Washington Post Takes A Deeper Look Into Sirius and XM

August 12, 2006

The Washington post has an interesting article on satellite radio. The piece takes an in depth look at the differences between the two services. Some are subtle, and some are more stark.

Article Excerpts:

XM vs. Sirius: Endless Options Narrow to One
By Marc FisherWashington Post Staff WriterSunday, August 13, 2006; Page N01


"......But you can't tell the difference between the Coke and Pepsi of the satellite radio business, Washington-based XM and New York-based Sirius.

I've spent the past four months with both services in my car and house, listening to just about all of the two companies' combined 300 channels. Conclusion: Like colas, satellite services do differ, if subtly. Depending on your interests and how you use radio, one satellite service will be right for you. Both services offer an enormous amount of great stuff and also lots of mediocre programming.

Despite the considerable overlap in programming, a handful of distinctions are so clear that you can base your decision entirely on them. Baseball fan: XM. Football nut: Sirius. Movie maven: XM. Howard Stern addict: Sirius. Bob Dylan freak: XM. NPR lover: Sirius.

If movie soundtracks are your kind of music, XM is the only service with a channel dedicated to those sounds, including long-form profiles and interviews with composers such as Danny Elfman and Randy Newman. On the other hand, if you want Playboy Radio or Korean-language programming, Sirius is your only choice.

Sirius has the only all-gay channel; XM, the only black talk channel.
As both services reach beyond the early adopters to capture a mainstream audience, they are looking to big-name celebrities to win new subscribers.
Sirius has staked its future on the uncensored Stern, while XM counters with bad boys Opie and Anthony. XM has built its version of public radio around former NPR "Morning Edition" host Bob Edwards; Sirius doesn't offer original programming of that kind, but does have the real thing, two channels of shows produced by NPR.

XM has signed Bob Dylan, Oprah Winfrey and Snoop Dogg as celebrity hosts. Sirius's stars include Martha Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Judith Regan and Mark Cuban.

But while both services vie for big names, the main attraction on XM (6.9 million subscribers) and Sirius (4.7 million) is the music. The tunes are often similar; how they're presented is the difference......."

The piece goes on to do an in depth comparison on the services with the authors opinion on which service has the edge. The author states his preferences, and gives a decent outline about each category. Interested SSG readers can catch the whole article HERE

8/12/2006 11:22:00 PM

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