SIRIUS Canada and BMW Canada today announced a long term exclusive agreement that will make Sirius satellite radio receivers an option for BMW vehicles sold in Canada.
Starting this fall, Sirius will be available in select Canadian BMW models bundled with a subscription to the satellite radio service. By 2007, all BMW models will be Sirius satellite-ready.
SIRIUS is really moving to position itself as not only a satellite-radio service but a mobile data system. BMW makes an excellent fit with SIRIUS' strategy, and I'm sure both parties are well aware of this. BMW's late model cars have a reputation for being loaded with tech-gadgets (sometimes to the point of annoyance. cough-"i-Drive"-cough). I'm sure the BMW execs are well aware (and probably more aware than public knowledge) of SIRIUS' future plans for data delivery to the automobile.
SIRIUS is racking up the exclusives in the Canadian market, with Subaru and VW already signed on for similar deals.
SIRIUS continues
their signing ways with the announcement of the latest star coming to SIRIUS Stars 102. On May 4 SIRIUS released that
they had signed Deepak Chopra as a host of a weekly 3 hour live call-in show on Saturdays. His show is scheduled
to start in the summer later this year. Deepak Chopra, the author of over 42 books, said "I will be focusing
on four areas -- success; love, sexuality and relationships; well being; and spirituality. My hope is to develop a more
personal relationship with a back and forth communication, something that I haven't been able to do with my books."
I am a little late in reporting this, but SIRIUS announced on
Tuesday that Mark Cuban, the outspoken, sometimes too outspoken for the NBA league commissioner, owner of the
Dallas Mavericks has signed to do a weekly talk show. Mark Cuban was interviewed by Kevin C. Tofel
back last October for Weblogs Inc. sibling blog HDBeat.com. Cuban's show "Radio
Maverick" will be broadcast on SIRIUS Stars 102 Sundays from 12 pm - 2 pm ET starting this summer.
In the press release Cuban is quoted as saying that he is fired up about the show and that "I plan on
raising hell and covering any and all topics that I think are interesting and taking no prisoners along the way."
Having seen and heard some of his tirades toward the NBA officials during some of the Dallas Mavericks games, he
definitely has his own opinions and is not afraid to use them.SIRIUS' President of Entertainment and Sports, Scott
Greenstein said "Radio Maverick will be a forum without limits, where he can talk to SIRIUS listeners about
everything from the NBA to an MBA."
GoDaddy.com, known for its tasteful, chaste, kid-friendly ads is sponsoring over 50 podcasts on the PodShow Network, an aggregator of podcasts. GoDaddy's ads and sponsorship will
appear in multiple podcasts and throughout the site. The press
release is chock-full of zingers like "Advertising 2.0" and "the power of many voices discussing one
brand." If podcasting sticks around, then certainly its monetized future lies in advertising of this kind -
rolling out spots across multiple shows among a family of products and brands. It's the equivalent of sponsoring a
night of bands at a concert, or a family of blogs all sharing money with Google Ad Words. At some point, NBC will have
70 podcasts (alright, maybe more like 7), and they will all have a coordinated ad campaign such as the one GoDaddy and
PodShow are claiming to have done first. More power to 'em.
Of course, with all this new media being flung
hither and yon, the bigger issue is "Why are these broadcast ads?" That is, why are all the members of
PodShow's audience being given the same thing? Of course, it makes sense for a little minnow like PodShow to jump on a
big fat ad contract, but this all highlights the fact that advertising is still delivered in a broadcast fashion but
the audience is receiving content in a narrowcast manner. The audience is pulling down their podcasts, picking and
choosing quixotically, but their ads are served from the same pool. Where is narrowcast advertising? Where are ad
insertions based on individual users? THAT is the future: ads served in podcasts, webcasts, and digital broadcasts
changed to suit each user.
We have had some SIRIUS S50 portable device coverage here in the past including Kevin Tofel's post on the last minute changes they
made in response to RIAA intervention, and now we got news of an agreement concerning the device. SIRIUS and Universal
Music Group have reached an agreement over the S50's ability to separate individual songs from the satellite
stream into individual MP3 files.
Music industry leaders were concerned that the ability to save songs
individually was a lost chance at being able to sell that song. The music industry wants their money and felt they
should be getting paid for these lost sale opportunities. Record labels had threatened to sue SIRIUS over the S50
device for copyright violations. Back in December an agreement was reached to extend the deadline to work out the final
deal.
The final details are not known, but it seem that SIRIUS will be compensating Universal Music Group and
avoiding any legal proceedings. These charges are not going to be passed onto the SIRIUS subscribers.
This deal is expected to serve as a basis for similar deals with other record companies, and since the current deal
only covers the S50, most likely it will also be used as the template for other devices in the future.
Starting in the 2007 model year, Volkswagen and Audi will only offer SIRIUS as the satellite radio option
available in their cars. They used to offer the choice of XM or SIRIUS to customers wanting satellite radio installed.
The deal is good through the 2012 model year. The 4th largest auto maker Volkswagen said they expect to install SIRIUS
satellite in 80% of their vehicles, which will come with three free months of service.
Well it was just around a year
and a month ago that it was reported that XM
signed a deal with AirTran airlines, and now it is with United. On March 2nd, United announced that starting this month
XM will be providing up to 19 channels of in-flight audio. It looks like this is just for a limited time as the release says "For a promotional period..."
when describing the offering of channels by XM on the United flights. The number of channels available will be based
upon the airplane for the flight.
