Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday shopping chaos. With the season comes lots of new television and print ads.

XM Canada launched its first Canadian TV campaign, urging Canadians to get on the road with XM. And it’s a hit. “Panties” shows a man rocking out to a great guilty pleasure song, “Cherry Pie” by Warrant. He is singing out loud, as we all do in our cars–I know I’m not the only one–until the inevitable happens. While waiting in traffic, he’s caught in the act by three women. The man looks away, embarrassed, dejected, until three sets of panties hit him in the face. He tucks the undies in his pocket and drives off a happy man. Watch the ad here.

The campaign’s tagline is: “There’s no place like it.” “Panties” is running across Canada, except for in Québec.

Ironically, SIRIUS used “Cherry Pie” in an early advert with Pam Anderson.

Here’s a few funny SIRIUS ads on YouTube here and here. No word if these have aired anywhere. If you have info on these spots, let us know.

Via MediaPost

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The SIRIUS Backstage crew would like to wish all of our fans a Happy Thanksgiving. May the airport lines move quickly, may the turkey and gravy taste great and may the all-afternoon nap refresh you for a day full of competitive shopping on Friday.

We’re especially thankful to all of you who help make SIRIUS Backstage the best satellite radio community.

If you’re stuck in the car or jamming to SIRIUS while roasting the bird, here’s our list of favorites. You can view the full list here.

Alice’s Restaurant Massacre
The Vault [16]
The Vault continues the tradition of bringing you Arlo Guthrie’s Turkey Day ritual Alice’s Restaurant Massacree on Thanksgiving – but this time Arlo has “updated” this classic, and you’ll get it NON-STOP all Thanksgiving Day – that way no matter what time zone you’re in or what time you’re feasting you’ll get a bountiful supply of this Turkey Day classic!

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Martha Stewart Radio [112]

The 80th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade® will feature entertainment by recording artists Barry Manilow, Gloria Estefan, John Tartaglia, and Julie Andrews along with classic favorites like Santa Claus and marching bands from across the country.

The special broadcast will air live Thursday, November 23 from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm ET.

Thanksgiving with Jimmy Buffett at Alice’s Restaurant
Radio Margaritaville [31] 6:00 am ET

We’ll play back the Jimmy Buffett concerts that we’re most thankful to have in our archives – unique and intimate performances that you can’t hear anywhere else. And in between each concert, we’ll play Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” a Radio Margaritaville Thanksgiving tradition.

Pennywise Thanksgiving
Faction [28]
This Thanksgiving, Pennywise are flipping the bird on Faction. Tune in all day long, starting at 3 pm ET, as Fletcher and Randy from the SoCal punk legends blow off their families to spin their favorite music and share some quality time with Faction.

Comment here.

Stigma of using ‘Merry Christmas’ disappearing

Retailers across the country have begun to swing back towards a traditional Christmas. Team members at Target and Wal-Mart are now free to greet customers with “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Kwanzaa”. Even holiday juggernaut Macy’s acknowledged that there’s a marked effort to endorse the religious meaning of the season.

SIRIUS is the latest company whose heart grew three sizes today when they announced the most diverse lineup of Christmas music to date.

Starting on Thanksgiving day, enjoy three different Christmas channels, ranging from holiday hits, to country to classical.

SIRIUS HOLIDAY (Starlite 2) – Holiday hits mixed with selected traditional favorites as sung by Nat “King” Cole, Paul McCartney, Bing Crosby, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Mariah Carey and many more, plus SIRIUS listeners’ holiday messages and greetings from Santa Claus himself.

CHRISTMAS COUNTRY (The Roadhouse 62) – Heartfelt versions of holiday favorites by country music’s biggest stars, including Martina McBride, George Strait, Alabama and Garth Brooks, in addition to some newer country holiday songs that are sure to become classics.

CLASSICAL CHRISTMAS (SIRIUS Pops 86) –Traditional holiday music from the Renaissance to the modern day, including performances of Christmas carols and seasonal classics by the world’s leading orchestras, choirs and opera stars, along with, of course, enduring holiday masterpieces such as Handel’s Messiah and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.

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I’ve always felt that Apple’s iPod is the single largest competitor to SIRIUS - even bigger than XM or terrestrial radio.

The road got a little steeper Tuesday, as Apple Computer signed with six major airlines to let passengers play video and music from their iPod digital devices on in-flight entertainment systems beginning in mid-2007.

Air France, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, KLM and United Airlines will begin offering their passengers iPod seat connections, which power and charge iPods during flight and allow the video content on the devices to be viewed on seat-back displays, Apple said.

