XM Radio

XM Radio to Launch "POTUS '08" Election Channel

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 19, 2007 - 12:21pm.

Washington - XM Satellite Radio said on Wednesday that it will launch next week a radio channel -- called P.O.T.U.S. '08 -- devoted to the upcoming presidential election. The 24-hour radio channel will offer coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign, including news and opinions from both traditional media and unconventional outlets, such as political bloggers and podcasters. Presidential candidates also will be offered free time each day to speak to listeners.

XM Reportedly Negotiating $300 Million Sale of Satellite

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 9, 2007 - 8:02am.

Washington - XM Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio service to more than 7.6 million subscribers, is negotiating a deal to sell its XM-4 satellite for as much as $300 million, and then lease it back, Barron's Online reported. Citing information from UBS analyst Lucas Binder, Barron's said the deal would provide extra liquidity for XM, removing the need for it to access its revolving credit line. The company is scheduled to report its fourth quarter and full year earnings next week.

XM Radio Adds 442,000 Subscribers in Quarter; Falls Shy of '07 Goal

Authored by dmw on January 5, 2007 - 9:28am.
Washington, DC - XM Satellite Radio, the DC-based provider of subscription satellite radio services, said on Friday that it added more than 442,000 new net subscribers during the fourth quarter, but fell just short of its target for the year. XM finished the year with 7.625 million subscribers, missing its own estimates of 7.7-7.9 million. The company, however, said that it achieved positive cash flow from operations during the fourth quarter.

Shares of XM Radio Level Off Following Wednesday's Surge

Authored by dmw on January 4, 2007 - 10:04am.
Washington, DC - Shares of DC-based XM Satellite Radio leveled off a bit on Thursday, a day after surging more than 5% when rival Sirius announced that it expects to end the year with more than 6 million subscribers. Investors also reacted favorably to reports that Sirius will achieve its first quarter of positive cash flow in the fourth quarter.

XM Satellite Radio to Broadcast 12 Additional Bowl Games

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2006 - 12:21pm.
Washington - XM Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio service to more than 7 million subscribers, said on Tuesday that it will broadcast 12 additional college football bowl games. The company had already announced plans to broadcast the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. XM's full bowl schedule is available at the link below.

WashPost: Sirius Continues to See Benefits in Potential Merger with XM

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 8, 2006 - 1:47pm.
Washington - Fueling speculation about a potential merger between two bitter rivals, executives from Sirius Satellite Radio said that they see "significant benefits" from a combination with XM Satellite Radio, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

GM to Build Over 1.8 Million Vehicles with XM Satellite Radio in '07

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 5, 2006 - 3:00pm.
Washington - XM Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio service to more than 7 million subscribers, said on Tuesday that automaker General Motors plans to build over 1.8 million vehicles with factory-installed XM radios next year.

XM Satellite Radio Adds Hanukkah Programming

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 4, 2006 - 3:28pm.
Washington - XM Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio service to more than 7 million subscribers, said on Monday that it will launch a special channel to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The company said that its "Radio Hanukkah" channel, to air Dec. 15-23, will feature a broad spectrum of Jewish music and conversation.

Shares of XM Surge 15% Following Positive Earnings Report

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2006 - 7:22pm.
Washington - Shares of XM Satellite Radio jumped 15% on Monday after the provider of satellite radio service to more than 7 million subscribers reported a third quarter net loss that was far smaller than analysts had expected.

Cingular Launches Mobile Music Subscription Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2006 - 2:07pm.
Atlanta - Wireless network operator Cingular on Thursday launched Cingular Music, a new mobile music service that will include subscription-based offerings from Napster, XM Satellite Radio, Yahoo Music and eMusic.

SoundExchange Proposes 10% of Revenue Royalty on Satellite Radio

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 31, 2006 - 2:36pm.
Washington - SoundExchange, the record industry entity set up to collect and distribute royalties from digitally distributed music, announced on Tuesday that it has suggested to the Copyright Royalty Board that satellite broadcasters XM and Sirius pay a base rate of 10% of royalties to compensate artists and copyright holders for music played on their services.

Career Moves: October 23, 2006

Authored by dmw on October 23, 2006 - 9:31am.
Career Moves is made possible by @HIRE.
XM Satellite Radio has named Vernon Irvin as Chief Marketing Officer, the company announced today. Irvin will oversee XM's strategic marketing efforts with responsibility for a number of operating groups, including media and brand marketing; retail, direct and partnership marketing; and, marketing operations, which includes service offerings, pricing, retention and market research. Irvin joins XM from VeriSign, where he has served since 2003 as EVP and General Manager for the company's communications services group. Irvin will report to Nate Davis, President and COO for the company, effective November 14.

