Sirius XM Radio and FOX News announced a new agreement to carry FOX News through August 2019. SiriusXM will also air the FOX Business Network beginning 10/18, Fox News Radio and FBN EVP Kevin Magee tells RBR-TVBR. Both channels will also be added to the SiriusXM Internet Radio channel lineup for the first time.
It was a bit of a problem for the satcaster when Sirius XM dropped Fox News Talk on 12/21/12. As you can see by the comments, our readers, at least, were none too happy. SiriusXM said on its website that “listeners can tune to FOX News Channel (Ch. 114) for Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and more. Conservative talk radio is also on SiriusXM Patriot (Ch. 125) including Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and others. Even more conservative talk radio is available on SiriusXM Patriot Plus (Ch. 780) in the Politics category.”
The new agreement now includes the addition of FOX News Talk to the SiriusXM Internet Radio service. We asked Magee: Why didn’t Sirius XM add Fox News Talk back with this deal on the main satellite feed? “They have their own programming decsions that they’ve got to make. They have the ability, under the contract, to put this on satellite if they want, but I know they are happy that people can find it on their internet service now. But the programming decisions are essentially theirs. We hope to make a product so good and robust that they want to add it back as a separate channel.”
He adds, “This is a much broader deal with a lot more stuff in it than we’ve ever had with SiriusXM before. They’ve also gotten the internet rights to the audio of the Fox News Channel, which they were happy about–and Fox Business Network and the internet rights to the audio there, too. It’s a big basket of stuff that they didn’t have before.”
Now, FOX News will continue to air on SiriusXM channel 114, and will be available on SiriusXM Internet Radio through the SiriusXM Internet Radio App on smart phones and other connected devices, and online at siriusxm.com. FOX Business Network will be available for the first time to subscribers via satellite and SiriusXM Internet Radio this fall.
FOX News Talk, which offers news, analysis, listener call-ins, and commentary from popular FOX News personalities such as Brian Kilmeade, Tom Sullivan, John Gibson and Alan Colmes, will be available online at SiriusXM Internet Radio and through the SiriusXM Internet Radio App on smart phones and other connected devices.
Said Roger Ailes, FOX News CEO, “Our viewers love the ability to keep the connection with FOX News Channel, even while they’re in the car with SiriusXM. This agreement not only ensures that will continue but expands it to our FOX Business Network viewers and restores the FOX News Talk channel to SiriusXM subscribers on their computers and smart phones. This is good for FOX News, for SiriusXM and for the people we both work for, the American public.”
“We are very happy to be the exclusive audio provider of FOX News and FOX Business Network, and to be able to bring them to our subscribers, on satellite and for the first time through our streaming platform via our App and online, for many years to come,” said Jim Meyer, CEO, SiriusXM. “FOX News is an undeniable force in news, and its personalities attract a large audience nationwide. Keeping its distinctive voice in our powerful program offering, and adding those of FOX Business and FOX News Talk to our lineup of news channels, further expands their availability to a nation of listeners.”