XM is already partnered with the widely loved JetBlue, which also offers Directv on seatback screens.

With iPod hookups growing toward ubiquity every day, in cars and now airlines, SIRIUS would be well served to get in more “idle spaces” - the place between home and work - whether it’s a plane, taxi, rental car or subway.

Comment here and let us know where SIRIUS should go next.

Source: RCR Wireless and Orbitcast

The WCS Coalition, a group including Sprint Nextel, BellSouth, NextWave Broadband, AT&T and Comcast, has appealed to the FCC over SIRIUS and XM repeater regulations.

The Coalition argues that their WiMax deployment (located in the 2 GHz band) has been delayed due to uncertainty over SIRIUS and XM interference.

This is a farce, as the Coalition has been hogging this spectrum for years without any sign of development. SIRIUS and XM have only now become the excuse-of-the-week for the WCS.

As Google and Earthlink have demonstarted, broadband wireless services can be viable using existing public spectrum.

We propose that the FCC acknowledges the potential and popularity of satellite radio, and seize the spectrum from WCS in 2007 when the government buildout deadline expires.

To learn more about the history of WCS and satellite radio, check out Satellite Radio TechWorld.

Comment here.

If you can manage to get off the couch after that tryptophan induced coma, then hustle down to Best Buy for some great deals on SIRIUS.

The savvy shoppers at Orbitcast have snagged some adverts featuring the SIRIUS Sportster Reply for $49.99.

Keep up with the deals in their Black Friday Watch.

Comment here.

As SIRIUS did with the S50, Microsoft will be paying a “fee per unit” for each Zune player sold in a new agreement signed with Universal Records yesterday.

Unlike the Zune, Apple does not give a cut of sales of iPods to music companies. It only pays labels for songs sold on its iTunes music store.

“We felt that any business that’s built on the bedrock of music we should share in,” said Doug Morris, chief executive of Universal, owned by French media giant Vivendi.

He did not disclose the amount of the fee for the Zune, which launches next Tuesday.

It appears that SIRIUS’ new approach is to not pay the “fee per unit” on future devices such as the Stiletto.

I firmly believe the use of the Stiletto falls under “fair use”, and that SIRIUS’ existing broadcast license with the labels is more than sufficient.

I’m sure the lawyers will have the last say.

Comment here.

Orbitcast and Satellite Radio TechWorld are reporting that SIRIUS has filed with the FCC to launch repeaters in Alaska and Hawaii.

The proposed sites are in:

• Anchorage, AK
• Fairbanks, AK
• Juneau, AK
• Honolulu, HI

Comment here.

Wendy’s International signed an agreement with Clearwater-based AMTC to provide a select number of SiriusBusiness channels into the restaurants. The move will allow the restaurants from all over the country to choose from 67 channels of 24-hour, commercial free music from SIRIUS Satellite Radio using sound equipment provided by AMTC.

Dave MacLeod, senior vice president of franchise and customer technology services with Wendy’s, said adding Sirius is part of the chain’s cost-cutting measures designed to enhance profitability of the restaurant. “Remarkably, after evaluating our options and cost of the music programming on Sirius, we’re convinced that this cost-reduction measure will help to both meet our business objectives and actually enhance our guest experience,” said MacLeod in a release.

Source: Bizjournals.com

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According to Mediaweek, Air America Radio is talking to several parties about a possible sale and is hopeful of reaching a deal before Thanksgiving.

A lawyer for the liberal talk radio network told a U.S. bankruptcy court on Tuesday that the privately-held company was in discussions with seven different parties about a sale and was “very hopeful” of reaching a deal by Nov. 22, saying there was a “significant amount of interest.”

Air America is continuing to operate with financing from an investor group led by RealNetworks CEO Robert Glaser, who owns 36.7 percent of the company, and two other former board members.

The Young Turks, a popular liberal talk show on SIRIUS since the service launched, jumped to Air America in September. Fans are still reeling from that move. You can view the reaction here.

Rumor is that SIRIUS was supposed to be a founding partner in Air America back in 2004, earning the satellite network the opportunity to offer the progressive programming exclusively.

SIRIUS offered to front startup costs, studio space and even the chance to sydicate content in select cities. Instead, Air America decided to go it alone, and ended up bringing XM into the loop. SIRIUS did not carry Air America at launch; and for months, refused to give Air America it’s own channel as a punishment for that move.

While it makes sense for XM to buy Air America, SIRIUS may be hungry enough to firm up their liberal talk lineup on the cheap.

Comment here.