Tyler Wells wrote in message
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What is everyone's thoughts of Sirius's sports and music programming?

I think the music channels are great, there are repeats, but hey, some
repeats are good. The sound quality is superb, and I think te DJ's ad
a little "zing" to it. My favorite has to be Hits1, but I also enjoy
tons more.

I am a football fan, and I like being able to hear both NFL and
College games from across the country. I am also looking forward to
the NHL and British soccer games. March Madness should also be great!


XM acquired the only radio rights that really mean anything when it got
baseball for the next 11 years. Many teams have huge out-of-market
followings, and the TV Extra Innings package, while helpful, frustrates fans
with its complex blackout restrictions that prevent the airing of all teams'
games in most areas. XM will plug that gap with home feeds of every game.

Sirius greatly overpaid for the NFL. Most fans set aside Sunday afternoons
for football on TV, not radio, and the Sunday Ticket package provides every
game, albeit not on cable yet due to the ill-advised exclusive deal with
DirectTV. Hockey (if it ever comes back) and English soccer are niche
sports, unlikely to generate significant number of new subscriptions. March
Madness is four freakin' weeks and not even every day of those weeks --
Sirius paid big bucks for fewer than 20 days of programming, and when the
tournament gets down to the Sweet 16, every game is on national TV anyway,
so Sirius will only be providing something unavailable to out-of-market fans
(who, along with gamblers, are the target audience) for the first two
rounds.

Also, won't XM be able to carry the home feeds of all the schools in the
conferences it carries should they get to the tournament, or did its deals
with the ACC, Big Ten and Pac Ten only apply to regular season and
conference tournament games? XM somehow managed to air the Big Twelve
championship football game -- Oklahoma vs. Colorado -- a couple of days ago
despite having no deal with the conference or either school, and Sirius has
shut XM out of home feeds of USC, UCLA, Michigan and Ohio State, despite
XM's having a contract with those schools' conferences, by signing exclusive
deals directly with the schools, so who knows what "exclusive" means in the
backstabbing world of sat radio sports rights?