In a sign of how the sands beneath the broadcast and music
businesses continue to shift, satellite radio is joining the streaming music
market in the car. Sirius XM will now offer in-dash access to its Internet
Radio App in Ford vehicles with the Sync AppLink.
According to the NYTimes, Ford and Sirius XM said the app
support would, for the first time, allow subscribers to use the Sirius XM
Internet radio app on iPhones and Android handsets, making it possible to
stream not only satellite channels but also personalized MySXM channels and
on-demand programs like Howard Stern‘s.
The services were already available
online through a Web browser, but this is Sirius’s first full-fledged offering
of streaming Internet services in cars.
Sirius XM will have plenty of streaming-music competition on
Ford Sync dashboards, which already include Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify, Slacker
and Mog. There are also traditional radio stations offering streaming channels
through TuneIn, plus independent station apps and Clear Channel’s iHeartAuto.
For Sirius XM, the new connection to the dash is less of a
“if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” strategy than a way of keeping existing
subscribers happy. Listeners still have to pay $14.49 a month for the service
plus $3.50 a month for the app.
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