XM Satellite Radio
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| XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: XMSR) |
| Founded | 1988 (as American Mobile Radio Corporation) |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., USA |
| Key people | Gary Parsons, Chairman Nate Davis, President and CEO |
| Industry | Broadcasting - Radio |
| Products | Satellite Radio |
| Revenue | ▲US$1.14 Billion (2008) From Yahoo Finance |
| Net income | ▼-US$682.38 Million (2006) |
| Employees | 860 (2007) |
| Website | XMradio.com |
XM Satellite Radio Holdings (XM) (NASDAQ: XMSR) is one of two satellite radio (SDARS) services in the United States and Canada, along with Sirius Satellite Radio. XM provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional traffic and weather channels and 23 play-by-play sports channels. XM channels are identified by Arbitron with the label "XM" (e.g. "XM32").
The company was founded in 1988 as American Mobile Radio Corporation; satellite service was officially launched on September 25, 2001.
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[edit] Merger with Sirius Satellite Radio
On February 19, 2007, XM announced a merger deal with Sirius Satellite Radio. If approved, the merger will combine the two radio services and create a single Satellite Radio network in the United States and Canada.[1] On March 24, 2008, the United States Department of Justice announced it had closed its investigation of the merger because it "concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition."[2]
[edit] Services
While the satellite receiver radio service is its primary product, XM actually operates several audio and data services, and advertising.
[edit] Satellite radio
To receive satellite radio programming, a customer is required to purchase a receiver. Including reductions offered by rebates sales, receivers pricing varies from US$20 to $400. In some sales offers, it's even possible to get a free receiver by contracting for a service commitment.
XM Receivers come in several forms: an XM Ready home theater system or car stereo equipped with a tuner and antenna. Other options are the "plug and play" receivers, such as the Roady, Sportscaster, or SkyFi receivers. These receivers connect to car or home audio systems and typically use a docking station at each location they will be used. Also, several true portable models now exist: with built-in antennas, they can be used anywhere that the satellite signal is available. Certain models offer satellite recording, MP3 playback, and pause and rewind.
XM also offers music downloads through XM+Napster, but only for Windows users. This service is being integrated with XM Online and the new MP3 capable XM receivers, such as the Pioneer Inno or the Samsung Helix.
A subset of the XM programming can also be received on the DirecTV satellite network. To listen to XM on DirecTV, no XM subscription is required, but you must have a DirecTV subscription.
[edit] XM Radio Online
XM Radio Online, XM's internet radio product, offers many of XM's music stations and can be accessed from any Internet connected Windows or Macintosh computer. It is available free to all XM Radio subscribers, or at a US$7.99 a month to internet-only subscribers.
[edit] Weather and traffic
XM also provides data services such as weather information for pilots and weather spotters through its XM WX Satellite Weather datacasting service. This up to the minute weather information can be displayed in the cockpit of an aircraft equipped with a satellite weather receiver. Unlike weather radar, which relies on the aircraft's own equipment, the satellite service can give a pilot information about weather anywhere in the country. The downside is that the various weather streams (radar, cloud coverage, lightning, etc...) are transmitted every 5–15 minutes, meaning that the information is somewhat out-of-date by the time it is received. In-cockpit radar and lightning receivers return truly realtime information, but they can cost many thousands of dollars. Certain aircraft are also now integrating the XM radio service in to the aircraft's audio system, as well, allowing the pilot to listen to XM radio while flying.[3][4]
XM also has dedicated traffic and weather channels that cover many major metropolitan areas. These channels play a continuous loop of local weather information and detailed traffic data.
[edit] Commercial adoption and partnerships
In 2005, AirTran Airways began putting XM Satellite Radio on their aircraft, while in January 2006, JetBlue Airways added XM Radio to their aircraft. United Airlines started carrying prerecorded XM content in March 2006. Zipcar, an urban car-sharing service in the United States, initially installed XM receivers in all of their vehicles available for daily or hourly rental. However, citing uncertainty in the satellite radio market, Zipcar announced on May 1, 2007 that all XM radios would be removed from its fleet in the following months.
In 2006, the service "XM for Business" was launched on the DirecTV platform to provide 15 channels of interruption-free background music. This service replaces the Music Choice business audio service formerly offered by DirecTV. The XM for Business channels are in the upper 500s as of August 2006 and include an exclusive "Taste of Italy" channel. The channels are programmed separately from the consumer service, but share the same names, themes, and playlists. More importantly for the background music needs of business audio these channels do not feature any kind of interruption and do not feature radio hosts, imaging, or sounders.
Effective October 1, 2006, the 15 channels of interruption-free background music, formerly part of "XM for Business", were moved from satellite 101 to satellite 119 (DirecTV-7S at 119°W). Reception now requires a single 18" dish aimed at 119°W or a Phase3 oval dish with three LNBFs and a multi-satellite-capable receiver. Older, single LNB receivers may not be able to receive these stations.[citation needed]
In 2007, Air Canada began replacing its current generation of En Route radio with XM.
