XM or Sirius?

[nuke]

For listening to Soccer games in english, which has more programming, XM or Sirius?

[alexp92]

i believe sirius does, xm doesnt carry it

[Dan G]

XM carried the 2006 World Cup, but not sure if they have an exclusive contract to broadcast future World Cups. That is the only soccer that they carry.

Sirius covers the BPL and broadcasts every Chelsea home/away game. They also carry the UEFA Champions League and every Celtic FC match from the SPL.
Plus, they air 4 soccer exclusive talk shows throughout the week.

http://www.sirius.com/soccer

[Kryptonite]

i believe sirius does, xm doesnt carry it

I think XM has some Spanish-language soccer, either discussion format or live PbP. Not sure though.

I don't speak any Spanish, but Sirius also has ESPN Deportes Radio which may or may not focus on Mexican soccer. Since I don't speak Spanish, I don't listen.

But yeah, Sirius has an amazing amount of soccer programming. You'll need channel 125 and 126. Schedules are available at the above link.

Sidenote -- While Sirius does have an option to just listen through the internet without buying a radio, soccer programming is not available online, meaning the purchase of a radio is necessary for soccer. If you buy online, you can price compare between the store at www.sirius.com and www.tss-radio.com

[geordienation]

This is a little bit of a moot question as the two carriers are merging. (http://www.forbes.com/markets/equities/2007/08/07/sirius-xm-merger-markets-equity-cx_af_0807markets31.html)

[Dan G]

This is a little bit of a moot question as the two carriers are merging. (http://www.forbes.com/markets/equities/2007/08/07/sirius-xm-merger-markets-equity-cx_af_0807markets31.html)

Hasn't been approved of yet.

[geordienation]

Hasn't been approved of yet.

Right, but there's little doubt it will be.

There's nobody clamoring to come in and buy either one of them.

[nuke]

So I think I will go with Sirius, since they are basically the same price, and in a merger, I will end up with the same programming anyway. From a consumer perspective, I hope they do not merge. I think it's always good to have some competition.

Plus, on the NSR side, I am an 80s alternative music fan, and Sirius has First Wave 22. XM has Lucy 54, but it blends the 80s with the present.

Thanks for the input.

[julesism]

ya, this one is easy. Get Sirius! :) I also enjoy World Soccer Daily from time to time. There are also 1 or 2 other footie shows. Hopefully we will get 606 from BBC 5live again this season as well.

[bigtw64]

Sirius would be the way to go If your'e a soccer fan The only english-language soccer
coverage on XM is what's offered on BBC World Service. The merger is probably months away from federal approval anyway. Supposedly when they merge you will be able to
buy programming a la carte - an XM user could get NBA from Sirius or a Sirius subscriber
could get baseball from XM and so on.

btw XM Fred is a pretty good channel for 80's/new wave too - you can listen to some
XM music channels for free at aol.com

[NYC_nigel]

How much is the additional football channel(s)?

[bdm36]

How much is the additional football channel(s)?

No add'l charge.

[Dan G]

$12.95/month gets you every channel. Cheaper if you pre-pay for an annual subscription.

[JustSomeDude]

ya, this one is easy. Get Sirius! :) I also enjoy World Soccer Daily from time to time. There are also 1 or 2 other footie shows. Hopefully we will get 606 from BBC 5live again this season as well.

I heard 606 on today, so it's back -- it sounded like a repeat from Sunday following the Community Shield.

The Sirius programming is extremely Chelsea-heavy, between the games (and pregame) themselves, the "Football Show" and WSD with Chelsea-favoring hosts. I'm glad that they have started the programing, but I hope that they continue to add to it.

It would also be nice if they would stream online (of course WSD and 606 are available online elsewhere for free).

[alexp92]

didnt know that they had bbc shows, might be worth a look then

[Kryptonite]

$12.95/month gets you every channel. Cheaper if you pre-pay for an annual subscription.

