While based on the same technical foundation, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio are not the same. Each offers music, news, sports, talk, commentary, and a variety of other streams, or channels, but a careful analysis of the channels exposes the underlying strengths and weaknesses of each service. In total, XM Satellite Radio offers 136 streams. Of the 136 streams, 2 are premium channels (Playboy and High Voltage), 21 are traffic and weather channels for local cities, and 9 are dedicated sports streams for college games. So, 104 core channels with 32 additional channels. Sirius Satellite Radio offers 119 streams with no premium streams available. Of those 119 channels 3 are sports play-by-play channels that will not always be broadcasting content and 10 are weather/traffic channels. I have not counted each services preview channel. Let?s take a look at each of the categories in the XM vs Sirius battle.

Music Streams Comparison
In general terms, both Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio both offer a large selection of music streams. When added, XM Satellite Radio offers 3 more music streams than Sirius Satellite Radio with XM Satellite Radio delivering 68 streams while Sirius Satellite Radio delivers 65. In the following section, I will analyze major musical genres and their corresponding support on each service. In the heading of each section I note which service has the stronger offerings in red.

Music - Decades
A blast from the past to be sure and each service has several options in this area. XM Satellite Radio holds the edge in this category offering one more decade (The 40s) which Sirius Satellite Radio does not offer. Also of note, Sirius Satellite Radio combines their 90?s stream to include 90?s hits as well as current hits.

Music - Country
As Hank would say? actually, I have no idea what Hank would say about satellite radio and country music but I?m sure it would be something deep and rebellious. In any case, XM offers five streams and Sirius offers four. Both offer a classic country and a country hits stream while Sirius Satellite Radio offers a country mix and alternative country stream. XM Satellite Radio offers a progressive, an old time hits, and an additional hits stream. You will find that both services provide sufficient overlap in play lists to make either choice equivalent but XM grabs top honors with sheer volume of country music offered.

Music - Hits
The hits category is rather wide-ranging and leaves a lot to interpretation but in essence we are talking about pop, or popular music. Pop, of course, crosses most genres and so there is a lot of variety to be found in the following streams. Sirius offers a top-40 stream while XM offers top-40 stream, top-20 stream and a contemporary hits stream. Both services offer an adult contemporary stream and love song stream and Sirius offers an easy listening stream. In addition to the previously mentioned streams, XM offers a VH-1 feed, an MTV music feed, a beautiful music stream, and euro/global hits stream XM is somewhat stronger in terms of the variety of pop music streams with almost anything available that you might desire. Sirius also offers an Elvis stream and a mellow rock stream.

Music - Christian (XM)
XM Satellite Radio is the clear winner in terms of Christian music programming. Aside from each offering a gospel stream, XM offers a Christian rock and Christian adult contemporary stream while Sirius only offers a Christian hits stream. There is crossover but if you are looking for strong Christian music programming, look no further than XM Satellite Radio.

Music - Rock
In the rock and roll category, Sirius offers 15 streams to XM?s 14 streams. They each offer album rock, stadium rock, metal, classic alternative, mellow rock, classic rock, alternative, alternative/indie rock, and eclectic/progressive rock streams. XM Satellite Radio also offers a new music stream, punk stream, alternative hits stream, and The Loft, an acoustic stream. Sirius offers a deeper classic stream including rare cuts, a jam bands stream, an early rock stream, an early rock hits stream, a combination punk/rock/hip-hop stream, and finally a pure rock stream. In general, each service is strong in this category. If your choice hinges on this category, consider the focus of each stream on the two services.

Music - Urban (Sirius)
Sirius Satellite Radio offers eight streams in the urban category and XM Satellite Radio offers seven. Of these, both offer urban contemporary, R&B, old school rap, and hip-hop streams. They also each offer two soul streams and when combined, the playlists provide similar coverage. XM offers a unique urban top-40 stream while Sirius offers a rap hits, and a turntablism/freestyle stream. The service are basically equivalent unless your taste runs to rap and then Sirius is clearly the stronger service.

