SiriusXM has launched a new streaming subscription package called SiriusXM Essential. While SiriusXM is best known for offering satellite radio in your car, Essential is just for streaming, meaning you no longer need to own a car to listen to SiriusXM.

SiriusXM Launches SiriusXM Essential

SiriusXM has launched Sirius XM Essential citing the fact that "approximately two-thirds of people in the U.S. (ages 12+) stream their audio entertainment". SiriusXM has essentially realized it needs to start catering to people who don't listen in their cars.

Essential is "for people who want to listen on a mobile phone, tablet, desktop, and on connected devices in the home including devices with Amazon Alexa, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, Sonos speakers, Xbox, Sony PlayStation and more".

What Do You Get With SiriusXM Essential?

Essential gets you 200+ music channels, 100 SiriusXM Xtra channels, several sports talk channels, plus an "array of entertainment, news and comedy programming choices." However, there's no Howard Stern, or the NBA, NHL, and NCAA channels.

In the press release introducing SiriusXM Essential, SiriusXM's Matt Epstein said:

"We've now created the Essential subscription as an appealing option for the many people, particularly younger consumers, who don't have a car or don't spend a lot of time in their car. The Essential package offers an attractive bundle of content at a competitively low price among streaming services."

SiriusXM Essential costs $8/month, but you can try it first for $1/month for three months.

Streaming Is the Future of Everything

This is a good move by SiriusXM. All signs point to streaming being the future of, well, everything. So while there will still be people listening in their cars, offering access to streamers for a reduced price makes absolute sense.

In addition to launching its Essential subscription package, SiriusXM has wasted no time in making use of its acquisition of Pandora. So people only interested in podcasts can now listen to SiriusXM shows on Pandora without the need to pay a penny.