Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Sirius XM app soars even without Howard Stern

Sirius XM it released June 18th has become the top free download in the Music Category on iTunes.

It has been grabbed more than 1 million times either by Sirius XM subscribers or people who did not have Sirius hardware and simply wanted to pay the US$13.00 a month fee for access to the 120 plus channels available.

"Reaching more than 1 million downloads so quickly is a strong testament to our world-class programming and SIRIUS XM's instant brand recognition," said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer of SIRIUS XM Radio. "Our goal is to give people access to the best audio entertainment wherever they go with what we think is the best music and audio entertainment application available on the App Store."

The numbers are impressive but the subscribers still can't listen to Howard Stern who is one of the big draws to the satellite broadcaster. Sirius really hasn't had any substantive comment about omitting Stern, but the issue appears to be Stern himself, who wants more money to be offered on cellular devices. On his daily show in June he said "It was a rights thing, a contractual rights thing, It was a rights issue and a whole entanglement thing. So, we're not on it. Maybe one day we will be."

Although the app is a very popular download, it has very negative reviews at the App Store. As of this morning more than 38,000 reviewers gave it one star, more than twice all the other ratings combined.

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