I remember it being big news in 2005 that PodShow would be syndicating their best and brightest to Sirius Satellite Radio. PaidContent is now reporting that the deal has ended in a very abrupt manner.

According to the PaidContent blog post, "the block was pulled from the air without notice from PodShow to more than two dozen contributing podcasters."

I'm really not sure if there is a winner or loser in this case. It couldn't have costed Sirius much money to pump the podcast content through their system. At the same time it probably didn't bring Sirius any subscribers. Why would you pay for something that you can download for free from the internet?

It was great PR for PodShow to be able to say that they could get certain podcasters on satellite radio. But what does that really mean? Satellite radio has a much narrower reach than podcasting. And you still have to be listening at the time a show is aired to hear the content.

So I'd venture to guess that podcasters were not gaining many listeners from the Sirius-PodShow connection. If anything, this indicates that podcasters are better off focusing on the common network medium known as the internet.

I have no doubt that Sirius will be evaluating their content offerings and eliminating more low value shows as their deal with XM nears closing.

Labels: podcasting, podshow, satellite radio, sirius