SIRIUS Backstage

The SL100-TK1 Satellite Radio/MP3 Player will be coming out shortly, according to retailers. The radio was recently listed in the one store’s company database, along with new car/home kits, and antenna headphones. It does not appear to be on their consumer site currently, but after they released the Sportster4 photos and pricing too early back in April, they are probably going to wait for Sirius to officially announce it before it appears on their site.

Looking at the name, it seems that it might use the Stiletto name based on the ‘SL’ designator. The radio itself will likely have 100 hours of Sirius recordings on a 2GB drive, hence the ‘100’.

Image courtesy of Orbitcast

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Orbitcast.com has the story…

Looks like Sirius has recently registered the trademark “Stiletto.” My guess? Sounds like a great name for a fancy new wearable satellite radio receiver. Let the speculation ensue.

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With Father’s Day and high school graduation coming up this month, we have a couple ideas on what to get them from Sirius. All prices are before rebates; if there is a rebate available, the final price after rebates is displayed in parentheses. If you click on the model name, it will take you to a review by a resident expert of Sirius.

-For those on a budget, your best bet is the Sirius One(model number SV-1), which is available at CircuitCity for $29.99 this week. A basic radio, but it has a display with title/artist, easily lets you scroll through the channels, and will get the job done for a first timer to Sirius.

-If you want a great radio without a steep price tag, we recommend the Starmate Replay at $84.99($64.99) from TSS-Radio, available in both silver and black. This small radio comes jam-packed with features including a clock with alarm, song alerts that tell you when your favorite song is on, full 5-line display, and much more. For $169($129), you can get the Starmate Replay, car kit, and the Boomcube, for full functionality.

-Want to get a radio for the car and for a boombox for a cheap price? This JVC package at Crutchfield offers the plug and play radio with a car kit and a boombox for $149.99($99.99). While the radio does not offer direct entry, it still has the replay functions and a large red display. The boombox offers one of the loudest sounds for satellite radio, with 5.25″ speakers.

-For the high-end Sirius radio, the S50 comes with a color screen, allows you to save songs you like, record shows while you sleep, and upload MP3s so you can listen on-the-go. It does not get live satellite reception out of its car or home dock, but you can still listen to programs that were recorded. Available for $249.99($149.99) at TSS-Radio.com. For $419.99($299.99), you can get the S50 with the Executive Docking Station, which is a beautiful stereo to listen to the S50 on.

For an extra $50 on any of these, you can get a prepaid card that comes with activation and 3 months of service. This will let them try out the service without having to spend their own money. We hope this helps you choose the best radio for a gift.

A thread started in our forum just after 1am EDT talking about the Xact Visor being featured as Today’s Special Value. Thank you to DaveyD for pointing this out and to WolfViper for posting this image. According to SISO, it seems that QVC is broadcasting some of their show from SIRIUS’s offices today. He said, “They’re at the Sirius studios next to the “fishbowl”".

Special Values end at 12am EDT, so if you want to get this radio for the advertised price, act quickly. QVC customers that purchase this radio today must call SIRIUS by June 30, 2006 to activate and SIRIUS will pay your activation fee. Three (3) months activation, SID/ESN number from the radio, and a major credit card required.

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DAB, a moderator here at Backstage, noticed something today on his new Sportster 4 that hints it could be the first radio that is ready for Sirius’ upcoming Hierarchal Modulation. Sirius has released that HM will increase Sirius’ programming capacity by 25%. We do not know 100% if this is the case, it could just be a goof on Sirius’ part.

As you can see the Sportster 4 picks up the other Canadian channels that up until now US residents have never received. We believe that Sirius may have these channels streaming (for lack of better words) over their hierarchal modulation. Again, we are not 100% sure of this. We should know more in the coming months as Sirius releases their live portable.  Stay tuned for the latest updates.
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Ryan over at Orbitcast.com has discovered a great review on CNET about the Zing Player.

Rafe Needleman at CNET said that the SIRIUS-branded Zing player is scheduled to ship later this year.

It appears that the new device will receive SIRIUS content over the Internet, rather than the satellite network.

This opens up the possibility that SIRIUS may extend the service to a variety of Internet radio devices.

Digital music company Sonos already has a sophiticated package that allows you to stream WiFi Radio throughout your home, along with a slick full-color controller.

This opens up the possibility of SIRIUS coming out with a WiFi powered repeater, so you can have a SIRIUS zone in each room of your home. The possibilties are endless with an established standard such as WiFi.

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Ok, so it’s an odd title. But pay attention to the word Zing because that may just be the name of Sirius’ partner with their new portable. Orbitcast.com has the story…

Introducing Zing. A software platform that can work across any type of wireless connection, from WiFi to 3G, allowing digital media devices to connect to music services or other online content sources.

According to SiliconBeat, Zing has a deal with Sirius Satellite Radio to stream live Sirius content to mobile devices. In addition to that, Zing’s founder - former Apple exec Tim Bucher - said a Zing-powered Sirius device is in the works, but he was not ready to divulge details earlier this week.

Orbitcast goes on to say that Zing also allows their users to purchase their content.

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Well, now they are…

David Frear (Executive VP and CFO) today talked at the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference about Sirius’ radios and their complaince with FCC guidelines. Frear stated that the FCC sent letters to their manufacturers several weeks ago asking for test results of the radios FM transmitter range. The manufacturers sent the results to the FCC and it turns out that some Sirius radios (he did not name specifics) did not comply with FM transmitter guidelines. These radios have now been fixed however.

This Sunday Sirius will launch a new $100 rebate, called From Rockstars to Allstars, which will bring the price of the S50 down to $199. The rebate will also bring the price of other receivers down as much as $50. You can get more details here.

This $100 price drop makes me believe they’re trying to get these puppies out to make room for the new live portable.

This is from Satellite Standard Group - If anybody can find a picture, PLEASE POST!! Or send it to a moderator via email.

Sirius Annual Meeting - Live Wearable
May 23, 2006

Those that attended the Annual meeting got a treat today.

Satellite Standard Group has learned that a Slide of the new live wearable device was part of the presentation. Mel Karmazin also held up the unit in his hands.

The unit is described as slightly wider than the S50, a black face, white/light trim, and a knob on the face controls.

Also of note were comments that Mel Karmazin was able to be very candid in the question and answer session, and took the time to answer several investor questions in great detail.