the satellite early in an effort to boost its signal coverage, Bear Stearns analyst Bob Peck said in a research note Wednesday.

The debate centers on where the new satellite would orbit, says Peck. He adds that Sirius could choose a so-called geostationary orbit — one that would fix the satellite in relation to one spot on the earth — rather than the elliptical orbit that its other satellites use. But the new orbit would demand the reconfiguration of some gear.

That job could take most of a year and costs as much as $50 million, Peck estimates. Though Peck says launching the fourth satellite is a good move, he points out that it will put pressure on the company to raise more cash. Peck has a neutral rating on the stock.

Sirius Considering New Satellite Launch, Investors Weigh Cost

Sirius Satellite Radio is considering the option of launching its fourth satellite into space, but it would be an expensive undertaking for a company that is not yet making a profit. TheStreet.com reports that Sirius could launch the satellite to boost its signal coverage, but the job could take almost a year and cost as much as $50 million. Part of the dilemma is where the satellite would orbit. Bear Stearns analyst Bob Peck wrote in a research report that Sirius could choose a so-called geostationary orbit, which would fix the satellite in relation to one spot on the earth, rather than the elliptical orbit that its other satellites use. However, the new orbit would call for the reconfiguration of some gear, and that would be expensive.

Analyst April Horace told The Street that there are two choices: Sirius could send the $130 million satellite up to boost signal power, or it could beef up repeaters on the ground. But launching the satellite may be beneficial in the long run because mobile listening devices such as cell phones will require better coverage. “Mobility down to a cell phone probably wasn’t contemplated when they originally put their satellite plan together,” said Horace.

However, increased demand for stronger signals will boost the need for cash that Sirius may not have. Peck noted that refurbishing the fourth satellite and building a fifth as a spare will likely cost between $200 million and $275 million in capital spending over the next year.

XM Radio Opens Lincoln Center Studio

In what may be described as an answer to the Sirius announcement about using the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame studio, XM Satellite Radio came back with word it has signed to produce programming from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s studio.

Highlighting the press release is this (rightful) claim that XM has teamed with “…the world’s largest producer of jazz performance and education events.” You can also say that about Sirius by inserting the words “rock and roll” to replace “jazz”.

This radio world fight that’s going on is becoming more about content than at any time in the recent past, yet we don’t see much action on the part of broadcasters to counter the perception that satrad has it all. There’s no promotional campaign, no press releases, no chest thumping about broadcast radio having programs that are original, entertaining, or exceptional enough to warrant an audience member’s ear. Radio’s “You Hear It Here First” campaign is a dud.

Sirius Announces Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Deal

You first heard about this here a year ago, when I did, and most recently last week: Sirius has signed a deal to broadcast from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Now it’s official. Beginning in July, Sirius jocks will broadcast daily out of the Rock Hall’s studio.

Programming with Sirius should run from 6am to midnight-Cleveland time, as the slot from midnight through 6am was contracted for “Moonlight Groove.” That’s unless the delay in announcing Sirius’ move was to give the Rock Hall wiggle room out of the MG commitment. At this time, that’s an unanswered question.

Look at the big picture when deciding on cable or satellite

Q: I am thinking of changing from cable TV to satellite and would like to know what you think about Dish Network versus Comcast. I’ve seen a lot of advertisement spam and snail mail about Dish that promises the world, and I need the real word from someone I trust.

— Barry Werber, Pittsburgh

A: Subscription TV has become quite complicated, but I can tell you a bit about the industry in general and relate my own experiences with both vendors. I subscribe to both Comcast (cable TV and high-speed Internet) and Dish Network (satellite TV).

First, how many services do you want, and how important are they to you? Cable companies offer high-speed Internet service and, increasingly, phone service. You can bundle them together in packages to save money.

Satellite TV is pretty much a television-only service, but what great television! I have had Dish Network for eight years and could not be more pleased. For the serious audio/videophile, I think satellite is the way to go. The picture is 100 percent digital, unlike digital cable, which is a hybrid analog/digital system. Satellite picture quality is exceptional, and I can recommend Dish unhesitatingly based on my own experiences. Friends who have DirecTV tell me they are a great choice, too.

8 Million Ears Ago

What do you make of XM Satellite Radio’s announcement yesterday that it landed its 4 millionth subscriber last week? That places the popular satellite radio service on track to close out the year with 5.5 million accounts. In a recent Motley Fool interview, CEO Hugh Panero projected that “XM could have well over 20 million subscribers by 2010,” and the favorable trends don’t seem to suggest that this optimism is misguided.

For those who may have wondered if the company could continue to gain new listeners after last month’s 30% price hike to $12.95 a month, XM has signed up just over 200,000 new listeners since the end of March.

The battle with Sirius will no doubt continue to intensify now that both services are offered at the same price point and the war has moved away from exclusive deals with car manufacturers to the retail battleground. This past quarter, XM revealed that 60% of the quarter’s new customers were aftermarket subscribers.