The Digital Home Forums have recently hosted a thread discussing the pros and cons of Canadians two satellite radio options, the still unmerged Sirius Radio Canada and XM Radio Canada.

The verdict from passionate, Canadian satellite radio fans was that one service is better for automobiles and that one is better for home usage.

So which one is for you?

XM Canada received better ratings for home usage, Digital Home members mentioning that service is great once an appropriate spot has been found. Sirius Canada on the other hand emerged as a clear favourite for users requiring satellite radio service for their cars.

[Via Digital Home Forums]

Football fans will be pleased to read the news today that long-time football commentator, John Madden, will be returning to Sirius XM Radio for his sixth season as a contributor to Sirius NFL Radio.

Madden will broadcast live, every Friday at 11.30am EST with Adam Schein on The Sirius Blitz, discussing every NFL game and providing his expert opinions on teams, specific players, the games themselves and prospects or developments in the 2009 NFL season.

Sirius NFL Radio is a station entirely devoted to the NFL season, detailing every aspect of each game and playing on Sirius channel 124.

[Via Sirius Press]

Sirius Radio Canada has begun to broadcast the 2009 NFL Season for satellite radio subscribers, providing outstanding coverage of the entire year of football from beginning to finals.

Beginning on Thursday, September 10th, Sirius NFL Radio began to offer play-by-play coverage of every game and will continue to air in-depth football radio as the season takes listeners through the play-offs and all the way to Super Bowl XLIV scheduled to take place in South Florida.

Listeners can tune into the 2009 NFL Season through Sirius NFL Radio, channel 124, a fully-devoted station that broadcasts twenty-four hours a day all throughout the year.

[Via Sirius Press]

In another plus for Sirius Canada subscribers, a recent New York Times article has praised the satellite company’s response to the theft of satellite receivers.

While looking at corporate responses to the theft of Amazon Kindle electronic book readers the New York Times questioned the practices employed by Amazon in cracking down on stolen units.

Mentioned in the article however are the policies outlined by Sirius Radio Canada. The Canadian side of the company has maintained a policy since 2005 that allows subscribers to cancel service on stolen units by simply signing a statement, a move that is much better than XM Canada or the American Sirius XM Radio.

[Via New York Times]

Bell Mobility has now released one of their most anticipated smartphones, the LG Bliss and, Sirius Radio Canada fans will be happy to note, the device includes compatibility with the Canadian satellite service.

The LG Bliss hosts a number of other features that make it a good choice for smartphone fans (a 3-inch touchscreen, integrated voice memos and image editing software) but the real draw for many will probably be access to Bell Mobility wireless services.

Users are able to access a wealth of options from the phone’s wireless connectivity, including GPS navigation service, television programming and, most importantly, streaming Sirius Canada broadcasts.

[Via Phones Review]

Sirius Radio Canada covered the Canadian installment of the 2009 PGA Tour last week, providing golf fans with extensive coverage of the recent RBC Canadian Open.

The Canadian Open was held in Oakville, Ontario (at the Glen Abbey Golf Club) and was the 32nd installment of the quickly finishing 37 Regular Season Events.

Sirius Canada was in attendance to celebrate the event (which also marked the 25th time the PGA was held at Glen Abbey) and broadcast the games from Thursday, July 23rd through until the conclusion on Sunday, July 26th.

Bob Stevens provided commentary live from the match on Sirius channel 209 and XM channel 146.

[Via PGATour.com]

While we covered the possibility of a new channel package becoming available for Sirius Radio Canada subscribers in a previous post we can now report that the news has been confirmed.

The previously reported channel package has been confirmed, named Mostly Music, and is currently available for interested parties to subscribe to. The new package is set to become a permanent fixture of the satellite company’s offerings and is not meant to be a limited time only purchase.

Mostly Music will cost $9.99 per month for subscribers. To purchase the package for service with additional radios, Sirius Canada will offer 33% off the full price.

[Via Digital Home Forums]

XM Canada has recently opened the voting process for the 2009 edition of The Verge Music Awards, providing listeners the opportunity to vote for their favourite artists and help reward them for their work.

The voting opened up on Canada Day and is scheduled to remain so until August 31st in preparation for the award show itself on September 22nd at Toronto’s Mod Club.

Winners of the award will receive $25,000 for taking first place in either the Album of the Year or Artist of the Year category. The sponsorship by XM Canada helps round out the fall indie awards, occurring at roughly the same time as Sirius Canada’s coverage of the 2009 Polaris Prize.

[Via Digital Home Forums]

In a perverse celebration of the nation’s birthday Sirius Radio Canada decided to stop the issuing of lifetime subscription services effective on July 1st 2009.

The news may come as a surprise to many fans of the satellite radio corporation, especially as the discovery of this move skirted conventional press releases and was mainly brought to attention through customers phoning to renew their subscriptions.

A member of the Digital Home Forums detailed a phone call to the Sirius Canada customer service department where a representative informed them that the lifetime subscription service had been cut in order to be replaced by the pricier, month-by-month option.

[Via Digital Home Forums]

The satellite corporation itself appears to have managed business extremely well, reporting a rise in revenue and lowering of overhead costs, but reported a massive hit through diminishing subscriber numbers.

Self pay subscriber rates dropped by an 8.1% rate (32, 000 subscribers) to a total of 363, 400 while the total number of subscribers (including automobile purchase incentives, etc.) fell to 497, 800, a number that is down by 10, 900 subscribers only three months prior to the release.

[Via Digital Home Forums]