Why XM Doesn’t Carry NPR

Posted on June 1, 2004

Doc Searls has the answer today to a question I’ve wondered about for a long time — why Sirius Satellite Radio carries NPR, but XM doesn’t:

This morning, while going through old email, I found a response I had missed from a reader who had asked XM satellite radio the same question, one year earlier, and received a response that gave two reasons: 1) NPR is available pretty much everywhere in the U.S. on terrestrial radio; and 2) NPR doesnt let Sirius carry its “A-list” programs, like Fresh Air (weekdays), All Things Considered and Morning Edition. (It does provide Car Talk, Fresh Air Weekend, Tavis Smiley and various “B-list” programs.) The XM correspondent added that this was perhaps a bit misleading by Sirius.

And it is.

Makes sense to me.