Update on Satellite Radio

Both satellite radio providers, XM Radio and Sirius, have been busy since the last time we talked about them, adding both users and new content. Unfortunately, all of this activity has not made them profitable yet. In fact, both are losing more money than ever before.

XM Radio just passed the 5 million subscriber mark and increased its income well beyond Wall Street expectations. Unfortunately, their expenses were more than double last year's expenses, due mostly to huge increases in programming and content costs. The bottom line was that their losses are more now more than ever before, even with more customers.

Meanwhile, over at Sirius, it's pretty much the same story...but they have only about half of the number of subscribers of XM.

Both companies are in a programming war, each trying to outdo the other with their programming content. Sirius last year signed a big contract with the National Football League and the National Basketball Association to broadcast games and daily talk shows about the leagues. Not to be outdone, XM signed the same kind of contract with Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. While the hockey contract may have been cheap, the other contracts were not.

Both companies have also hired big-named personalities, including radio shock-jock Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Ron and Fez, and Opie and Anthony (whoever they might be). I did notice that XM dropped MTV Radio and VH-1 Radio, which probably saved them a few coins.

Both services now charge $12.95 per month for service. XM Radio offers around 150 channels, while Sirius offers around 120 channels, but those numbers can be deceptive as not all programming is on all the time and some channels are for weather and traffic in far-off major cities. Each charges $6.95 per month for each additional receiver. As broadcast radio content continues to deteriorate (especially here in our little county), you may wish to consider adding satellite radio to your entertainment repetoire.

Now, here is some good news for folks who have satellite television, either DishTV or DirectTV. For quite some time now, DishTV has been including 65 channels of Sirius Radio as part of their basic programming package. When I first read that, I wondered if DirectTV would put the same kind of deal together with XM.

Well it took some time, but beginning on November 15, DirectTV will begin offering 50-67 channels of XM Radio, depending on which programming package you have. So, if you have either of the satellite TV services in your home, you may not need to spend the $12.95 per month for satellite radio. But be aware that both TV services only offer music channels and not the sports or talk radio channels available in the full blown satellite radio services.

When you add it all up, there is a tremendous amount and variety of entertainment available to you. But, of course, you could just sit down in silence and read a good book. Enjoy your options!!