Also keep a couple points in mind:
Pandora
- Is nothing more than a large set of pre-recorded music
- Has 50 or so employees that listen to music and add tags so that when you select some like "Rush" for example, you get a virtual station that plays a lot of Rush and some similar music
- There are no rebroadcasts of any other content
- There is no live or near live content - only pre-recorded songs
- Tends to get boring since each selection - by design - plays things that are as close as possible in musical style/elements
- Requires decent internet connectivity to work
- The only revenue (that I am aware of) is the old and tired "sell ads on the web site/in the app" model. This will maintain operations - as long as they can sell the ads and get the click throughs - but not exactly going to bring in enough cash to get a Howard Stern or Eminem.
- While the Pandora approach in a bit unique in how they group the music together, when it comes to "Internet Radio" there are literally thousands of websites that deliver music content - both legal and otherwise. Pandora does not really stand out in the crowd. Jump on Twitter and watch the "Now listening to" type of tweets and see where each person is listening from. Rarely Pandora.
- Now able to receive on the Ford Sync system...which is installed next to the Sirius receiver that was years for several years longer
- Quality (bit rate) is entirely dependent upon Internet connection speed/quality - often lacking. This is admittedly not a valid point for things like the iPhone app that would play Pandora OR Sirius over an Internet connection - but for dedicated hardware, there is a big quality difference that is easily heard in home or car.
Sirius
- Owns studios with actual DJ's to produce content
- Includes stations (both re-broadcast and original) that include talk, current events, sports, etc. - essential live or near live content.
- Licenses the ability to rebroadcast stations like CNBC, FOX News, etc.
- Is a legit radio service that has the legal rights to play what they do (and in some cases pay royalties)
- Has actual capital assets
- Has enough money to buy Pandora if they felt like it
- Does not require Internet connectivity to play through enabled hardware
- Does offer Internet based access for all devices that are not enabled to pickup sat signal
- Has paid subscribers and therefore a revenue stream to continue operations
- On dedicated equipment the compression/quality is consistent and of higher quality than typical Internet based radio.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
