# Sirius Commercial-Free Radio has Commercials. Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729 "2005-12-30T16:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/1 "2005-12-30T16:05:53Z")
I got Sirius Satellite Radio for XMas, and I’ve got a beef with them. Commercials. WTF?!? They spend a ton of time advertising “Commercial-Free Broadcast”, but it just ain’t the case. There are commercials for Subaru (Subaru sells cars here in New England, for those of you living anywhere else), debt-reduction service, loan consolidation, and a few others. Anyways, I don’t feel strongly about it to take it to the Pit, and I am very pleased with it otherwise. I just can’t help feeling _duped_ somehow. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/2 "2005-12-30T18:59:32Z")
Sirius and XM are not entirely commercial-free. Most of their music channels are, though. They also carry some programming that’s also broadcast terrestrially, and they’ll have ads. I don’t have satellite radio, myself, but I’ve read that they have more than a hundred music channels without ads. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/3 "2005-12-30T19:05:21Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Sirius and XM are not entirely commercial-free. Most of their music channels are, though. They also carry some programming that’s also broadcast terrestrially, and they’ll have ads. I don’t have satellite radio, myself, but I’ve read that they have more than a hundred music channels without ads. Precisely. The music channels are commercial-free. The talk, sports, and comedy channels have commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/4 "2005-12-30T19:28:31Z")
Sorry for the hijack, but I was wondering this earlier today and this is _almost_ a good thread to ask it in: How do you pronouce Sirius? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/5 "2005-12-30T19:30:41Z")
I don’t know how to pronou **n** ce Sirius, but I do know how to spell pronou **n** ce. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/6 "2005-12-30T19:43:47Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > I don’t know how to pronou **n** ce Sirius, but I do know how to spell pronou **n** ce. I can’t believe you are serious in asking that question, in a Sirius format like this. Just like that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/7 "2005-12-30T19:51:31Z")
> [@Winston Smith](#): > > I got Sirius Satellite Radio for XMas, and I’ve got a beef with them. Commercials. WTF?!? They spend a ton of time advertising “Commercial-Free Broadcast”, but it just ain’t the case. There are commercials for Subaru (Subaru sells cars here in New England, for those of you living anywhere else), debt-reduction service, loan consolidation, and a few others. > > Anyways, I don’t feel strongly about it to take it to the Pit, and I am very pleased with it otherwise. I just can’t help feeling _duped_ somehow. I kind of felt the same way when I got XM last February. Then I noticed that their advertisements all said things like “commercial-free music” or “hundreds of commercial-free channels” and not anything like “entirely commercial free!” Even the “commercial-free” music channels have promos for that channel (why?) and other channels and programs on XM. That threw me for a little while. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/8 "2005-12-30T20:00:25Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > I can’t believe you are serious in asking that question, in a Sirius format like this. > > Just like that. 😉 Even when it’s Harry Potter’s godfather? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sirius-commercial-free-radio-has-commercials-huh/337729/9 "2005-12-30T20:24:46Z")
The music channels won’t have traditional commercials. They will have 30 second promo spots for other channels about twice an hour. Usually though, they’re related to the channel. You won’t hear about hip hop programming on a classical station. The talk stations will have commercials. Also, some times there are “sponsored” programs. Annoying, but better than endless commericals. I’d rather hear, “The xxx program presented by Lexus,” than spend 15 minutes listening to Big Al’s Lexus dealership has the lowest…"