Via The Consumerist:

Best Buy is selling a $50 SIRIUS gift card for $55. Rather, that is the “national internet price” at BestBuy.com—Best Buy stores may sell the $50 gift cards for $50. Any idea what is going on here? We chatted with a surly Best Buy representative who offered one explanation.

According to the saleswoman, SIRIUS charges Best Buy $55 for the $50 gift card. This could be a clever SIRIUS ploy to drive customers to their own website while subjecting Best Buy to ridicule. Can anyone offer a better explanation?
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It appears that Best Buy is trying to make an extra buck or five off of the gift cards. Reminds me of when XM used to sell their gift cards with a $5 surcharge.

Sirius has posted a clip online that is a short piece talking about who came in 2007. What is cool about it is that you can also see parts of headquarters, including studios and the autograph wall(pictured), as well as put names to faces, including Jose, Mark Goodman(pictured), Angela Yee, and more. After the clip is a mini interactive site that goes over highlights from last year, and mentions that “‘08 is gonna be great / stay tuned”. We’ll hopefully see next month after CES and merger approval/disapproval if that statement holds water.

Thanks Sirius_Rich!

BTW: B/c threads were merged in the forums, please click here to comment.

On New Year’s Eve, Sirius will have a baker’s dozen of live concerts to listen to, as well as classic concerts from years past.


The live lineup includes plenty of well-known people and groups: Chubby Checker, The English Beat, 3 Doors Down, Velvet Revolver, and tons more. The classic concerts include Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Dead, The Boss, and Buffett. I’m personally looking forward to the Crystal Method concert. Get the full lineup by clicking below.
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….And to New Hampshire on Primary Day.

Audio highlights from inside actual Iowa Caucuses give listeners across America rare exposure to grassroots politics

SIRIUS Left host Alex Bennett talks to everyday voters at legendary Red Arrow Diner in New Hampshire

NEW YORK – December 26, 2007 – SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that SIRIUS Left host Alex Bennett will broadcast from the 2008 Iowa Caucuses and the 2008 New Hampshire primary, delivering breaking election news, voter reaction, and analysis straight from the center of two of the nation’s biggest political events.

The Alex Bennett Program, which airs Monday – Friday from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm ET exclusively on SIRIUS Left channel 146, will be at the heart of the Iowa and New Hampshire political action.

In Iowa, Bennett will take listeners across America “inside” two actual Iowa Caucuses, bringing a firsthand account of the debate, discussion, and procedure by which America’s first political choices are made for the 2008 presidential campaign. Bennett will share Caucus results and all the late breaking news from politically influential Iowa on January 3rd and January 4th.

In New Hampshire on primary day, January 8th, and the morning after, January 9th, Bennett will broadcast his show live from the iconic Red Arrow Diner in Manchester. The Red Arrow Diner has become a focal point for many presidential candidates to visit during their campaign stops. Inside the diner Bennett will talk with “everyday Americans” and gauge their interest, passion, and opinions on the ever-important New Hampshire Presidential primary.

Welcome to Sirius Backstage, the largest fan site for Sirius Satellite Radio! If you are new to Sirius and have questions about how to install it in your car/home, how to subscribe, technical support, or just about anything else, you’ve come to the right place! If you have questions about installation, or if you have everything plugged in just right, and something still won’t work correctly, come down to the Help Desk: http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13. For just about anything else Sirius, you are sure to find an answer somewhere in our forum: http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum!

In order to post a question on our forums, you have to register, which you can do here: http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/profile.php?mode=register! It is free, only takes a couple minutes, and we will NEVER sell your email or spam you. Thanks again for visiting us, and welcome to Sirius!

Members here at SiriusBackstage know and love all the programming on Sirius.  But yesterday, the braintrust at Sirius HQ decided to share with us their list of favorite music events for the closing year.  Here’s the “official” list, biut we’d love to hear from you what they missed!  What were your favorite music events of 2007, as heard on Sirius?

In no particular order, here are the Top Ten SIRIUS music events of 2007:

    * SIRIUS launched the Grateful Dead Channel, a 24-hour commercial free
      channel dedicated to the music and legacy of the Grateful Dead.  The
      channel features exclusive, rare performances and original shows hosted
      by Grateful Dead members and special archival interviews with the late
      Jerry Garcia.

