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Sirius radio coming to Sprint phones
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| Sirius radio coming to Sprint phones
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| Mutt |
originally posted Jun 14, 2005, 12:55 PM ET by Barb Dybwad
Well, XM has been in talks with cellphone carriers , but it looks like Sirius is the first to make an official announcement: they’re partnering with Sprint to supply music channels to Sprint PCS customers. There aren’t too many details at this point, with plans to be unveiled later in the year — all we really know is they’re looking at channels “new hits, classic rock, hip-hop, country and blues.” The cost of the channels will be included in Sprint’s package to consumers, as opposed to being made available separately by Sirius. All of this marking another chapter in the push to get content flowing beyond merely the subscribers who want to pony up for the satellite receiver equipment.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000203046652/ |
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| Mutt |
Arik Hesseldahl, 06.14.05, 10:49 AM ET
NEW YORK - Sirius Satellite Radio and Sprint PCS said today they have reached a deal for Sirius to provide music content to Sprint's mobile phone customers.
Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ) could launch the service before the end of this year and possibly as soon as the third quarter, one official said.
The deal has Sirius (nasdaq: SIRI - news - people ) supplying an as-yet unspecified set of its streaming-music channels to Sprint, which will then transmit the music to customers of the Sprint PCS wireless phone service over its data network. There will be an additional fee that will be show up on subscribers' wireless phone bill.
Wireless phone operators have looked on with envy as consumers have scooped up portable music players, like Apple Computer's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) iPod device, and they have been eager to get in on the portable-music game by supplying music content. But such service offerings, including a phone jointly developed by Apple and Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) that works with Apple's iTunes Music Store, have been delayed, partly because carriers have balked at allowing customers to bypass their expensive wireless-data networks by loading music directly onto their phones from their computers.
The deal follows news yesterday from Sirius that it plans to boost its network's capacity by making changes in the way it transmits data from its satellites. The company said it has developed a proprietary technique it calls hierarchical modulation, which will allow it to increase the number of channels it can offer by 25%. It currently offers about 120 channels of music and talk programming, compared with 150 channels for rival XM Satellite Radio (nasdaq: XMSR - news - people ).
Sirius has had a video service in development for a few years, which it is expected to launch in 2006, and is also said to have a number of data services in development. XM also has data services coming.
Sirius is also said to be talking with Apple about adding Sirius content to Apple's iTunes service and bringing the Sirius service to a future version of the iPod. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin has publicly expressed enthusiasm for the idea.
Another possibility is for Apple to offer some Sirius programming within its iTunes software. Already, many streaming radio stations are listed within the radio section of iTunes, and Sirius, and indeed XM, might be natural targets for such an offering. Still, iPod players do not currently have the ability to receive any broadcast or streaming-audio channels.
XM already offers its channels to Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Windows Media Player 10 by subscription. Apple could easily strike a similar deal with Sirius, but there's no news yet. A new version of Apple's iTunes software is expected in July.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/20...tml?partner=rss |
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| dirtmaggert |
| Sirius continues to make moves...good to see. |
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