Sirius Satellite Radio

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"SIRIUS" redirects here. For other uses, see Sirius (disambiguation).

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.

Type	Public NASDAQ: SIRI
Founded	May 17, 1990
Headquarters	New York City, New York, United States
Key people	Mel Karmazin, CEO Scott Greenstein, President, Entertainment/Sports James Meyer, President, Operations & Sales
Industry	Broadcasting - Radio
Products	Satellite radio
Revenue	US$242.245 million (2005)
Net income	US$862.997 million (2005)
Employees	614 (2005)
Slogan	The Best Radio on Radio
Website	www.sirius.com

Sirius Satellite Radio NASDAQ: SIRI is one of two satellite radio (SDARS) services operating in the United States and Canada, along with XM Satellite Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius provides 69 streams (channels) of music and 65 streams of sports, news and entertainment to listeners. Music streams on Sirius carry a wide variety of music genres, broadcasting 24 hours daily, commercial-free. A subset of Sirius music channels is included as part of the Dish Network satellite television service. Sirius channels are identified by Arbitron with the label "XS" (e.g. "XS120", "XS9", "XS17"). With most Sirius-enabled radios, the user can see the artist and song information on display while listening to the stream. The streams are broadcast from three satellites in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit above North America.

Its business model is to provide pay-for-service radio, analogous to the business model for premium cable television, in which music channels are free of commercials. Subscription costs for Sirius range from US$12.95 monthly (US$6.99 for multi-receivers) to US$499.99 for lifetime subscription. There is a US$15 activation fee for every radio activated. Sirius recently announced it has achieved its first positive cash flow quarter for the period ending December 2006.^[1]

Sirius was previously known as Satellite CD Radio Inc.. The company changed its name to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. on November 18, 1999. The name is derived from Sirius, sometimes referred to as the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night-time sky. The dog in the Sirius logo is unofficially named "Mongo", a name garnered from the debut of Sirius Satellite Radio’s sponsorship on Casey Atwood’s and later Jimmy Spencer’s NASCAR entry, when the announcing cast voted on names. "Mongo" later became NASCAR driver Spencer’s nickname with the NASCAR Broadcasters (mainly Darrell Waltrip) in the following races.

On October 16, 2006 Sirius announced that it would be launching Sirius Internet Radio with 78 of its 135 channels being available worldwide on the internet to any of its subscribers with a valid user name and password.

1 XM Satellite Merger
2 Content
3 Sirius' satellites
4 Receivers
- 4.1 On-line media streaming options
5 Receiver Technology
6 Sirius in Canada
7 Sirius Internet Radio
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] XM Satellite Merger

For more details on this topic, see XM/Sirius merger.

On February 19, 2007, Sirius announced a merger deal with XM Satellite Radio. Upon government approval, the merger would combine the two radio services and create a single Satellite Radio network in the United States.^[2]

[edit] Content

[edit] Channels

List of Sirius Satellite Radio stations

[edit] Programming content

Subscriber growth for XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio

See also: The Howard Stern Show

A major component of Sirius business strategy has been to execute far-reaching and exclusive deals with big-name entertainers and personalities to create and build broadcast streams, from the ground up. Sirius has reached extensive deals with domestic diva Martha Stewart, E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt, aka Little Steven, Jimmy Buffett, and Eminem to executive-produce streams or entire channels on Sirius. Van Zandt was the first major musician recruited by Sirius or XM to create branded music channels and he has created two distinct stations for Sirius, the Underground Garage dedicated to garage rock, and Outlaw Country with its focus on alternative country music.

By far the largest of these deals was announced on October 6, 2004 when Sirius announced that it signed a five-year, US$100 million per year agreement with Howard Stern to move his radio show, The Howard Stern Show, to Sirius starting on January 9, 2006.^[3] The deal, which gave Sirius exclusive rights to Stern’s radio show, also gave Stern the right to build two full-time programming channels. Currently, Stern has two operating channels on Sirius, but still retains the right to a third. Stern said his move was forced by the stringent regulations of the FCC whose enforcement was intensified following the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show. Beginning with the announcement of his imminent departure, Stern complained Infinity Broadcasting was making his departure more acrimonious than was necessary.

