XM Announces Deal with Alltel
XM radio recently completed a deal with cell phone service provider Alltel that results in giving Alltel users the option of subscribing to XM satellite radio and receiving transmissions via their cell phones. Subscribers will reportedly be able to see song and artist titles on the screens of their handsets, as is the case with regular XM receivers. The service is expected to cost only $7.99 month. This deal mirrors one already inked between Sprint and SIRIUS. Click here for the full story from MSN Money, via Reuters.
This sounds like a great idea, but as Travis Hudson at Gizmodo is quick to point out, you will probably have to buy a new phone to take advantage of it.
In any case, agreements with cell phone providers can only spell good news for satellite radio providers, as both XM and SIRIUS have been operating at losses since their inception in order to build up a large enough subscriber base to sustain the companies long-term. It seems that the current strategies of both providers is to piggy-back their merchandise onto products that everyone already owns–like portable MP3 players, cars, and now cell phones. As Douglas McIntyre at 24/7 Wall Street points out, the cell phone business should ultimately provide satellite radio with a big boost.
