SiriusXM Gets Serious About Podcasts

In line with rumors that surfaced earlier this month, SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) officially confirmed this week that it will acquire podcasting platform Stitcher from E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ: SSP). The satellite radio company has been aggressively expanding into streaming in recent years, including its $3.5 billion acquisition of Pandora Media that closed last year. SiriusXM is trying to better compete with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), which collectively dominate both music streaming and podcasting.