Sirius and NPR announced earlier today that they have created a new channel, only available on Sirius Internet Radio, that collects select NPR programming and makes it available to SIR subscribers. http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Page&c=Channel&cid=1186052421026

Sirius describes the channel as follows…

NPR SIR-1 offers in-depth news, features, and entertainment produced and assembled by NPR for SIRIUS Internet Radio. Featuring public radio favorites like Talk of the Nation, Day to Day, Marketplace and the Diane Rehm Show as well as new productions from independent producers and public radio stations nationwide.

This is a great add for users of wi-fi enabled radios like the Stilletto (although early reports are some are having trouble getting it on the Stilletto).

Thanks to member, dlnester for the find!!

RBC Capital analyst David Bank has told clients to expect a decision from the Department of Justice within 30 days and that the deal is more likely to receive their approval than not. This isn’t the final decision as the FCC will also need to rule, but given the announcement of tiered pricing plans which the current FCC chairman favors, it is unlikely they will vote contrary to the DOJ’s decision.

The Stock is reacting positively to this breaking news:

It’s no secret that Sirius and XM have been getting a fairly impressive amount of support for the proposed merger with more the 4300 individuals and 30 organizations, and now they can add former FCC chairman Mark Fowler to the list. Fowler was FCC chairman during the Reagan administration and has the distinction of holding that post longer than any other person in history of the FCC. For this reason his opinion would naturally have more influence than the average supporter.

It’s starting to feel that some momentum is building in favor of the merger, and the stock has been rewarded by rising over 8% over the last 3 trading days. Sirius and XM expect the merger question to be settled by the end of the year.

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Normally, I try to leave the “deep think” pieces to BenDee, since he has twice the writing talent I do, but I’ve had some experiences lately that might generate some light on what’s happening in the SDARS marketplace. The data here is merely anecdotal, so don’t think it’s a complete explanation, but I don’t think it’s without value…

Scene 1: My family recently bought a used van from a major Chevy dealer in the western Denver suburbs. Like any dealer experience, there was plenty of “hold on while I check with…”, so we probably spent 3.5 hours in the dealership. Having an interest in satellite radio, I naturally wondered over to the XM kiosk on the sales floor. I thought the presentation was pretty good, but also noticed that the salesmen had switched the radio off of XM, and over to a popular FM station. I can’t imagine that these guys sell the satellite radio option very hard. It’s possible Sirius does a better job with their partners, but if they don’t, I wouldn’t be shocked. Both XM and Sirius need to be following up with their OEM partners to insure that the kiosks are helping to sell the product, not their terrestrial competition.

Scene 2: New van means looking at backseat video options. So we head over to the local blue big box, to scope out mobile video options that will support the aftermarket Sirius Backseat TV tuner. While talking to the sales associate, I turn the topic to satellite radio. He tells me that at their store, Sirius outsells XM 3-1. (As it appears from the Q2 conference call, most stores do.) I asked, “Why is that, Stern, NASCAR…?” He told me the number one differentiator in their store is the NFL. They say NFL is on Sirius and people say, then that’s the one I want. I understand that baseball is the radio game, but for selling satrad, it looks like America’s favorite sport is still top dog.

Scene 3: While waiting to get the Backseat TV tuner, we still have to have Sirius in the van! It turns out that most late model cars require expensive wiring harnesses if you want to replace the OEM radio. The OEM’s are running lots of the dash electronics, including warning lights, and safety equipment through the same wiring that goes to the radio. Everyone I talked to about getting this work done, expressed that the increased sophistication in OEM radios was making it harder for them to sell satellite radio. For the sizable number of people interested in satrad, but unwilling to clutter their dash with a PNP, this makes it more expensive for them to replace the deck with one that supports their provider of choice. And in many cases replacing the OEM radio means loosing functionality, like steering wheel controls. None of this is news of course, but hearing that sales folks think it makes satrad a harder sale might be news.

For those of you who appreciate the Celtic Crush show every Saturday morning, there is one person to thank for this — Sirius Disorder’s Meg Griffin… From the heyday of New York’s FM Rock glory days of WPLJ and WNEW-FM, Meg emerged as a hugely passionate force in preserving free-form music of all styles.

Sirius Disorder’s description is:
“Free-form radio lives! No rules, no boundaries, no limits to what we play, or when we play it. From rock to reggae, blues to folk… you might even hear opera or a jug band thrown in there for some SIRIUS Disorder!”

And they really mean no limits… On this channel., you can hear David Johannsen playing Maria Callas, Marky Ramone playing the Dead Boys, and Larry Kirwan playing traditional Irish music of Christy Moore right next to the PaddyPunk groups like the Dropkick Murphys on his Celtic Crush show.

This weeks Irish Echo has an article written by Larry Kirwan about his relationship with Meg throughout the years and how she has been a champion of Celtic music and other music that you might not easily hear outside of Sirius Disorder…

Check it out at http://IrishEcho.com — It is in the current Digital issue - Page 5 — This weeks Irish Echo is also on the newstands until Wednesday Sept 5th… (Larry writes a weekly column for them that is quite interesting, so keep checking back)

If you missed it, you can check out an archive copy at: http://www.lantern-media.com/Hold/IrishEcho-20070829-KirwanArticleonMegGriffin.pdf