Howard Stern's first major hire for Sirius was Tampa, Florida based Bubba the Love Sponge who was previously been dismissed by Clear Channel due to a US$750,000 fine proposed by the FCC.

Sirius presents an extensive array of programming on multiple channels that cover a wide variety of genres. The overall categories include: Music, News/Talk, Sports, Entertainment. Within each category there are multiple channels that present a wide variety of sub-genres. For example the Music category sub-divides into streams for Rock, Pop, Country, Hip-Hop/R&B, Jazz/Blues – and within each stream there are channels for various sub-sections. An example of the variety of music offerings available would be the 22 channels playing different sub-genres of rock.

The vast majority of its programming is self-produced exclusively for Sirius. However, there are some shows - especially in the Talk genre - that are syndicated programs originally created for terrestrial radio - that now air on traditional radio and Sirius simultaneously.

Among the hosts who present shows heard on Sirius, there are several high-profile personalities:

Sports figures such as seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton, sports show host Scott Ferrall, notable skateboarder Tony Hawk, skateboarder/MTV personality Bam Margera.

Musicians such as Joan Jett, the B-52's lead singer Fred Schneider and New York Dolls singer David Johansen.

Veteran deejays including: New York City DJ "Cousin Brucie", Richard Blade, Joe Causi canadian singer France Joli's better half and Kid Leo – and original MTV veejays Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn.

Political commentators including Bill Press, Michael Reagan, Mike Church, host of the Company's first Live-Long-Form Original Talk Show which debuted 10 March 2003, Bill Bennett and G. Gordon Liddy.

Comedians, humorists, and satirists include; Harry Shearer, Stephanie Miller, Mojo Nixon, Jim Breuer and Martin Lewis.

On November 18, 2004 the former COO and President of Viacom, Mel Karmazin, was named the CEO of Sirius. Stern worked under Karmazin at Infinity Radio and the two appeared to always have a great deal of mutual respect. It was Karmazin who fiercely protected Stern in the wake of the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show (produced by MTV and aired by CBS, both co-owned with Infinity-now CBS Radio-until CBS Corporation split off in 2006) and the FCC crackdown on shock jocks and obscenity, in general.

On October 25, 2005 Sirius announced that "E Street Radio", the exclusive channel of legendary artist Bruce Springsteen, would air from November 1, 2005 to January 31, 2006 on the Bridge - Channel 10. On September 14, 2006, The Bridge was replaced again, by The Who Channel. This special limited-run channel was moved to channel 98, replacing Rolling Stones Radio, and the Bridge restored, on January 1, 2007.

[edit] Sports

Another cornerstone of Sirius’ business strategy has been to pursue exclusive sports content. Currently, Sirius has exclusive satellite radio broadcasting rights to all NFL, CFL and NBA games. Sirius also announced in December 2005 a multi-year deal with the NBA, which makes the satellite radio company the broadcaster of more live NBA games than any other radio outlet. Sirius airs Full Court Press, weekdays from 12 pm - 3 pm ET; FCP is the only all-NBA show on Sirius. The agreement also creates a 24-hour NBA Radio Channel, located on channel 127. NHL games will be shared with XM for the 2005–2006 season, after which XM will have exclusive broadcast rights. Starting in 2007, Sirius will have full NASCAR coverage, including, among other programs, a two hour weekly show hosted by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.

Sirius also has rights to a number of major college sports teams, including teams in the Big East, Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference as well as schools like Notre Dame. Beginning in 2005 Sirius also has exclusive radio rights to cover the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. In August 2004, Sirius launched NFL Radio, a 24-hour radio stream dedicated exclusively to covering the NFL. Sirius has also been aggressive in creating its own in-house produced studio sports radio content.

Sirius also broadcasts select English Premier League matches, in addition to airing World Soccer Daily, a Monday-Friday two hour talk show dedicated to soccer, and has inked an exclusive deal with two-time defending EPL champion Chelsea. Continuing their major expansion of soccer coverage, Sirius announced a deal to add UEFA Champions League soccer to their lineup on September 27, 2006.

