I've been an SXM subscriber for about 15 years. My observations on the company/tech and evolution.
1. Car radios and physical radios were the original market, but they have evolved.
2. They offer radio subscriptions (which includes the streaming app) and streaming only subscriptions.
3. If you ever get a subscription, I suggest you NEVER renew at full-rate. Customer Service will always offer you a better deal when you say you are going to cancel.
3. The past- few years the on-air hosts have really been talking-up the app ("you can listen when you get out of your car"), or Alexa or other outlets for streaming.
4. Every year or two they morph a couple voice channels into other voice channels (Cosmo radio was killed off and became something else).
5. specific artist stations get created, I'm assuming when an artist or record company pays them enough (see U2 or the occasional Dave Matthews special channels).
6. Their streaming service offers a gazillion variants of their main channels. (80s on 8, has 80s-Dance, 80s-Party, 80s-Chill, etc).
7. I don't listen to Howard.
8. I do watch some Howard video clips of interviews or artists performing.
9. I think they have a "podcast" section that allows you to use it like a podcast player, even if the podcasts are not SXM content.
10. Lastly, it seems they have channel talent creating their own podcasts. A few months ago I learned that Nicole (hits1) and Rich Davis (hits1, etc) have a Parenting podcast. Burp.
11. Madison on AltNation is either loved or hated, according to twitter.
webSite
xmplaylist.com has data on how often songs are played. I sometimes update it and calculate some metrics. To read the chart, it says that on Hits1 you can expect to hear the 4-most frequent songs about 12-14 times per day. At the other end of the scale, on Classic Rewind you would expect to hear the 4-most frequently played songs ~ once per day. (NSR is No Shoes Radio and the odd peak there is always a Kenny Chesney Song, as it is His station).