By paying a lot up front, they give you a lesser rate than by paying month to month. Two years at once normally costs ($12.95x22months=284.90), but by calling SIRIUS up, I paid $211.23 and got a two year plan. Plus, they threw in something like 2 or 3 months for free on top of the two years. That's quite a substantial savings over what I was paying ($12.95x6, every 6 months.)

When you activate your radio, you can save about $5 by doing it online.

In terms of features, the best radio they have, the Stiletto 100 is a portable device meaning you can listen at home, in the car, or any time you walk down the street. The main differences between the "10" and the "100" are that with the 100 you get 100 hours of record time, plus it has a built-in WiFi receiver so you can listen to the online feeds through a wireless router and your radio. The Stiletto 10 only has 10 hours of record time and lacks the wifi feature. It's quite nice, because if you're at a coffee shop or in your house and can't get a clear signal, just turn it to the wifi for any music, a few talk channels and their channel of NFL talk.

Downside -- Unlike other "plug and play" radios which can plug in to a receiver at home or in the car, the Stiletto models do not come with any car or home kits. The other plug and play radios usually come with a car kit.

If you go with a plug and play, I found out that the boomboxes work fine. They even have a headphone plug, so if you have a stereo, you can take a cable (forget the name of it) and plug the one end into the headphone jack and plug the other end into the "Line In" on the stereo.

They do have a lifetime option, where you pay about $500 and never have to worry about another bill. The downside is that you are subject to a ~$75 fee if you want to switch the plan to a new radio.

I think all radios now have the pause feature. If you have a DVR, or even if not, you can sometimes synch the feed from FSC up with the audio from Sirius and not have to worry about the FSC host commentating over the PbP guy. This feature is beyond great. I turn my Sirius all the way up, turn FSC all the way down, and don't have to worry about Nick Webster, Max Bretos, or anyone else.

There are two optional features: If you do a lot of online listening, you can choose to pay about $2 extra per month and they'll increase your sound quality. It's normally something like 32K or 54K, but with this option, they jack it up to around 128K. If you get the Stiletto 100, a new upgrade turns your WiFi listening into 128K as well.

You won't be able to listen to Premiership online through Sirius, but it has been nice walking down the street listening to live matches.

There's also a channel of Playboy radio which is optional. It comes blocked out, but it's free to add.

[JustSomeDude]

Just the one BBC show that I know of (606).

[alexp92]

i wish they would get the whole channel

[alexp92]

just thinking, does sirius now have portable radios like the size of ipods, which can broadcast live radio? i now xm had that for a bit while sirius didnt. have they gottten it? could be useful

[Kryptonite]

Yes, as I said above, the Stiletto 100 and the Stiletto 10 are roughly the size of iPods. Neither of them comes with kits, just two batteries (each model has the same two), a pair of earbud headphones, another pair of headphones with an antenna built in, and a wall charger.

You can plug the radio directly in to the wall to charge the batteries, but only one battery can be charged this way at a time. If you want to charge them both, you need a home kit.

The car kit is a Stiletto-only car kit -- your previous one won't work, but the antenna will.

It does have the ability for speakers to be plugged in to it. What I do overnight is plug in computer speakers to the radio, and plug the radio into the wall using the supplied plug. This way, I can listen to it in the morning and it charges up overnight.

The only thing i'd change -- If you are listening through the "antenna headphones", you cannot plug it into the wall.

The main differences between the two radios? The model 100 has a built-in wireless "B" receiver. For example, if you're listening at home, or a place like a coffee shop and you have a wireless router nearby, it can go into the "wifi mode" and you can listen online, instead of directing your computer to sirius.com. This is only for channels that are available at sirius.com -- You cannot listen to Premiership (and other sports) through the Wifi.

Basically, it's due to rights issues. Sirius does offer a lot of stuff online.

The Stiletto 10 does not have this.

You can also record any channel through the satellite radio mode. The Stiletto 100 has 100 hours available, and you guessed it.. the 10 has 10 hours. You can also set it up to record a regular timeslot, say Tuesday nights at 7 PM Eastern and it'll go ahead and do it like a TiVo.

I think that's everything.