The Digital Home

Sirius XM is at it again. The company that has faced numerous financial issues over the past few years has finally released its much-anticipated app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. There's just one problem: it leaves out much of the good stuff.

The Sirius XM app (and its missing channels).

(Credit: Sirius XM)

The new app allows users to access some of the service's sports, talk, comedy, and music channels. The available channels include, Oprah Radio, MLB Home Plate, NFL Radio, NHL Home Ice, Mad Dog Radio, The Foxxhole comedy channel, and NPR.

Users will also have access to a variety of Sirius XM music channels, including E Street Radio, The Grateful Dead Channel, Eminem's Shade 45, Radio Margaritaville, Siriusly Sinatra, and others. All told, users will be able to listen to 120 channels. Any music track can be purchased in iTunes while listening to it in the Sirius XM app.

But it's the omissions that will undoubtedly sway public opinion. According to Sirius XM, "some select programming, including MLB Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, Nascar Radio, and Howard Stern, will not be available on the iPhone and iPod Touch."

In its press release, Sirius XM didn't provide any reason why some of its most popular channels aren't included. But after some digging, I found that those omissions may be due to "mobile-performance rights."

"Sirius and XM offer all of the channels for which we have mobile-performance rights," the company wrote on its iPhone app's FAQ page. "For that reason, certain channels which may be available on your satellite radio or online radio service may not be available on a mobile device like the iPhone."

Sirius XM is giving users a free seven-day trial with the app. After that, it's charging a fee to access the content. I called a Sirius XM customer service representative to see how much it would cost to get that service. He told me that as a current Sirius XM subscriber, I would need to pay an additional $2.99 per month after the seven-day trial. Those who currently do not subscribe to the service will be forced to pay $12.95 per month for access.

Sirius XM has suffered through yet another losing quarter. Last week, the satellite radio company reported a net loss of $236.6 million for the first three months of the year.

Although it posted a tough first quarter, CEO Mel Karmazin expressed optimism. Sales grew to $587 million from $270.4 million a year prior, he noted. His company's operating costs dropped 23 percent year over year. And there is more evidence than ever that Sirius XM is slowly inching its way toward profitability, he said in a statement.

Not everyone is impressed. Fellow CNET Blog Network member Steve Guttenberg wrote that Sirius XM is "sticking it" to subscribers. He believes that customers aren't getting enough for what they're paying.

I understand his point. As a Sirius XM subscriber, I wasn't pleased to hear recently that it was raising prices. But that doesn't taint my evaluation of the service. For me, the "Sirius Everything plus the best of XM" package is worth $16.99 per month.

Quite a bit has happened to satellite radio over the past year. First, we had two companies vying for your dollars and then, in a ridiculously long merger process, the two companies finally became one.

Since then, the new Sirius XM has tried to find its footing in a world where terrestrial radio still reigns supreme and advertising dollars aren't floating around as much as they did last year. And to make matters worse, the company is forced to pay Howard Stern $100 million per year on a total subscriber base of about 19.1 million by the end of the year -- not the kind of numbers that would attract advertisers, let alone shareholders.

Following that, we can't forget that the company's share price is at a woeful $0.26 and $1 billion in debt is coming due in 2009 as the company posted a huge $4.88 billion loss. Sirius XM is working on refinancing and recently reduced a $300 million note to $210 million, but its troubles persist.

And although it sounds like the company is facing enough issues already, this whole discussion has left out an important piece of the puzzle: automotive sales are declining at a rapid rate, there are no signs of that slowing down next year, and America's three major car manufacturers -- Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, and GM -- are hoping the U.S. government will bail them out. And considering most people listen to Sirius XM Radio in the car, the company is feeling the effects.

So what can really be done? Should Sirius XM dump Howard Stern and other prominent radio personalities and stick to music? Should Sirius XM call it a day and try to sell its operation to the highest bidder? Or should Sirius XM forge ahead with its current strategy and hope against hope that everything will be OK?

To answer those questions won't be easy. But at this point, I simply don't know how Sirius XM can survive unless it does something drastic.

According to BusinessWeek, Dell plans on taking aim at Apple and will unveil a solution that could see companies from a bunch of industries working together to create the first solution to give consumers real choice.