Music - Jazz
XM Satellite Radio offers four jazz streams and Sirius Satellite Radio offers three jazz streams. Both Sirius and XM offer classic, smooth or easy, and contemporary jazz streams but XM adds a Latin jazz stream.

Music - Dance
Sirius Satellite Radio offers six dance streams while XM offers four. Of these, both offer disco, electronica, and club streams. Sirius adds dance hits, smooth electronic, and breakbeats streams to the mix while XM has a house music stream.

Music - Latin
Sirius Satellite Radio offers three Latin streams and XM offers three also. Both offer a Latin pop stream, Mexicana, and tropical music streams. Sirius? Spanish language programming will be discussed in more depth later. It is strong.

Music - Blues
Both Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio offer a blues stream and therefore are equivalent in this category..

Music - World (XM)
XM Satellite Radio offers six world streams and Sirius Satellite Radio offers three also. Of these, both offer reggae and world music streams. XM goes the extra step and throws in an African music stream, an eclectic stream, a Starbucks music stream, as well as a new age stream. Other than XM?s African stream offering, the services are basically the same in this category.

Music - Classical
Both XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio offer three classical streams. Both offer an operatic, classical performances, and pop classical streams.

Music - Miscellaneous
So what is left… some odds and ends. First, both Sirius and XM offer bluegrass, folk, show tunes, and Standards streams. XM offers a movie theme stream while Sirius completes the overview with a swing stream.

Kids Stream Comparison (XM)
Both XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio offer one children’s music stream. While these streams are not solely dedicated to music I have included them here due to music content on both streams. XM, by far, offers stronger original programming with shows such as Bingo (yes, the game of Bingo via satellite), Absolutely Mindy, HiJinx, Inc., Peanut Gallery, The XM Animal Farm and many more. XM also broadcasts some audio replays of TV content for children. Sirius, on the other hand, offers only one show with original content, Tongue Twisters. Tongue Twisters is a word game ? children learn a new word each day. The rest of the day on Sirius Kids is filled with audio replays of TV shows such as Blues Clues, The Wiggles, Schoolhouse Rock, etc. The XM children?s programming is very strong and includes much original material. XM is obviously investing significantly in this stream and is the clear leader in this category. In addition, both services offer Radio Disney located below under the entertainment category.

News Streams Comparison (Sirius)
XM Satellite Radio offers 11 news streams compared to Sirius Satellite Radio?s 13 streams. Many of the news streams are essentially audiocasts of TV programming. Both services offer CNN Headline News, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, C-SPAN, and BBC World News. In addition to these, XM offers CNN, MSNBC, ABC Talk/News, XM Public Radio, and CNN en Espanol streams. Sirius offers World Radio Network, NPR Now, PRI Public Radio, the east, west, and central versions of The Weather Channel, BBC Mundo, focused on Latin America. Each offers a Spanish language news stream but Sirius offers a much stronger variety of programming for Spanish listeners as will become apparent later. Sirius also offers some solid news streams with alternative viewpoints which can be found on World Radio Network, NPR, and PRI. If you are looking for maximum news viewpoint variety or non-mainstream news programming, Sirius is the choice due to the large variety of news programming available (NPR, PRI, and World News) in addition to the usual suspects (CNN, FOX, CNBC, etc.) Also, Sirius is the choice if you want maximum Spanish language programming.

Sports Streams Comparison (NASCAR = XM, college games while NBA/NHL/NFL = Sirius)
Sirius Satellite Radio offers seven sports streams to XM Satellite Radio?s fifteen. These numbers don’t represent the breadth of programming available on Sirius. Both services offer ESPN Radio and ESPNews. In addition to these, XM Satellite Radio offers NASCAR Radio, NASCAR driver audio, The Sporting News, and FOX Sports Radio. XM also offers nine sportscast stations for college basketball and football. If college ball is your thing, XM is your clear choice. In terms of sheer sports programming diversity, Sirius has XM beat. Sirius offers Sports Byline USA, Sirius Sports Action, two sports programming channels for game broadcasts, and Sirius NFL Radio. Sirius has every NBA, NHL, and every regular season NFL game which they broadcast on their sports streams. Starting with the 2005 NFL season, Sirius will carry all NFL games including playoffs. If you can live without the NASCAR stream or if you want all the NBA, NHL, or NFL games, Sirius is your choice.

