Which is better? Sirius or XM?

[Sainters7]

Hey boyz, just got the car fixed and I wanna throw in some satellite radio here, and am just wondering what provider do you guys prefer, Sirius or XM? Also, is one more "sporty" than the other? One of the main things I'm looking for is some good sports talk stations. Like does one have rights to certain leagues? I heard that Sirius has the NHL rights. What about the NFL? That's the main one I'm looking for, just in time for training camp in the summer. Any help would be appreciated!

[Resolute 14]

Wont really matter in the future, as they are merging.

Most people I know prefer Sirius, however.

[guzzy]

XM is better for sports but doesn't come close with the talk radio or the music. On the XM comedy stations you are lucky to hear one or two comics an hour that you actually know. Sirius is non-stop big name comics. Maxim radio on Sirius is awesome plus there is Howard Stern. Faction has a great personality in Jason Ellis. The only thing XM has is the sports. Sirius does have sports but not really comparable to XM. I believe that Sirius recently purchased XM anyways so pretty soon you will see them merged.

It really depends on what you want. Sirius has enough sports that I can always find what I need but I am more into the music and comedy. The XM comedy is hardly even laughable compared to Sirius.

[Drunk Skunk]

As guzzy said, Siruis is much better then XM for music and talk. I currently have Siruis. I had XM for a few months and dropped it in favor of the Dog. The NHL has a channel on XM, but that was the only thing that really drew me.

I've heard that it will be difficult for them to merge, do to the monopoly laws. The same thing happened when DirecTV and Dish Network tried to merge.

[edn88]

I am firmly in the XM camp, as after this year, NHL has a 10 year exlusive deal with XM. If they don't merge, XM is the only way to go for me. Music, comedy etc are good enough, but it really the sports (golf as well) that make XM the king for me.

[metallicat]

You have to go to both websites, and compare the services offered. I originally went with XM because it had the US talk radio that I wanted. Since then, Sirius has caught up and now offers the same talk radio as far as I know.

I enjoy the music on XM, but I'm sure if I had Sirius, I'd find stations that I enjoy just as much. As for sports, I sometimes listen to hockey games, but not all that often. I used it last year during work however, to listen to the World Cup of soccer.

The bottom line is that I don't think you'll go wrong with either company, but research the two and decide which one offers more that you want.

[Jayems]

Well, I'm an XM subscriber and I love it.

Don'y buy into the XM has nothing but sports argument. They have just as many channels, for every type of music... so i'm not sure where that is coming from. Yeah, we don't have Stern, but we have Opie & Anthony who are hilarious (and Jimmy hahah)

But not much for talk... that is kinda true, unless you like trucker talk, there is a whole channel just for that. The comedy is so-so, but I listen a lot to it, and think its good enough.

XM 12 X-Country is my channel.

Good times, I'm an XM and love it, and I can say I haven't listend to Sirius, so I can't really tell you which one is better, just that I have XM and couldn't live with out it.

[underGRADFlame]

I'm in the XM camp as well. As for music you won't find a huge difference, and I preferrer O&A over Stern which was my determining factor. As stated though if the merger goes through, its not gonna matter which one you pick anyway.

[Sainters7]

Ok thanks for the all the help guys. Even without knowing anything about either one, I naturally was leaning towards Sirius, just due to hearing more about it. But the main reason I want this thing is for the sports, specifically the NFL(and the cheesy 80's music, haha I can't get enough of that stuff, blame that on Vice City maybe), and it sounds like XM may be the way to go for that. Naturally I'm gonna do some research, but I appreciate the kick-start.

[metallicat]

I don't think XM has the NFL, correct me if I'm wrong.

[lifer]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I don't think XM has the NFL, correct me if I'm wrong.

i don't know anything about XM, and I have sirius. I also don't care mch about the NFL so I can't comment on the quality of NFL coverage. I can say that there is a lot of NFL coverage on Sirius though.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I don't think XM has the NFL, correct me if I'm wrong.

Yup, good call bud. Just researchin em right now, and XM has zero NFL coverage. Sirius= sold!!

[Engine09]

Like others have said, XM has the NHL coverage and that's be huge for some people. But seeing how it's 2007 and you can watch HD games at home with Center Ice that's not much of a factor for me. I like to watch the game myself rather than have it described to me.

Sirius has the best radio show in the history of radio, Stern. End of discussion.

[guzzy]

I heard Opie and Anthony were canned last month for something. I can't remember what but I heard they were gone. They are funny guys.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by guzzy

I heard Opie and Anthony were canned last month for something. I can't remember what but I heard they were gone. They are funny guys.

I think they're back June 15th from a suspension. I used to listen to them a little bit, some of it was funny, but a lot of was just stupid. Kudos to them for making a living by what they do, it's just not my cup of tea.

[Jagger]

I've listened to both extensively and see little difference in the music channels overall. XM has plenty of good music channels in every genre so I'm not sure where the poor rep with regards to that comes from.

It all comes down to talk and sports. If it's NHL you want you have to go with XM. XM also had World Cup soccer last year, has MLB and golf too. NFL is all Sirius. As for talk I really don't listen so cannot really comment. There are lots of Stern fans though so Sirius is the place for that.

You really cannot go wrong with either imo, at least if music is the deciding factor.

[ricoFlame]

Sirius...STERN!

[Buzzard]

How do you find the sound quality in either of the two? I've heard sirius is inferior to XM, true?

[Jonrox]

I am also in favour of XM - great music, great talk, O&A, and no Stern (he used to be king, but now he's just a hack).

If the merger goes through, the future of satellite radio in Canada is a bit cloudy. XM Canada and XM USA are completely separate companies - here's a quote from the XM Canada website:

Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (TSX: XSR) operates as XM Canada(TM) through its subsidiary, Canadian Satellite Radio Inc.
XM has an exclusive Canadian license from U.S.-based XM Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR), the leading satellite radio provider in the U.S. with more than 7.6 million subscribers.

So it's tough to say what will happen with this license.

[moon]

I have XM and I have spent time with co-workers and friends that have Sirius and I would say that the music on both is so repetitve on many of the stations that more music stations does not equal better music. I didn't find that either had any advantage for music stations for my tastes anyways.

I hate Stern so having him is no big deal which seems to be the biggest reasons most Sirius fans come up with for it being better.

If you want the NFL then Sirius is probably the way to go. I am not a huge football on the radio fan and really preferred the NHL and MLB games on radio so I am happy with XM.

Overall I am happy with XM but I can see why people looking for different things would prefer Sirius. Either way satellite radio kicks the crap out of regular radio.