[edit] Business Music Service

In August 2003, Sirius partnered with Clearwater, Florida-based Applied Media Technologies Corporation, a provider of telephone "on hold" messaging.^[4] AMTC, as the exclusive marketing partner for business subscriptions, provides Sirius service in a package branded as Sirius Business. For US$24.95 per month, AMTC provides all of Sirius' streams of commercial-free music, and pays all performance royalties to ASCAP, Broadcast Music Incorporated, and SESAC, so that business owners may legally play Sirius' music in their establishments.

Unlike the music services Muzak, Music Choice, XM for Business, or DMX Music, the Sirius business music services use the same channels and SDARS delivery platform as the consumer Sirius service. The SDARS delivery platform, on the other hand, is more reliable than any of the other services in that it is not subject to satellite dish rain fade or broadband Internet outages. Unfortunately, the highly elliptical orbit of the Sirius satellite constellation can pose difficulties for the reliable delivery of the signal to stationary antennae in certain parts of the country. To eliminate this potential problem, Sirius intends to launch a geostationary satellite to serve non-mobile customers such as those of Sirius Business.^[5] Additionally, Sirius is applying for repeaters in Hawaii and Alaska, the first satellite radio company to do so.

[edit] Other content

In June 2005, Sirius signed an agreement with BBC Radio 1 in the UK to rebroadcast the station to an American audience. Sirius also has exclusive satellite radio rights to National Public Radio, carrying two separate streams. The deal with NPR was the first high-profile deal entered into by Sirius.

With the launch of Sirius Canada in December 2005, American listeners gained five Canadian-produced stations including CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Three and Iceberg Radio, and Première Plus and Bande à part for French listeners. Iceberg Radio is programmed by Standard Broadcasting, which also provides a number of additional channels exclusive to Canada; the other four come from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After a delay and outcry from Canadian subscribers, Sirius Canada added Howard Stern's Channel 100 to their lineup in early 2006. Channel 101, Stern's other channel (featuring Bubba the Love Sponge, Scott Ferrall, and other personalities), were made available in late June 2006.

Talk radio content recently added onto Sirius Satellite Radio include the ABC News and Talk channel 143, including live feeds of Sean Hannity and Larry Elder's popular syndicated radio shows, Patriot Talk channel 144 (which includes Michael Reagan's well-known syndicated radio show) and Fox News Talk channel 145 (which includes syndicated radio hosts such as Alan Colmes and John Gibson).

On March 14, 2006, Sirius added Cosmopolitan Radio, Playboy Radio, and returned the audio simulcast of the Fox News Channel TV feed, which was previously removed during a contract dispute. The service also added Fox's satellite talk radio channel, Fox News Talk.

[edit] Sirius' satellites

Sirius Satellite in space, concept drawing.

Sirius’ spacecraft Radiosat 1 through Radiosat 4 were manufactured by Space Systems/Loral. The first three of the series were orbited in 2000 by Proton-K Block-DM3 launch vehicles, with the final three-satellite constellation completed on November 30, 2000. Radiosat 4 is a ground spare, in storage at SS/Loral’s facility in Palo Alto, California, ready to be launched if any of the three active satellites encounter transmission problems. The series of satellites from which they come, the SS/Loral LS-1300, is known to have problems with their solar array cells — a similar issue affects the Boeing satellites belonging to competitor XM Radio.

Sirius' satellites are named Radiosat because there is already a fleet of satellites named Sirius, launched by Sweden's NSAB (Nordiska Satellitaktiebolaget, or Nordic Satellite AB, and known today as SES SIRIUS) and used for general telecommunications and satellite television throughout Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.

The primary uplink facility for Sirius is located in Vernon, Sussex County, New Jersey.

Sirius does not as yet use geostationary satellites, though plans to expand their network in 2008 will add one. Currently, its three LS-1300 satellites fly in geosynchronous highly elliptical orbit in a 24-hour orbital period. Sirius claims the elliptical path of its satellite constellation ensures that each satellite spends about 16 hours a day over the continental United States, with at least one satellite over the country at all times. The locations of the Sirius Satellites can be viewed here: RadioSat 1, RadioSat 2, RadioSat 3.