Local Weather/Traffic Comparison

XM announced their new local weather and traffic stations to much applause but Sirius was quick to respond. While XM delivers their audio on 21 streams for 21 cities Sirius has decided to share ten channels between two cities each. Predictably, they offer coverage for all the same cities save one, Minneapolis/St. Paul which XM serves audio for.

Talk Streams Comparison (Sirius)
XM Satellite Radio offers six talk streams and Sirius Satellite Radio offers eight. Both offer left, right, centrist, and African-American talk streams. Additionally, Sirius Talk offers general talk programming. Sirius also offers OutQ, a gay and lesbian stream, a Hispanic talk stream, and a women’s talk stream. XM offers a Christian talk stream and ASK!, a general theme talk show channel.

Entertainment Streams Comparison (Sirius)
Sirius Satellite Radio offers 10 entertainment streams and XM Satellite Radio offers 5. Both services offer Discovery Radio, Radio Disney, E! Entertainment, Radio Classics, and a trucker?s stream. In addition, XM offers Sonic Theater, focused on audio books and radio theater. Sirius offers Court TV plus, audio from the Court TV cable channel, and WSM Entertainment, Grand Ole Opry programming. Sirius also offers The Word Network and EWTN , focusing on Christian programming, WISDOM Radio, offering life improvement programming, Sirius Patriot, focusing on conservative programming, and Maxim Radio, Sirius’ answer to XM’s premium Playboy channel but for no additional charge. Both services offer a lot of variety, but Sirius clearly has the stronger programming in this category.

Comedy Streams Comparison (XM)
XM offers three and Sirius offers two comedy streams. The programming for comedy is similar for both services. Each offers a general and adult comedy stream. XM adds one general comedy channel to the mix.

Premium Streams
XM Satellite Radio offers two premium streams, Playboy Radio and High Voltage featuring Opie and Andy. Playboy Radio is neat and a little risqu?? but lacks the deep programming to keep most people coming back. Give it a try or give it more time to develop more diverse and deeper programming. I would not recommend choosing XM over Sirius based on the availability of Playboy Radio at this time as the programming is simply not there yet. As to Opie and Andy, they go live October 2004 and will offer a 4 hour show each weekday. If you don’t know who they are, don’t bother. If you do and you like ‘em, get it quick.

Playboy = $2.99/month High Voltage = $1.99/month

My thoughts on premium services? Crap. XM sings day and night about a lower monthly charge ($9.99 versus $12.99) but they are trending in the direction of more and more premium services. What good is $9.99 if I must subscribe to several dollars worth of premium services to get the radio programming I want? Not very good. It is a disturbing trend given the fact that we are paying for radio at all. Now XM wants more and more of my money. Wrong answer. I sold my XM gear. I hang with Sirius now.

Bottom Line
From a marketing perspective the two services differentiate themselves along the music/non-music offerings. XM and Sirius are basically tied musically while Sirius is the talk, news, and sports leader. My overall recommendation goes to Sirius. Greater depth and better overall programming. Plus, the NFL…

Where to Buy
Sirius is running an awesome deal this month in their online store. You can get an Audiovox SIRPNP2 tuner, car and home kits, and a boombox for $199.99 or an Audiovox SIRPNP2 tuner, car kit, and boombox for $149.99. A savings of $100 over retail prices. Hurry, the sale ends this month! They also sell many other tuners and accessories. Check them out here: SIRIUS Satellite Radio

If XM is the service for you, you can get great deals from the Satellite Radio Superstore They carry all the XM tuners and accessories.

This is Part 4 in a series where I look at the current state of satellite radio technology, satellite radio services, and satellite radio hardware.