[edit] Company timeline
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[edit] Technology
XM provides digital programming directly from two high-powered satellites in geostationary orbit above the equator: XM Rhythm at 115° west longitude and XM Blues at 85° west longitude in addition to a network of ground-based repeaters. The combination of two satellites and a ground-based repeater network is designed to provide gap-free coverage anywhere within the continental U.S., the southern tip of Alaska, and in the southern part of Canada. The signal can also be received in the Caribbean Islands and most of Mexico (reports have stated that areas north of Acapulco are able to receive a steady signal[15]), however XM is not yet licensed for reception by paid subscribers living in these areas.
The original satellites, XM-1 ("Rock") and XM-2 ("Roll") suffer from a generic design fault on the Boeing 702 series of satellites (fogging of the solar panels), which means that their lifetimes will be shortened to approximately six years instead of the design goal of 15 years.[16][17] To compensate for this flaw, XM-3 ("Rhythm") was launched ahead of its planned schedule on February 28, 2005 and moved into XM-1's previous location of 85° WL. XM-1 was then moved to be co-located with XM-2 at 115° WL, where each satellite operated only one transponder (thus broadcasting half the bandwidth each) to conserve energy and cut the power consumption in half while XM-4 ("Blues") was readied for launch. Subsequently, XM launched ground-spare XM-4 ("Blues") ahead of schedule on October 30, 2006 into the 115° WL location to complete the satellite replacement program. On December 15, 2006 XM-1 was then powered down and drifted back to its original location at 85° WL, where it will remain as a backup to XM-3. XM-2 as well was powered down and remains as a backup to XM-4. This makes the current active satellites as XM-3 "Rhythm" and XM-4 "Blues" with two in-orbit spares.[6][18]
On June 7, 2005, Space Systems/Loral announced that it had been awarded a contract for XM-5.[19][20] XM-5 will feature two large unfurlable antennas. Sirius' Radiosat 5, also to be built by Loral, will have a similar single large antenna.
In American and Canadian metropolitan areas, XM and its Canadian Licensee known as Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR), own and operate a network of approximately 900 terrestrial repeater stations, meant to compensate for satellite signal blockage by buildings, tunnels, and bridges. In the United States XM owns and operates approximately 800 repeater sites covering 60 markets; in Canada CSR is installing approximately 80 to 100 repeaters that will be owned and operated by CSR in the 16 largest Canadian cities. The actual number of repeater sites varies as the signal is regularly tested and monitored for optimal performance. The actual number of sites in the United States has dropped from the original 1,000 installed when the service first launched in 2001. The repeaters transmit in the same frequency band as the satellites. A typical city contains 20 or more terrestrial stations. Typically the receiver owner is unaware when a terrestrial station is being used, unless he or she checks antenna information from the receiver being used. Due to a FCC filing in October 2006, the latest list of XM's US terrestrial repeater network was made available to the public.
The XM signal uses 12.5 MHz of the S band: 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz. XM has agreed to provide 128 kilobits per second of its bandwidth to OnStar Corporation for use with XM-enabled GM vehicles, regardless of whether their owners are XM subscribers. American Honda also retains the right to some of the company's bandwidth to transmit coded traffic information directly to navigation systems (known as XM Nav-Traffic) using TMC technology, as well as messages to Acura vehicles via a service known as AcuraLink.
Audio channels on XM are digitally compressed using the aacPlus (HE-AAC) codec from Coding Technologies for most channels, and the AMBE codec from Digital Voice Systems for some voice channels, including all of the Traffic and Weather channels.
The XM radio signal is broadcast on 6 separate radio carriers within the 12.5 MHz allocation. The entire content of the radio service, including both data and audio content, is represented by only two carriers. The other 4 carriers carry duplicates of the same content to achieve redundancy through signal diversity. The data on each carrier is encoded using time-delayed and error-correction schemes to enhance availability. Effectively the total radio spectrum used for content is a little over 4 MHz.[21]
Each two-carrier group broadcasts 100 8-kilobit-per-second streams. These streams are combined using a patented process to form a variable number of channels using a variety of bitrates. Bandwidth is separated into segments of 4-kilobit-per-second virtual "streams" which are combined to form audio and data "channels" of varying bitrates from 4 to 64 kilobits-per-second in the current service.[22]
XM preprocesses audio content using Neural Audio processors that are optimized for the AACplus codec, including spectral band replication (SBR). Audio is stored digitally using MPEG-1 Layer II audio technology at 384 kbit/s and is further processed by the Neural Audio processors on the way to broadcast.
