Can Radio and Television Partner Together?

Sirius XM Radio and CNN recently released a press release that CNN Soledad O'Brien will moderate "Black in America 2" exclusively on Sirius XM Radio. "Black in America 2" is based on the original CNN series "Black in America". If you look at this programming announcement between Sirius XM Radio and CNN at face value it seems like a pretty standard programming press release, but if you dig a little deeper it’s actually quite impressive.

Here is what Sirius and CNN are doing together. On July 21st, 2009 between 11:00 am - 12:00 pm ET Sirius XM Radio will air live exclusively the radio version of "Black in America 2". A day later on July 22nd, 2009 at 8:00pm CNN will air the television version of the same "Black in America 2" programming edited by CNN for television. If you think about that model it could be pretty powerful. This is more than Sirius XM Radio putting up a couple of YouTube snippet videos of its own radio programming. This is a joint model between radio and television (Sirius XM Radio and CNN) to share content for the general public's entertainment.

If Sirius XM Radio attempts to introduce more individual programming partnerships like this, Sirius XM Radio can start to put a radio face to television. If done intelligently the Sirius XM Radio brand could broadcast on television without need for paid television advertising and that would generally be a good thing for the satellite radio provider.