XM forges deal with DirecTV
Just as Sirius has done before with DISH Network, XM has announced a partnership with DirecTV that would give the Sat TV service’s subscribers access to about half of XM’s radio content.
The companies are focusing on talk content such as Opie and Anthony as well as sports broadcasts.
News of XM‘s partnership with DirecTV came the same day rival Sirius Satellite Radio launched two channels dedicated to Howard Stern‘s scheduled January arrival.
Despite Sirius having hyped the channels, dubbed Howard Stern Channel and Howard Stern II, they contained no audio content Thursday, just a punctuation-challenged scroll that read: “We‘re building toward Howard‘s.”
“Keep listening. It‘s going to get good,” said a Sirius spokesman, promising Stern-related programing on the channels sometime before the shock-jock‘s arrival.
As for XM, it will give DirecTV subscribers 50-70 channels depending on which satellite television package they subscribe to. While the offering is mostly music, it also includes children‘s programing and the talk channels that feature Major League Baseball and shock-jocks Opie and Anthony.
No word yet weather XM will be counting set-top boxes as subscribers.