Record labels are applying the screws to Sirius Satellite Radio. They're looking
for royalty payments on the music Sirius plays that could total 30 percent of the satellite provider's revenue. This is
based largely on a new piece of hardware coming from Sirius that will allow listeners to record hours of programming in
much the same manner as a DVR does for TV broadcasts. This is being seen by the record labels as an
"interactive" service that entitles them to a royalty-based payment schedule as opposed to a
"broadcast" service where they get lower payments. The two parties will have to go into arbitration if they
can't hammer out their differences by June 30th.
By way of the Podcasternews.com blog, there is an announcement that HBO signed a promotional deal with Podtrac.
It is listed on the Podcasternews.com site's blog as some of the PCN shows have been selected by HBO to be part of
their campaign with Podtrac.
'Big Love', the new show that is the focus of
this promotional campaign starts March 12th. It is a a fictional series about Polygamy. You can view a trailer for
it over at HBO's Site.
For Full Disclosure: I am a
podcaster over at Podcasternews.com and my show is one of the ones that is part of the promotional campaign.
SIRIUS partnered with DISH Network, so you just knew that XM would hitch with DIRECTV, right? It's the real deal now as DIRECTV has
added 25 additional music channels courtesy of XM. The new channels for DIRECTV subscribers are in the 801 - 879 range
on your DIRECTV channel guide. I never thought this would come in handy, but I keep tuning in to SIRIUS on my DISH
set-top boxes; besides, free content is never a bad thing now, is it?
Who has a
following along the same lines as Howard Stern? Oprah Winfrey, that's who.
The multimedia icon has signed a three-year deal with
Winfrey that will have the talk-show icon creating a new channel called "Oprah and Friends." Winfrey will
host a weekly show on the channel. Other programs will feature personalities from Oprah's stable of regulars. XM got
Winfrey for a fraction of what Sirius signed Howard Stern for, just $55 million over the three years. The new channel
is expected to be a hit among women, who make up a great deal of Winfrey's core audience. The low cost of the deal also
means XM won't have to add too many subscribers to pay for the contract.
What's
up with XM? They're really scrapin' the bottom o' the barrel to get
some hosts these days. [For the record: our schedules are open if you need new talent.] While we wait for XM to call
us, we can say that they've already called James Carville and Luke Russert, son of NBC political analyst, Tim Russert.
If you don't remember Carville, just think back on the loud, opinionated (but extremely intelligent) fellow from the
Bill Clinton era. We have no doubt these guys know their sports; after all, most guys do. Aren't they better suited to
politics than Sports Talk on XM? Russert's still in school at Boston College, so he can't stay out too late; gotta
watch the grades. Hey, was that our phone ringing? Is that XM? Nah, just another telemarketer.
By the way,
XM also signed up Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for a weekly show on the United States political landscape. We're just kiddin' on
that one; Little E.'s show is on NASCAR. Go figure.
Travelers on the Boston to Washington, DC
route flown by JetBlue will have over 100 channels of XM
Satellite Radio to listen to. The service is being offered on JetBlue's new EMBRAER jets on the new flight leg, which
is expected to be a busy one for the carrier. The XM offering joins 36 channels of DIRECTV on the planes.
As
someone who just got done with quite a bit of air travel I can say this would have been a fantastic option to have in
terms of in-flight entertainment. It's either that or the stations whose programming was determined by putting on a
blindfold and randomly pointing to spots on the Rolling Stone Magazine top 100 list.
Got XM for the holidays?
Would you like yet another gift? How about free activation from the folks
over at XM? There are no promo or coupon codes required, just go to the XM
activation page before December 31st and get your satellite radio activated for zip, nada, nothing. Does it get any
better than that? The deal has me wondering if I should run out and grab another receiver on the cheap and bundle it
with my other radio via XM's Family Plan.
Sirius isn't running a
holiday special; their $15 activation fee still applies, but if you
activate on-line you save 33%, brining the activation fee to $10. I'm still not sure why any type of digital
service has an "activation fee"; we've got 'em on cell phones, satellite radios and more. I understand that
the service providers subsidize the hardware to keep the equipment cheap, but in essence, why are we paying to activate
something we bought? We don't activate other products like TVs, DVD players, and iPods.
Infinity Broadcasting, former home to Howie Stern, renamed themselves to CBS radio. Ever since Viacom divested CBS and the mass-media broadcasting counterparts (anything broadcast, not MTV or other cable outlets) CBS has seen a rebranding of sorts at the corporate level.
As part of the name change, CBS Radio will also emphasize other facets of the market. Their new slogan is, "CBS Radio: Broadcast ... HD ... Streaming ... On-Demand," so to me, that says they're trying to shake their 1928 terrestrial broadcast image.
SIRIUS Canada and BMW Canada today announced a long term exclusive agreement that will make Sirius satellite radio receivers an option for BMW vehicles sold in Canada.
GoDaddy.com, known for its tasteful, chaste, kid-friendly 
Got 
Infinity Broadcasting, former home to Howie Stern, renamed themselves to CBS radio. Ever since Viacom divested CBS and the mass-media broadcasting counterparts (anything broadcast, not MTV or other cable outlets) CBS has seen a rebranding of sorts at the corporate level.
