This is one of the better Sirius XM deals I’ve ever come across. This week only you can get the same employee discount that, yes, employees receive. That means, for example, you can get the XMP3 portable radio for $115, which is down from $230.

Haven’t written about Sirius XM for a little while, so here’s a treat: your bill is about to go up. Starting next month, Sirius XM will tack on a $1.98 surcharge (if that’s the word to use) to your bill in order to placate the music industry.

Looks like President Obama wants to see some change in our Cuba policy, and not merely change affecting only Cuban-Americans and their relationship with the country. American telecommunication companies will now be allowed to, among other things, establish satellite links between the two countries and—Opie and Anthony may soon be heard in Havana!

Now that nobody on planet Earth is buying cars anymore, Sirius XM has to find a new way to promote itself to would-be buyers. It used to be that buyers of new cars would get a couple free months of Sirius or XM included; but what now? If yesterday’s conference call is any indication, Sirius XM, which was rescued at the ELEVENTH HOUR by Liberty Media last month, will really begin to promote itself to fancy-pants iPhone and iPod touch users. A Sirius XM-developed (remember, that third-party Star Player was killed last week) application will help spread the gospel of Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Oprah and TonsOfSports.

There’s something wrong with CBS Radio’s press release announcing the launch, complete with silly “countdown,” of 92.3 Now FM in New York City, a contemporary hit radio station that will replace K-Rock on Wednesday, March 11, at 5:00pm. (Contemporary hit radio, in plain English, means garbage pop songs, distinguished by their use of auto-tune and use of lowest-common-denominator song-writing.) CBS Radio Senior Vice-President of Something or Other, Don Bouloukos, is quoted in the release as saying, “Our assets in the country’s No. 1 market include among them the best known brands in the business. From the most listened to news and sports stations in the country, to the classic sounds of WCBS FM and the adult contemporary styling of Fresh 102.7, CBS RADIO offers something for everyone in the market – including young adults who are using the radio to discover today’s most popular music as featured on 92.3 NOW FM.” [Emphasis added, obviously.] And that, friends, is why the radio business, as we know it, is truly doomed. No, Mr. Bouloukos, young people are not turning on their radio to discover new music; they’re certainly not sticking around to listen to new music on a commercial radio station. No, sir, that’s what the Internet is for, and thats why your business has no future.

Here’s one of those quicke CrunchDeals we like to promote from time to time. This time, satellite radio fan, you can grab the Pioneer XMp3, along with the relevant Home and Vehicle kit, for $239. That’s $100 less than what XM usually wants!

Put away your pitchforks, angry investors, for Sirius XM has been saved by Liberty Media, the company that has a sizable stake in DirecTV. A deal was reached that sees Liberty Media invest (via loans) $530 million in the satellite radio operation, some of which will go straight to paying off that $170ish million in debt the company had until today to come up with. Mel Karmazin stays on as CEO, but Liberty Media gets a boatload of stocks and a few seats on the board of directors.

This Sirius XM bankruptcy story is starting to read like some trashy novel. There’s now word that DirecTV is getting involved, with the CEO of its parent company Liberty Media, one John C. Malone, offering to bail out the troubled satellite radio company. Some see it as a genuine offer, while others see it merely as a ploy to jack up the price for Malone’s rival at EchoStar (Dish Network), Charles W. Ergen. Wonderful.

Hope you aren’t a Sirius XM shareholder. When word broke last night that the company had retained the services of some fancy bankruptcy lawyers—the worst, that bankruptcy could be filed “within days”—fans of the service, naturally, started to freak. There’s a few more details today that may be worth your time, such as the water cooler talk that this could all be a ploy by CEO Mel Karmazin to get Dish Network to help out just a little bit more.

This doesn’t look good. The Times is reporting that Sirius XM, home to Opie and Anthony, “has been working with advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing.” Of course, that’s different from OH MY GOD THEY’RE GOING BANKRUPT RIGHT NOW, but it’s not a good sign.

Fancy listening to Backspin on your iPhone? Or maybe you’d like to hear the comedy stylings of Christian Jimmy on The Virus? Soon, friends. Soon. Supposedly. On the way to the App Store, the uSirius StarPlayr, an iPhone app that lets you listen to Sirius XM on your iPhone. Fancy that.

We’ve had confirmation of Sirius XM price hikes for about a week now, but now the company is actively promoting it. Go to either Sirius’ or XM’s Web site and you’ll see a kind note explaining how online streaming will no longer be free. You know, because upgrading the online feed to “CD-quality,” whatever that means, costs a bloody fortune.

So yeah, that rumored Sirius XM price hike is totally going to happen. Go ahead and call Sirius XM and you’ll get the customer service guy trying to get you to “lock in” your current rates by buying a lifetime subscription. Time to break out the pitchforks.

As if satellite radio fans, especially longtime XM ones, didn’t have enough to worry about, there’s a juicy rumor going around right now that suggests that Sirius XM prices are going to increase across the board. Ugh.

Sirius XM have finally showed off its first interoperable radio, the MiRGE. It’ll be available this spring for $250, and you’ll be able to subscribe to a new $20 per month plan that gets you “Sirius plus XM Everything” (cool how it’s marketing it as “Sirius plus THAT OTHER COMPANY”). Yes, both services, completely, for $20 per month.

Old school hip-hop is coming back to Sirius XM after having been axed from the lineup late last year. Sirius XM says it’s in response to “overwhelming” fan reaction. The company is listening to us!

Did Santa Claus give you a Sirius XM Radio yesterday? Boy are you in for a treat if he did, since “Secret Show to the Future” will be re-airing tomorrow night (Saturday, 12/27) at 9pm on XM channel 202 and Sirius channel 197.