Well, this was inevitable. According to the AP story, Sirius and former MTV veejay Adam Curry will be bringing a podcasting show to Sirius' talk channel (Channel 146). Podcasting is a phenomenon where people record programs and make them available for automatic download, syndicating their shows directly to your portable player. It's also a total buzzword, which is why I'm not surprised that this has happened. From my perspective, podcasting tends toward the talk-show format, wherein people do their best to be Just Like Howard Stern, only not nearly as funny. There are some gems out there, but there's a lot of mining to get to them. I look forward to seeing what Adam Curry and Sirius put together for the show. I'm also wondering how Sirius is planning to pay the podcasters for their content. Will they be paid? Most podcasting is done at a loss, as it's mostly just folks homebrewing their own radio content, and sending it out to other people on their own bandwidth. It will be interesting to ...

Sirius will offer two to three video channels aimed at children, the company said today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Microsoft will supply the software that drives the system. Earlier in the year, the company had said they would add four to eight channels, according to Reuters. The channels will be launched in 2006. XM’s CEO retorted that he thought the number of screens in cars was quite small, and that while they had the technology to offer video, they didn’t think timing was yet ripe to plan for it. ...

Sirius has announced the upcoming Sirius S50, due out in October of this year with a $360 MSRP price tag. This 'wearable' satellite radio unit allows for listening and recording of Sirius content while in it's docking station, as well as adding a mixture of your MP3/WMA content (such as podcasts). While not like the MyFi with live on-the-go satellite radio listening, this unit is lightweight and very sleek looking. Sirius went for the form factor here rather than risk the Predator-style mess of wires that you get with the XM2go units. The technology is simply not there yet, and so they went with the next best thing.Did I mention it has a color display? Yeah, that's hot.The total capacity is 1-Gig, which translates out to about 50 hours of content, stored onto its solid state (flash) drive. The battery life is at 6-hours, so you can get a pretty decent run out of it. Eventually, though not initially at launch, you'll be able to get album art as well as other neat stuff (in studio photos?) displayed right on ...

Sirius distributes promo codes to entice new subscribers, and they’re pretty readily available. Go to Sirius.com, click to buy from Sirius Direct, and enter the code 111 for $100 off a number of systems. A one-year subscription purchased is advance is required for the discount. These discounts change all of the time, so search on Google for “sirius ‘promo code’” for the latest deals via other Web sites. ...

So this is a neat little addition to anyone with Sirius service. The Sirius SIRPS1 Subwoofer adds bass to any Sirius receiver or mobile audio system, but with the ultra-bright blue LED Sirius badge, you can show off exactly what service you're listening too. With a built-in 160 watt amp, adjustable volume, crossover and phase controls, this long-excursion 8" woofer will add some serious bump to your Sirius receiver or aftermarket headunit. And for just under $140, it's not a bad deal for you bass fanatics out there. Very cool. ...

Sirius has signed the NBA to an extended and expanded contract that will let them continue to broadcast games. They currently broadcast up to 40 games a week, and the new deal will let Sirius provide statistics during the game that will appear in receiver displays that are designed to show extra information (such as, more typically, stock quotes). ...

Sirius has developed a new music channel for its subscribers called "Super Shuffle" - a channel that will showcase a wide variety of music offered on Sirius' 65 commercial free music channels. With obvious ties to the iPod's "Shuffle" mode, the varied selection will be a continuous mix of genres and artists from the most popular songs Sirius plays.If a listener wants to hear more of a certain style, they'll be directed to other Sirius channels through the receivers display and through audio cues. Pretty cool.  ...