The idea will be unveiled in September and will attempt to give you more choice in how you buy and consume media, BusinessWeek reports. More importantly, Dell will give its partners the software they need to establish the solution and will try to turn a profit on the sale of hardware.

"Customers want access to content from a broad variety of sources--how, when, and where they choose," Michael Dell told the publication.

"Apple wants to lock you in," Robert Enderle said to BusinessWeek. "Dell wants to lock you in to choice."

But will all those choices translate into a profit and a new standard that will take iTunes and every other proprietary service down? Will buying a song on Amazon.com and sending "it to the mobile phone of a friend or the car stereo of someone who has satellite radio" really work?

Sure, it might appeal to us and I certainly think that's a neat idea, but based on the information we have, it sounds like there are too many moving parts and too many people involved in the decision-making to make this a viable service.

After a process that took more than a year and officially set the record for the most ridiculous merger mulling in the history of the United States, the FCC finally approved the XM-Sirius merger by a 3-2 vote down party lines.

And although its treatment of this deal was bad enough over the past year and a half, the final outcome is even worse. It not only solidifies my belief that NAB has the ear of the FCC, but that both organizations are extremely concerned that satellite radio will finally become a major force in radio.

According to reports, "the companies agreed to a three-year cap on prices, set aside 8 percent of their channel capacity for minority and noncommercial programming, and agreed to pay $19.7 million for past FCC rule violations. The companies also agreed to bring interoperable radios to the market within a year."

On top of that, the FCC will embark on a new initiative to explore the possibility of including HD radio functionality into the XM and Sirius radios. That said, it didn't go so far as to make it a requirement just yet.

And while some believe that this deal is a major blow to terrestrial radio, I think that argument is hogwash. The reality of the situation is that XM and Sirius were led around by the nose while the FCC and companies like Clear Channel did everything they could to weaken the two firms.

Over the past few years, technology legislation has become a major issue with lawmakers all over the world. Instead of focusing on issues that may be a bit more pressing, most laws or rulings have been aimed at making our tech-filled lives increasingly more daunting to enjoy.

In fact, during that time we have seen lawmakers institute ridiculous privacy laws, succumb to the pressures placed upon them by huge organizations and set dangerous precedents that have proved detrimental to the entire tech industry.

So bad are these developments that it is my belief that lawmakers themselves have set the tech industry back at least five years and have single-handedly ensured that the momentum of the industry is kept in check long enough for powerful organizations to find a way to stop it and profit off even the most trivial of circumstances.

For example, do we really need a law that prohibits the use of cell phones in cars? Sure, it makes sense to stop people from talking on phones while driving to some extent, but a slew of studies have shown that other activities like singing and smoking have proven to be just as dangerous. Will lawmakers remove radios and ashtrays from cars?

But the real issue is not that a woman is being charged over $9,000 for each song she allegedly "stole" from the recording industry or that the battle over Net Neutrality is still being waged even though none of the three presidential candidates even care. Instead, the real issue is that lawmakers are doing their part to ruin the tech industry as we know it.

Yesterday on CNET News.com, my colleague Richard Derfendorf wrote about the impending decision on the part of the FCC to either allow or deny the merger between XM radio and Sirius Satellite radio.

According to Derfendorf, the FCC is "inching closer" to making a decision on the deal and does not look "as daunting" as it once did. He went on to explain that some analysts believe the long wait (a little over 400 days) is actually working in the satellite companies' favor.

And while all that may be true, there's something going on behind the scenes that shouldn't be overlooked. The fact that XM and Sirius were forced to wait this long to finally receive a decision is both ridiculous and just plain wrong.

Unfortunately, you can bet ClearChannel Radio and other terrestrial monsters have something do with it.

XpressRC

(Credit: XM)

Generally speaking, my love for satellite radio is nonexistent. Sorry to say, I just don't see a reason to spend that kind of money ($12 per month) to listen to a host of shows that can usually be heard on the radio and music that copies what we hear on local radio for free. Now for some, the prospect of missing Howard Stern may be too much to handle, so they go out and pay for Sirius. But XM doesn't have a show like that and more often than not, you'll find yourself working your way through dreck just to get to MLB or other exclusive offerings.

But alas, this hands-on isn't about XM programming as much as it's about the XpressRC. And for all of the faults I find in XM programming, they can't compare to just how nice the XpressRC is.