    * Siriusly Sinatra, produced by SIRIUS and the Sinatra family, launched as
      a one-of-a-kind channel with music spanning the entire spectrum of Frank
      Sinatra’s career.  The channel also features exclusive rare archival
      interviews, performances and the music of other artists from the big
      band, swing and traditional pop genres.

    * SIRIUS’ popular E Street Radio channel re-launched this year in support
      of Magic, Bruce Springsteen’s first album recorded with the E Street
      Band since 2002.  Listeners of E Street Radio can hear rare recordings
      of performances, exclusive interviews, celebrity guest DJs and the music
      of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

    * SIRIUS announced in 2007 that it had re-signed legendary radio
      personality Bruce Morrow, known to his legion of fans as ‘Cousin
      Brucie,’ to an exclusive multi-year deal.  The deal demonstrated SIRIUS’
      ongoing commitment to playing Oldies music from the 50s and 60s. SIRIUS
      remains the only radio outlet on which listeners can hear ‘Cousin
      Brucie.’

    * In 2007, Little Steven Van Zandt, founder and architect of the
      Underground Garage SIRIUS channel 25, launched The Little Steven
      Sessions.  The show airs three times daily and features Little Steven
      discussing the music, history, philosophy, and life style that is the
      Underground Garage.

    * SIRIUS turned one of its channels over to country music star Garth
      Brooks for two weeks in celebration of the release of his 3-disc
      greatest hits CD set.   Garth Brooks Radio featured music selected and
      presented by Garth Brooks.

    * JAY-Z Nation launched in November to coincide with the release of JAY-
      Z’s album, American Gangster.  The channel dedicated to, and produced by
      JAY-Z, featured exclusive interviews, special programming and live
      concert playback from JAY-Z’s five city tour.

    * SIRIUS, the exclusive home of Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville
      channel, broadcast every live performance from Jimmy Buffett’s 2007
      “Bama Breeze” tour.

    * Multi-platinum artist 50 Cent performed live in front of SIRIUS
      subscribers at the company’s studios in New York’s Rockefeller Center.
      The show aired live on G-Unit Radio, a weekly all-day broadcast produced
      by 50 Cent on SIRIUS’ Shade 45 channel.

    * SIRIUS broadcast an exclusive in-depth interview with one of rocks
      living legends, Keith Richards.  The rare interview was conducted by
      Steve Jordon, Keith’s friend and bandmate from X-pensive Winos.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will celebrate the life and music of James Brown as the first anniversary of his passing approaches. SIRIUS’ Soul Town channel will feature James Brown songs and interview clips hourly throughout the day on December 22 beginning at 1 pm ET on channel 53. On December 23, beginning at 12 pm ET, the channel will also play listener comments on the legacy of late Godfather of Soul.

Soul Town is SIRIUS’ channel dedicated to the great soul hits from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Listeners will hear the legends of classic soul including Marvin Gaye, Barry White and Gladys Knight.

Keith Richards will be interviewed on The Spectrum tonight at 8pm by his friend Steve Jordan, from The X-pensive Winos. There will be replays of the event tomorrow, December 20th, at 1am and 5pm, as well as throughout the month on The Spectrum and Classic Vinyl.

In the one-hour interview, you will get to see into the mind of Keith Richards as he shares stories on a variety of topics including his three day road trip with John Lennon through England, his first encounter with Muddy Waters at Chess studios, his infamous meeting with Peter Tosh, meeting Chuck Berry, and the life-changing experience of hearing Elvis Presley for the first time on Radio Luxembourg.

Mary J Blige will be performing live on Sirius this Friday, December 21st at 6pm on Hot Jamz, channel 50.

The hour long show, titled Mary Xmas and Mary New Year, will feature tracks from her new album “Growing Pains”, including the Grammy nominated single “Just Fine”, which will be her seventh Grammy if she wins it.

Sirius today applied for repeater permits for 15 new repeaters. If approved(almost certainly will be), they will go in various places across the country, including Philadelphia, Sacramento, Washington DC, and others. List of proposed addresses of the repeaters in the first reply under ‘comments’

From Satellite Radio TechWorld