All three satellites broadcast directly to the consumer's receiver, but due to the highly elliptical orbit only two of them broadcast at any given time. A third, separate signal is uplinked to the AMC-6 Ku-band satellite and received by 36-inch satellite dishes for the ground repeater network. This third signal is broadcast on a third segment of the signal. There is an intentional four-second delay between each segment of the signal. This enables the receiver to maintain a large buffer of the audio stream, which, along with forward error correction helps keep the audio playing in the event that the signal is temporarily lost, such as when driving under an overpass or otherwise losing line-of-sight of any of the satellites or ground repeater stations.

Sirius offers car radios and home entertainment systems, as well as car and home kits for portable use. The Sirius receiver includes two parts — the antenna module and the receiver module. The antenna module picks up signals from the ground repeaters or the satellite, amplifies the signal and filters out any interference. The signal is then passed on to the receiver module. Inside the receiver module is a chipset consisting of eight chips. The chipset converts the signals from 2.3 gigahertz (GHz) to a lower intermediate frequency. Sirius also offers an adapter that allows conventional car radios to receive satellite signals.

Sirius broadcasts using 12.5 MHz of the S band between 2320 and 2332.5 MHz. Audio channels are digitally compressed using a proprietary variant of Lucent's Perceptual audio coder compression algorithm and encrypted with a proprietary Conditional access system. Sirius has announced that they intend to implement hierarchical modulation technology to economize on bandwidth up to 25%.^[6]

On June 8, 2006, Space Systems/Loral announced that it was awarded a contract for the fifth Sirius spacecraft.^[7] The new spacecraft will feature a nine-meter unfurlable reflector. The first four Sirius spacecraft used more traditional parabolic reflectors. The new satellite has been designed for geostationary orbit, unlike the other satellites in the constellation; the different orbit has the stated purpose of allowing for more consistent reception for fixed location users (many subscribers have reported having to regularly reposition their antennae for optimal reception).

[edit] Receivers

As of 2005, Sirius receivers are available for various new Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Scion, Toyota, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Volvo vehicles, and the service plans on adding availability for portable use. Subaru offers Sirius on the Forester and Impreza. Starting in 2006, all Rolls-Royce vehicles sold in the United States come with a Sirius radio and lifetime subscription as standard equipment. Sirius has an exclusive contract for VW and Audi vehicles from 2007 through 2012, and with Kia from 2008 through 2014, with an optional extension to 2017. Beginning in the 2007 model year, Bentley vehicles will have Sirius as an option, and it will be standard equipment in several models beginning in 2008.^[8]

Sirius also makes several receivers for aftermarket installations such as the Sportster4, Starmate Replay, Sirius S50 with built in 1GB MP3 player, and the Sirius One.

Popular radios from Sirius:

Sirius Stiletto - the first portable Sirius radio that allows subscribers to listen to live Sirius programming. The Stiletto boasts a 2 gigabyte memory, which is roughly equivalent to 100 hours of recording time. The unit's batteries give the user approximately 30 hours of life. The unit also features Wi-Fi technology, which is used as a backup to stream music from the Internet when a clear signal strength is not readily available from the built-in antenna. Sirius' partnerships with Napster and Yahoo Music provide additional content for Stiletto users. The Stiletto is currently available in Circuit City, Best Buy stores and Radio Shack.

Sirius Sportster Boombox

Sportster 4 was the first radio to use the new universal dock station.
Sirius S50 - the first portable Sirius radio - which is not a LIVE portable, it has to be plugged in to a home or car dock where content can be downloaded for later listening
Sirius Starmate ST1 (note: ST1C is the Canadian version)
Sirius Starmate Replay ST2
Sirius Sportster Exec. Docking Station Package
Sirius Sportster Radio with Boombox Package
Tivoli's Sirius Table Radio
Kenwood H2EV Radio with Car and Home Kits
Clarion Calypso Sirius Radio with Car Kit
XACT XTR1 Radio with Car Kit
SiriusConnect for Pioneer SIR-PNR1 which can be modified with kit from MJS's Gadgets to provide a Serial or USB Serial interface to control the radio. Useful for building Carputer user interfaces.