XM, Acura to Offer 3 Mos. Free Satellite Radio to Used Acura Buyers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 11, 2006 - 1:17pm.
Washington - XM Satellite Radio, a provider of digital radio programming with over 7 million subscribers, on Wednesday announced a partnership with automaker Acura, to offer three months of free service to purchasers of used Acura vehicles with factory-installed XM radios. Acura said it remarkets more than 35,000 certified pre-owned vehicles each year, with about one-third featuring XM radios. "XM's reach will now extend to Acura's pre- owned customers who seek the same high performance standards and quality as they have come to expect with a brand new Acura," said Steve Cook, executive vice president of automotive at XM.

XM Radio Hits 7.1 Million Subscribers; Rival Sirius Counts 5.1 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 4, 2006 - 1:05pm.
Washington - XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, the nation's rival subscription digital radio services, on Wednesday both announced updates on subscriber growth, with XM now counting a total of 7.1 million subscribers, compared with 5.1 million for Sirius. XM said it added more than 285,000 new subscribers in the third quarter of 2006, while Sirius added 441,000 during the period, making for four consecutive quarters in which Sirius led growth and closed the gap between itself and XM. New York-based Sirius reiterated that it expects to count a total of 6.3 million subscribers by the end of 2006; XM said it still projects it will have between 7.7 million and 8.2 million subscribers by year's end.

Career Moves: October 4, 2006

Authored by dmw on October 4, 2006 - 9:48am.

George W. Haywood has resigned as a member of XM's Board of Directors, effective October 3rd, it was announced today by Gary Parsons, Chairman of the Board, XM Satellite Radio. “On behalf of XM's Board of Directors, I'd like to thank George for his contributions to XM over the last few years," said Parsons. "It's been a true pleasure to work with someone as talented as George and we wish him well in his future endeavors."

Report: Sirius Satellite Radio Subscribers to Surpass Rival XM by 2009

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 27, 2006 - 6:06am.
Glendale, Calif. - Subscribers to Sirius Satellite Radio will surpass rival XM's subscriber count by 2009, according to a radio market research report from Bridge Ratings. The firm projects that XM will count 8.2 million subscribers by the end of 2006, while Sirius will have 6.5 million. But by 2010, Sirius is projected to have 12.5 million subscribers, compared with XM's 12.2 million. "The advent of HD radio and increasing growth of Internet radio will slow original growth projections for satellite radio," the report said. By 2010, the digital radio market is also projected to include 15.9 million HD Radio listeners, 91.5 million Internet radio listeners, and 1.48 million accessing mobile phone streaming radio service. "The key here is this: Internet radio is quickly becoming the preferred medium over satellite radio and, traditional radio among 15-30 year old early adopters," the report said. "The lackluster projected growth of HD Radio suggests by current research that unless additional interactive technology is added and programming and technical problems improve, HD's free channels will do little to fend off other digital audio alternatives to terrestrial radio."

XM Satellite Radio Launches "Oprah & Friends" Channel

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 25, 2006 - 1:23am.
Washington - In what the company hopes will be its equivalent of rival Sirius landing Howard Stern, XM Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio service to more than 7 million subscribers, on Monday launched its "Oprah & Friends" channel. The new channel features a broad range of caller-driven, original talk programming geared toward women, all created and produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Radio. Show hosts will include poet and author Maya Angelou, noted fitness expert Bob Greene and Oprah friend Gayle King, an editor-at-large at Oprah's magazine. The channel is being broadcast from a new XM studio at Harpo Studios in Chicago. XM signed a three-year, $55 million deal with Oprah in February.

Acura to Make XM Standard; Maya Angelou, Natl. Lampoon Coming to XM

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 13, 2006 - 1:30pm.
Washington - XM Satellite Radio, a provider of digital radio programming with over 7 million subscribers, announced on Wednesday that automaker Acura will make its radios standard equipment in all of its 2007 models. The vehicles will come with a free three-month subscription to XM. Separately, the company announced that poet Dr. Maya Angelou will host a weekly show on the compnay's "Oprah & Friends" channel, and that it has also partnered with National Lampoon to launch a new 24-hour comedy channel. Set to launch Oct. 1, the comedy channel will feature content such as stand-up, satirical news, parody songs and prank calls.

Shares of XM Satellite Radio Fall on SEC Inquiry

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 6, 2006 - 5:43pm.
Washington - Shares of XM Satellite Radio fell more than 3% in late-day trading on Wednesday after the company revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is requesting information about the satellite radio provider's subscriber targets and related costs for the final two quarters of 2005.

XM Satellite Radio, Pioneer to Sell Pink Radio for Breast Cancer Charity

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 6, 2006 - 5:14pm.
Washington - XM Satellite Radio and manufacturing partner Pioneer Electronics on Wednesday introduced a pink Pioneer inno XM2go portable player. The companies have pledged $30 from the sale of each $349 device will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The pink inno radios will go on sale Sept. 10 online and at Circuit City retail stores.