NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya has signed on with Sirius Satellite Radio to promote Sirius’ lineup of NASCAR programming and live race coverage.

Montoya, who can be heard weekly on Sirius NASCAR Radio, will be featured in Sirius’ advertising and marketing efforts, including an extensive promotional campaign at retail locations around the country. The advertising will promote Sirius’ live coverage of every NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race as well as Sirius exclusive 24/7 NASCAR Radio talk channel, with up-to-the-minute news, expert analysis and exclusive interviews with NASCAR insiders, on channel 128.

In addition to his role as a Sirius spokesman, you can hear Montoya every Monday at 5 pm ET on The Juan Pablo Montoya Report on Sirius NASCAR Radio, where he provides listeners with exclusive updates on the No. 42 team and his experiences in NASCAR.

(more…)

Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS Satellite Radio, announced today that parents who are offended by programming such as Howard Stern will recieve a decrease in programming costs after the XM-SIRIUS merger.

“There would be a cost reduction to their bill in a more a la carte way,” said Karmazin. “If somebody doesn’t want it, not only are they not getting it, but they’re not subsidizing it either.”

This announcement comes after FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has publicly expressed interest in having of an a la carte programming system. Previously, Karmazin has said that Satellite technology will not allow for such programming choices but it seems that instead of customers paying more for the Howard Stern service(a la carte style), customers will have the choice to remove Stern from their radios and recieve a price cut in the monthly price of the service. Karmazin also noted that these details were included with the FCC merger notice filed on Tuesday.

This decision by the merger corporations could not only influence the FCC to approve the merger, but could influence other services such as cable television to do the same type of program discounting.

Dan Isett, a spokesperson for the Parents Television Council, who also supports such a la carte programming said, “This is good news, but we want to see the details. The problem they face is why should consumers be forced to subsidize Howard Stern if they want Major League Baseball?”

How do you think this will affect the FCC decision to approve or dissaprove the XM-SIRIUS merger?

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

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

Comment here.