Each receiver must be connected to an external antenna, which is included with the receiver. Antenna placement is crucial to receiving a clear signal. In some locations users have experienced difficulty receiving the Sirius programming because the signal is not consistently strong. For best reception, antennae should be placed such that they have an unobstructed view of the sky (preferably on rooftops without overhanging eaves or trees). If this is not an option, the antenna should be placed on an exterior wall. When placing on an exterior wall, the antenna should be mounted to a wall which faces the center of the continental United States in order to minimize the likelihood of the building itself blocking the signal.^[9]^[10]

[edit] On-line media streaming options

Yahoo! Widget

Sirius subscribers are also able to access all of the proprietary music channels and most of the talk stations, including Howard Stern's channels (Howard 100 and Howard 101) via streaming media through sirius.com.

Attractive alternatives to the browser based player are available such as a Yahoo! Widget (designed to look like a miniature Sportster model), and SIRIUS Internet Radio Player (based on Windows Media Player and available as plug-in or standalone application). Both alternatives are gaining popularity with streaming listeners, and offer artist and track name information updated in real time, which is an improvement from the online Sirius player.

Sirius subscribers who use a Linux-based operating system can use Sipie to stream on-line channels, neither Windows Media Player nor a web browser are needed.

[edit] Receiver Technology

At the heart of a Sirius receiver is a custom ASIC chip called the baseband processor, currently the STA240, which is produced by STMicroelectronics. The chip contains embedded ARM7TDMI and ARM946E-S microprocessors synthesized from IP cores. The ARM7 handles security and subscription mechanisms, while the ARM9 handles audio decoding and control functions. The firmware uses eCos for its operating system. Every baseband processor has a unique serial number (or Sirius ID), burned into it at the factory, which is an essential part of the subscription mechanism. Another major section of a Sirius receiver is the tuner. The tuner is also comprised of a custom ASIC, the STA210. The tuner connects to the antenna, and receives the incoming satellite and terrestrial signals at 2.3 GHz and downconverts them to intermediate frequency signals at around 75 MHz. The IF signals are fed to the STA240, which are digitized, demodulated, error-corrected, de-interleaved, and decrypted using specialized circuits on the chip. The baseband processor utilizes a 16 MB SDRAM memory to buffer four seconds of one of the satellite signals in order to bring it into time coincidence with the other for Maximal-ratio combining. On newer receivers that let you "pause" live radio, a dual-port PSRAM is employed to store up to 44 minutes of the selected channel. The baseband processor outputs digital audio over an I²S interface, which is fed to a D/A converter to produce the analog audio signal. The front-end of a Sirius receiver is called the head unit, required to display descriptive text (such as the category, channel, artist, and song name) and provide controls to the user. This is implemented by the third-party designers of Sirius-ready receivers, using a microprocessor of their choice. The head unit and baseband processor communicate over an RS-232 interface, speaking the Sirius Standard Protocol.

[edit] Sirius in Canada

Main article: Sirius Canada

In November 2004, a partnership between Sirius, Standard Broadcasting and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to introduce Sirius in Canada. The application was approved on June 16, 2005. The decision was appealed to the Canadian federal cabinet by a number of broadcasting, labour, and arts and culture organizations, including the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, CHUM Limited, and the National Campus and Community Radio Association. The groups objected to Sirius’ approach to and reduced levels of Canadian content and French language programming, along with the exclusion of Canadian non-commercial broadcasting. After a lengthy debate, cabinet rejected the appeals on September 9, 2005. Sirius Canada was officially launched December 1, 2005.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has reported poor reception in northern Canada.^[11]

[edit] Sirius Internet Radio

In October 2006, Sirius announced that it was launching a new service named Sirius Internet Radio that would, for the first time, offer approximately 75 of the 135 Sirius channels worldwide to people other than subscribers to its satellite radio service. Prior to this, Sirius subscribers who had a satellite radio were also able to access many of the Sirius channels via the internet, using a special password, but the service operated at 32kbps and was only available to those who purchased a satellite radio receiver. Sirius Internet Radio (SIR) is an internet-only subscription, allowing worldwide listeners to listen to the content without having to purchase a satellite radio receiver. The service also expands the number of channels that are available to Stiletto users via WiFi.