XM channels XM Pops and Fine Tuning are broadcast in 5.1 surround sound audio quality. The technology, titled XM HD Surround, is a partnership between XM and Neural Audio Corporation which provides content with six discrete channels of digital full fidelity audio powered by Neural Audio technology. XM Live also broadcasts in this format for select concerts and studio performances. XM manufacturing partners such as Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., and Yamaha have introduced home audio systems capable of playing XM HD Surround powered by Neural Audio.
[edit] Controlling interest
The company's May 2004 proxy statement[23] notes that four directors are subject to director designation agreements with GM, American Honda, the chairman, and the CEO. Four additional directors are investors, and two are not affiliated with any significant stockholders.
At that time, GM owned 8.6% of the Class A common stock (a voting percentage of less than 1%) and Honda owned 13% (with a voting percentage of 3.6%).
Unless they unanimously agree otherwise, control of the company remains with the preferred shareholder and noteholders of the company, including Hughes Electronics, GM, Honda, and several private investment groups.
[edit] Clear Channel programming agreement
As part of terrestrial radio giant Clear Channel Communications' early investment into XM in 1998, the companies entered into agreements which provided for certain programming and director designation arrangements as long as Clear Channel retained the full amount of its original investment in XM. One positive consequence of this was that XM had (and still has) exclusive programming rights to all Clear Channel content, including popular national shows like Glenn Beck and Coast to Coast AM. In June 2003, Clear Channel entered into a forward sales agreement relating to its ownership of XM. During the third quarter of 2005, Clear Channel and XM arbitrated the impact of this agreement on the Operational Assistance Agreement and the Director Designation Agreement. The Arbitration Panel decided that the Operational Assistance Agreement would remain in effect, including Clear Channel's right to receive a revenue share of commercial advertising on programming it provides to XM, but declined to enforce the Director Designation Agreement. Per the original agreement, Clear Channel has the right to program 409.6 kbit/s of XM bandwidth, including forcing XM to include commercial advertising. The plans for this bandwidth included the existing four music channels (XM11 Nashville!, XM21 KISS, XM22 Mix, XM24 Sunny) existing talk channel programming (XM142 Fox Sports Radio, XM152 Extreme XM, XM165 Talk Radio), and the eventual launch of XM173 WLW, re-launch of XM161 WSIX-FM, XM154 National Lampoon Comedy Radio, XM233 ReachMD, and XM158 America's Talk. Clear Channel also controlled XM166 America Right, but through a series of show swaps, managed to rid themselves of most non-Clear Channel content and returned the channel to XM Radio. Plans to introduce new regional based talk channels, which would have featured a local 2-3 minute newscast for each area of the country, were canceled. The amount of advertising on the music channels amounts up to 4 minutes per hour, similar to the amount of advertising XM included before going commercial free. Clear Channel advertising on XM is handled by its subsidiary, Premiere Radio Networks.
Seen as a blow to XM's 100% commercial-free music channel status, XM Executive Vice President of Programming Eric Logan released a programming announcement to XM subscribers on the company's website that reiterated XM's commitment to commercial-free music while noting that XM still had the most commercial-free music and that more commercial-free music channels will be added in the near future to ensure that XM will still have more commercial-free music than competitor Sirius Satellite Radio. On April 17, 2006, XM launched US Country (XM17), Flight 26 (XM26), XM Hitlist (XM30) and Escape (XM78) to provide commercial free music in the formats of the Clear Channel programmed music channels which were going to begin airing commercials. In response, Sirius has advertised that they are the only satellite radio provider that has 100% commercial-free music channels. Both XM and Sirius air commercials on their news, talk, and sports channels.
The Clear Channel forward sales agreement with Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc is set to expire in 2008, at which time Clear Channel is expected to deliver to Bear Stearns over 8.3 million shares in XM — which is their original investment — however Clear Channel withholds the right to settle with cash. If Clear Channel settles with shares, then it would be expected at that time that Clear Channels' Operational Assistance Agreement with XM would terminate, along with any and all programming provided by Clear Channel.
[edit] XM vs RIAA
In 2006, XM Satellite Radio was sued by the RIAA over XM's new portable devices the Inno and Helix. The RIAA claims these devices are equivalent to a downloading service, whereas XM contends the devices are protected under the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act. In July, XM requested that a federal judge dismiss the case. It should be noted that XM's subscribers can only save songs they hear on the radio, and cannot request a specific song to be downloaded, or program their radios to record specific artists. XM's portable devices allow the consumer to record a portion of their broadcast much like a VCR, DVR, or cassette player would allow. The content a subscriber records is only available while the subscriber still has an active account with XM Satellite Radio. Once the account is terminated the recorded content will become inaccessible. Also, If a subscriber fails to listen to a total of 8 hours of programming a month the recorded content will not be accessible. Recorded content can only be accessed on the portable device, it can not be transferred to a home computer or separate digital music player.
