By Brian “Newman” Rayl
Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) today announced a five year contract extension with the National Football League. Sirius and XM listeners will continue to hear every single NFL game through the Super Bowl in 2016. Sirius XM has been the official Satellite Radio partner of the NFL since 2004.
The contract actually expands the capabilities of Sirius XM and the benefits to its subscribers. For the first time, Sirius XM will also broadcast NFL play-by-play online for its Satellite Radio subscribers beginning with the 2011 season.
The NFL is a terrific partner and we’re very pleased to continue to work with them to provide both Sirius and XM listeners the kind of top-notch NFL programming that their fans have come to expect. The NFL has been and will continue to be one of the major tent poles of Sirius XM’s lineup. Sirius and XM will give fans around the country a fully portable and comprehensive way to follow their favorite team and everything happening around the league.
- Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, Sirius XM.
Sirius XM’s NFL Radio channel features exclusive daily talk shows hosted by NFL experts, interviews with players, coaches and executives from around the league, plus in-depth coverage of the NFL Draft, training camps, NFL Network programing, and more. Sirius NFL Radio and the NFL Play-By-Play channels are available to all Sirius subscribers and to XM subscribers who subscribe to the “Best of Sirius” programming package.
We are pleased to continue our partnership with Sirius XM. They have been an excellent partner and have become part of NFL fans’ daily lives, not only on game day, but also throughout the year.
- Steve Bornstein, NFL’s Executive Vice President of Media
The NFL announcement has been expected as Mel Karmazin, Sirius XM CEO, had mentioned this contract in both the second and third quarter conference calls. With this announcement out of the way, as well as the announcement regarding reaching the 20 million subscriber milestone, all eyes point towards Howard Stern and his upcoming contract that is due to expire at the end of the year.
Disclosure: Long SIRI
Contact the author at Newman@SatelliteRadioPlayground.com
The second paragraph is HUGE, now subscribers will be able to listen online! Would love to see this available for Major League Baseball at some point!
Newman, does this contract provide any “guarantees” of payment to the NFL even with a work stoppage?