Censored and fired from the commercial airwaves, Radio rebels Opie & Anthony are making a reappearance on XM Satellite Radio. I knew that XM was charging an extra $1.99 per month for the privilege of listening to O&A. What I didn’t know is that it’s $1.99 PER RADIO.
So for those of you who have multiple XM Radios, you’d better pony up or one of your radios is going to be in the broadcast equivalent of “steerage.”
Obviously, XM is under the deluded impression that the Cable TV model is the appropriate metaphor for their service. HBO is extra, the thinking goes, and extra on each TV set.
But Opie & Anthony is not the Sopranos. It’s not Sex and the City. It’s not Six Feet Under. It’s more like “Craig Shoemaker, LIVE in Vegas.” And if you don’t know who Craig Shoemaker is, I rest my case.
There’s a difference between a magnet and an unfamiliar premium feature – as XM will eventually discover.