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Satellite radio's two major players broke out of the
car in 2005, fueled by Howard Stern's move to Sirius and an explosion
of devices aimed at bringing satellite radio into the home and onto
MP3-type portable music players.
Those two dominant players, Sirius
and XM Radio,
are slugging it out for market domination. While each offers a huge
variety of programming, their lineups are designed to appeal to
different audiences. There's some jockeying over pricing, but subscription
fees remain competitive between the two services, and prices are
coming down.
By the end of 2005, satellite radio subscriptions
were projected to jump to 9.3 million, more than doubling the previous
year's consumer base, according to an eMarketer report on the satellite
radio industry published in November. By the end of the decade,
analysts predict satellite radio services could have more than 35
million subscribers.
So where to go?
"For consumers, the choice comes down to the
programming by the two major vendors -- Sirius and XM," says
John Haynes, lead technology buyer for Al & Ed's Autosound in
Los Angeles. "The costs are about the same, and they are coming
out with similar devices. What many people don't realize is that
the quality of sound from satellite radio is outstanding, and you
can tune in no matter where you are."
Programming options
Each service offers more than 100 channels of music, talk radio,
sports, news, traffic and weather reports. Sirius snagged Howard
Stern's shock jock show; XM's alternatives are "The Ellen DeGeneres
Show" and Opie and Anthony's cutting-edge shock radio.
The variety of music stations is mind-boggling on
both networks. If you're into rock music, Sirius offers 18 different
channels ranging from pure hard rock to indie/college rock, while
XM offers 13 rock music channels including punk/hardcore/ska and
acoustic rock.
Don't fret, classical music fans, there's plenty for
you, too: Both services offer three classical music stations.
Other genres include country, jazz and blues, Latin,
urban, show tunes, Christian, gospel, and kids' music, with both
services offering multiple channels in virtually every genre.
In terms of sports, XM has the rights to broadcast
Major League Baseball and NASCAR, while Sirius features the National
Football League, the National Basketball Association, as well as
the NCAA March Madness College Men's Basketball tournament. NASCAR
will move to Sirius in 2007.
As for specialty programming, there are lots
of options. Nuts about Elvis? Tune in to Sirius Channel 13, all
Elvis, all the time. Hooked on Snoop Dogg? XM pipes his music selections
directly from his L.A. home.
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