Sirius announced that they had 359,000 new subscribers in the third quarter of this year - that's almost double the increase in new net subscribers from the same quarter of last year. But the method of counting subscribers has raised a few eyebrows on Wall Street, sparked by a recent article by Scott Moritz of TheStreet.com. See Sirius counts their subscribers a little differently than XM does. When a car with Sirius factory-installed is delivered to the dealer, Sirius counts it as a current subscriber - even if no one is listening. XM on the otherhand counts the subscriber only once it has been activated. Furthermore, when a Sirius subscriber cancels their subscription it could take up to 17 months to register on the final tally.Now, this isn't really news as this information has been available to investors since the beginning. Sirius also states this accounts for a mere 10% of the final tally, so it's not necessarily blowing their numbers out of the water. Regardless of which camp you come from, there are ...

Ford will offer Sirius as a factory-installed option on Ford and Lincoln Mercury models starting with the 2006 model year later this year on the F-150 pickup line, the Ford Explorer, the Lincoln Mark LT, and the Mercury Mountaineer. Ford expects to add 1,000,000 Sirius subscribers across the 2006 and 2007 model years, and eventually put Sirius radios in 80 percent of Ford and Lincoln Mercury vehicles across 21 vehicle lines. New subscribers will most likely get their first six months of service free. ...

Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records will help Sirius in their programming and marketing efforts. Iovine has a fairly remarkable roster of talent, including U2 and Eminem, plus a rap artist apparently debuting at number 1 on the charts this week. Iovine will bring his mojo, his artists, and his programming talent. The linked article notes it would be an unusual arrangement for terrestrial radio which is regulated and overseen in terms of how it links content and contracts. But Sirius’s entertainment programming chief said they’re not connected, and it’s likely to be true: the money for Sirius comes from happy subscribers. ...

Hooray, both first-quarter financial reports are in from both Sirius and XM.Bad news first, Sirius has posted a wider first-quarter loss, though their revenue has quadrupled from last year. XM has out-performed the analysts by closing the loss gap and more than doubling their revenue in their first-quarter report. Let's be fair: Both Sirius and XM are both posting some pretty big losses, but the first quarter reports shows XM ahead in terms of adding subscribers and paying off the debt. ...

The New York radio legend, "Cousin" Bruce Morrow, is starting on SIRIUS Satellite Radio this Saturday, August 27th.Using the same name that Brucie started back in 1958, "Cousin Brucie's Saturday Night Party" will continue on Sirius playing hits from the 50s through the 70s. His show will also feature "Cousin Brucie's Love Hour" which will focus on love songs, and he'll also host "Wednesday Night with the Cuz" on SIRIUS channel 6 every Wednesday.Welcome back Brucie! ...

Wow. In an article on TheStreet, Jon D. Markman slams Sirius something fierce. This is a great piece, and it confirms a lot of how I currently feel about Sirius.It's a lot from the stock-market point-of-view, but there's no real way to look at Sirius and XM as anything other than investments, because they're so similar. These are investment technologies; Early adopters come in consumer models like you and I, but they also come in suits and they trade stocks, too.Sirius is playing the content game, and I'm not absolutely certain that they're winning. They're buying like crazy, but they've yet to get their hands on something I consider to be super-juicy. I'm sure something will come up soon. ...

Sirius' CEO Mel Karmazin speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference last week said that they are examining new platform for content delivery, including Internet Radio. He also said that Sirius was approached by AOL about 10 months ago, but as we all know AOL has partnered with XM on multiple facets.Pointing out the fact that there are other competitors to AOL that are interested in Sirius content, he didn't give any clue as to which are specifically involved. Sirius has partnered with Sprint to provide select content to subscribers on Sprint's PCS Vision plan, so similar partnerships can probably be expected."It's not costing us anything. It's just a smart thing to do," Karmazin said. ...

Sirius has launched an all-Rolling Stones channel dedicated to the legendary band. Featuring five decades of music from the Rolling Stones, plus rare track, live cuts and previews from their first studio album since 1997: A Bigger Band.The 100% Rolling Stones channel will be available until September 29th, 2005. "Rolling Stones Weekends" will be featured during Labor Day weekend across eight different Sirius channels as well. ...