The idea is not new: TimeTrax Technologies Corporation developed an application to record songs to MP3 and tag them with the artist and title information directly from the XM network. In 2005 XM attempted to thwart this practice by discontinuing the required XM PCR radio. TimeTrax responded by quickly rolling out adaptive interfaces to allow almost any XM subscriber to use their tuner to build music libraries directly from XM broadcasts. There is speculation that these fumbles by XM and its attitude towards the Time Trax technology may have been the warning shot of major troubles between the RIAA and XM.
On January 19, 2007, a district judge ruled that the RIAA could proceed with the lawsuit, rejecting XM's defense that the conduct alleged in the complaint--if proved by the RIAA--would be immune under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992.[24]
[edit] PCR and DirectPCR
At the heart of the TimeTrax controversy was the XM PCR: a computer-controlled XM Receiver. Unlike the other receivers, which could be used in the car or home stereo, the XM PCR required a computer to run. A software application on the computer acted as the radio's controls and display, which led to a flurry of third party developers, who wanted to make a PCR replacement. Many of them received Cease and Desist letters from the XM company. Once the PCR was discontinued, for the reasons listed above, people found that the XM Direct, a receiver intended to be used in satellite-ready car stereos, can be connected to a computer with a very simple adapter cable. Some people have dubbed the entire kit, with receiver, cable, and software, the Direct PCR. While the original PCR software does not control the XM Direct receiver, several community developers have continued to develop PCR replacement software.
[edit] XM in Canada
In November 2004, Canadian Satellite Radio filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to bring the XM service to Canada. Along with Sirius Canada and CHUM Subscription Radio Canada, CSR was one of three applications for national subscription radio services submitted to the CRTC.
On June 16, 2005, the CRTC approved all three applications. The decisions were 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 the satellite radio applicants' 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.
XM's Canadian channels appeared on US receivers on November 17, 2005. On November 29, 2005, XM Canada officially launched.
[edit] See also
- Boeing Satellite Systems
- List of XM Satellite Radio channels
- Sirius Satellite Radio
- WorldSpace
- XM Radio Canada
- XM Satellite Radio channel history
- XM/Sirius merger
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b PRNewswire via Sirius.com (2007-02-19). "SIRIUS and XM to Combine in $13 Billion Merger of Equals". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
- ^ Department of Justice Antitrust Division (2008-03-24). "Statement of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division on its Decision to Close its Investigation of XM Satellite Ratio Holdings Inc.'s Merger with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ The Choice is as Clear as Glass. Garmin.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ^ FlightDisplay.com (2006-10-24). "XM Satellite Weather Now Available in Business Aircraft Cabins". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ^ Business Wire via FindArticles.com (2005-12-29). "VoiceBox Technologies and XM Satellite Radio Join Forces…". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ a b XM Radio via PRNewswire (2006-12-18). "XM Completes New State-of-the-Art Satellite System With 'Rhythm' and 'Blues'". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ Bloomberg News (2007-01-18). F.C.C. Chairman Says Rules Bar Satellite Radio Merger. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.
- ^ SEC Filing 2007-02-14.
- ^ XM Radio via PRNewswire-FirstCall (2007-05-15). "XM Radio Suspends Opie & Anthony". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
- ^ Thornberry, Jacob (2007-05-22). XM Outage. Jaker's Blog. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
- ^ Musgrove, Mike. "XM Satellite Radio Hit By Temporary Outage", The Washington Post, 2007-05-22. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
- ^ XM Radio via PRNewswire-FirstCall (2007-07-24). "XM Chief Executive CEO Hugh Panero to Step Aside". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
- ^ "XM launches XM LED, the Led Zeppelin Channel". Press release.
- ^ U.S. Department of Justice via USDOJ.gov (2008-03-24). "Statement of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division on its Decision to Close its Investigation of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.'s Merger with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
- ^ XM radio in Hawaii. HawaiiThreads.com (2004-12-22). Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ Boeing 702 Satellites Solar Arrays Possibly Defective. SpaceandTech.com (2001-09-29). Retrieved on 2007-12-25.
- ^ Lai, Shu T (2005). "Charging of Mirror Surfaces in Space". Journal of Geophysical Research 110: A01204. doi:.
- ^ Satellite Space Applications Accepted for Filing (PDF). FCC.gov (2006-06-09). Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ Space Systems/Loral (2005-06-07). "Space Systems/Loral to Build Next Generation Satellite for XM Satellite Radio". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ "XM 5", Skyrocket.de. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7075946-description.html This XM patent describes the carrier allocation scheme
- ^ http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7075946-description.html XM Patent Method and apparatus for audio output combining
- ^ Schedule 14A Information. SEC.gov (2004-04-20). Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ Neumeister, Larry (2007-01-20). Suit by Record Companies Against XM Going to Trial. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
[edit] External links
Official websites
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