PROGRAMMING XM Satellite Radio signs deal with MLB

The deal would put all major league baseball games on satellite radio.
NEW YORK (AP) -- XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. is raising the ante in its programming battle with rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., signing an 11-year programming deal with Major League Baseball that could be worth even more than the $500 million pact Sirius recently made with shock jock Howard Stern, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The deal would put baseball games for every major league team on XM's service beginning next year, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The story was first reported in The Sports Business Daily, a newspaper published by Street & amp; Smith's Sports Group.
Officials from both Major League Baseball and XM declined to comment, but MLB notified reporters late Tuesday that baseball commissioner Bud Selig would have a news conference this morning with Hugh Panero, the CEO of XM Satellite Radio.
The deal would be worth $470 million in cash over eight years, with Major League Baseball having the option to extend the arrangement by up to three additional years at $60 million per year. That would make the deal potentially worth up to $650 million.
Competition
The back-to-back deals highlight the mounting competition between XM and Sirius, both of which are spending heavily on programming in an effort to attract new subscribers.
Washington-based XM is leading the way with 2.5 million subscribers to its pay service, while Sirius announced Tuesday that its subscription list has exceeded 700,000. Sirius, based in New York, said it is on track to reach 1 million subscribers by the end of the year.
Receivers in vehicles
Sirius got another boost on Monday when Ford Motor Co. said it will begin offering Sirius receivers as an option in four more vehicles by year's end. Ford is targeting up to 20 vehicle lines for factory installation for the 2006 and 2007 model years. Sirius receivers are already available in nine Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models.
Both broadcasters offer more than 100 channels, many of them focused on specific music genres and talk shows. The receivers usually cost $100 or more, and users pay subscription fees of $9.95 to $12.95 a month. Besides car receivers, there are also models for the home and units that can be moved from a car to another players.
Even though both companies are losing money -- Sirius more than $1 billion in the last five years and XM $1.5 billion since 1992 -- both are still highly valued on Wall Street. Sirius has a current stock market value of about $4.7 billion, while investors value XM at about $5.9 billion.