If you’re a fan and user of the SiriusXM satellite radio, it will now be more convenient for you to listen to your favorite shows and stations on your various devices. You will now get support for Google Assistant so you can just use voice commands to start playing your station of choice on your Google Home or Google Nest speakers and on your Android devices as well. Of course this will only work if you’re a subscriber so Google is also helping you out in that regard.
SiriusXM offers a wide range of talk shows, commercial-free music, and sports stations and if you need more convincing to subscribe, Google is dangling a carrot. You will now be able to say things like “Hey Google, play Howard 100 on SiriusXM” and your favorite radio show will start playing on your connected device. There are other commands you can try out like choosing dedicated artist channels, trying out new programs, etc. You can also just say “Hey Google, play SiriusXM” and you will get the last station that you played.
The one condition you need to be able to use this Google Assistant connection is that you need to be a SiriusXM subscriber. If you’re not yet subscribed, you can get a three-month free trial subscription on your Google Home app if you have any Google Assistant products. If you have a Nest Hub or a Nest Hub Max, later this year you’ll be able to view curated video content like exclusive in-studio performances, interviews, etc, on your smart displays.
For now, this Google Assistant integration will only be available in the U.S. and Canada and only in English. Eventually, they will expand it to Canadian French and hopefully more languages and more territories. While you could already play SiriusXM stations before in Google smart speakers and other devices, having the ability to issue voice commands and have it play whatever station you asked it to play.
Of course, there are other radio streaming services that have the voice (and digital ears) of the Google Assistant to support them, like iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Radio.com. So even if you don’t subscribe to SiriusXM, you still have a lot of options. But why not check it out since you get three months free, right?
