| Type | Division of Sirius XM Radio |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting – Radio |
| Founded | March 12, 2001 (as Sirius Radio) May 17, 1990 (as Satellite CD Radio, Inc.) |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
| Products | Satellite radio |
| Revenue | US$1.66 billion (FY 2008)[1] |
| Operating income | US$-5.03 billion (FY 2008)[1] |
| Net income | US$-5.31 billion (FY 2008)[1] |
| Total assets | US$7.49 billion (FY 2008)[2] |
| Total equity | US$8.54 million (FY 2008)[2] |
| Employees | 1514 (2010) |
| Parent | Sirius XM Radio |
| Website | www.siriusxm.com |
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio (SDARS) service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently 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 genres, broadcasting 24 hours daily, commercial-free, and uncensored. 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 "SR" (e.g. "SR120", "SR9", "SR17").
Its business model is to provide pay-for-service radio, analogous to the business model for premium cable television. Music channels are presented without commercials while talk channels, such as Howard Stern's Howard 100 and Howard 101 and Opie and Anthony's The Virus, do have regular commercials. At approximately 6 minutes per hour, the number of commercials are still less than the average on terrestrial radio or television. Furthermore, all channels are free from FCC content regulation, thus songs are played unedited for language, and talk programs may feature explicit content if they wish. Subscriptions are prepaid and range in price from US$12.95 monthly (US$8.99 for each additional receiver) to US$499.99 for lifetime (of the receiver equipment[3]) subscription. There is a US$15 activation fee for every radio activated. Sirius announced it had achieved its first positive cash flow quarter for the period ending December 2006.[4]
Sirius was founded in July 1990 by Martine Rothblatt as Satellite CD Radio, Inc.. In that month she also petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create a Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service in an underutilized portion of the 2300 MHz frequency band. Her vision was to adapt GPS patch antennas to a national, digital, radio service, for which she claimed in her Petition for Rulemaking that there was a large, unmet public need. Rothblatt first demonstrated the service via terrestrial emulators of a satellite to FCC officials in 1992 outside the offices of WPFW in Washington, DC. In that year her daughter was diagnosed with life-threatening pulmonary arterial hypertension, and she resigned as Chairman & CEO to focus on finding a cure for the medical condition. She selected David Margolese to succeed her, and he subsequently venture capitalized US$20 million over the next five years lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to allow satellite radio to be deployed.
In 1999, marketing chief, Ira Bahr, developed and championed the name "Sirius". Margolese was reluctant to re-name the company, but Bahr convinced him the current name "CD Radio" did not work well. Margolese wanted to use the name "Orbital" but it was unavailable, and he acceded to Bahr's name.
Sirius launched its radio service in four states on February 14, 2002, expanding service to the rest of the contiguous U.S. by July of that year.
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.
On July 29, 2008, Sirius formally completed its merger with former competitor XM Satellite Radio. The combined company began operating under the name Sirius XM Radio.[5] On November 12, 2008, Sirius and XM began broadcasting with their new, combined channel lineups.[6]
As of December 31, 2008, Sirius XM had a total of 19,003,856 subscribers.
Contents |
Sirius was founded by satellite industry veteran Martine Rothblatt in 1990 as Satellite CD Radio, but changed its name to CD Radio in 1992, and to Sirius on November 18, 1999. Rothblatt had previously co-founded the PanAmSat international satellite television system and launched the Geostar satellite navigation system. In late 1992 she resigned as Chairman & CEO to start a medical research foundation for the benefit of a daughter who was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. She selected David Margolese, a co-founder of Rogers Wireless, to succeed her. He raised and spent over US$20 million lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to allow satellite radio to be deployed. Opposition from traditional broadcasters was fierce and the process took until 1997, at which time the FCC had moved to auctions rather than awards when licensing spectrum. The company then bid $83 million to successfully purchase one of two satellite radio licenses in an auction, both of which existed within the frequency band Rothblatt proposed in her July 1990 Petition for Rulemaking to the FCC.
After Margolese had run the regulatory steeplechase and effectively created the industry, the FCC also sold a license to XM Satellite Radio, which sailed along in Sirius's wake.[7] Sirius then built and launched three satellites, constructed a coast to coast transmitter network for urban coverage, partnered with automakers to include satellite radios in their cars, and raised approximately $2 billion. This remains the largest amount of financing that a pre-operational start-up, with no proven market for its service, has ever raised. In 2001 Margolese stepped down as CEO, with Sirius issuing the following statement: "The Board warmly thanks David for his great vision, leadership and dedication in creating both Sirius and the satellite radio industry; as Chairman, we will continue to benefit from [his] strategic thinking". Joe Clayton, former CEO of Global Crossing, took the reins until Mel Karmazin, former President of Viacom, replaced him in 2004. Sirius acquired XM in 2008 and the company was re-named Sirius XM Radio.
Initially the company was truly at the forefront of technical achievements and innovation. The service availability goals, satellite configuration, were new and no prior standard allowed verification of the system. Its unprecedented satellite orbits and systems were developed by satellite industry legend, Robert Briskman. Even the studio layout and acoustics were developed from new techniques, where the audacity of glass walled studios was implemented. There was much press about initial delays, citing the company's chipset supplier as the cause, but nevertheless by Valentine's Day 2002, Sirius had put together a remarkable system, full of innovation, with excellent performance.
On February 19, 2007, Sirius announced a merger deal with XM Satellite Radio. Upon government approval, the merger combined the two radio services and created a single satellite radio network in the United States, named SIRIUS XM Radio.[8]
On March 24, 2008, the United States Justice Department approved the merger of Sirius and XM. The approval process for this merger was the longest in United States history. Approval from the Federal Communications Commission cleared on July 25, 2008.
One of the issues that the FCC has been called to resolve is the fact that, 10 years after initiating operations, both Sirius and XM have kept the United States' outlying states and territories in the dark. Rep. José E. Serrano, several members of the Outlying Areas Senate Presidents Caucus, headed by Senate of Puerto Rico President Kenneth McClintock and a resolution of the Puerto Rico Senate have called upon the FCC to require the merged company to offer service to the outlying areas of the US within a given timeframe as a condition for the merger.
As a result of Serrano and McClintock's efforts, Sirius made a written commitment in the FCC docket to offer service in Puerto Rico within three months of the merger approval. The application with the FCC for 20 additional repeaters in Puerto Rico was filed on October 27, 2008. Sirius XM was granted temporary authority for these repeaters in September 2009.
On July 25, 2008, after 17 months, the merger was approved in a 3–2 vote by the FCC. The companies voluntarily agreed to stipulations that include setting aside 8% of their channels for public interest and minority programming, 3 year price cap, as well as a A-La-Carte pricing available within 3 months of deal closure.
According to a Spring 2007 Arbitron report, the five most listened to channels on Sirius based on their Average Quarterly Hour (AQH) Share are Howard 100, Howard 101, The Highway (60), Sirius Hits 1 and Octane (37).[9]
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.[10] The deal, which gave Sirius exclusive rights to Stern’s radio show, also gave Stern the right to build three 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.
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, for example, the Eternal Word Television Network which broadcasts on channel 160.
Among the hosts who present shows heard on Sirius, there are many high-profile personalities:
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 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, But was turned back into E Street Radio again on October 5, 2007.
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 made 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 created a 24-hour NBA Radio Channel, which was located on channel 127. However, as of November 12, 2008, NBA games have switched to XM and are therefore now part of Sirius as part of the "Best of XM" package and the 24-hour NBA channel no longer airs, replaced by Sporting News Radio. NHL games were shared with XM for the 2005–2006 season, and XM now holds exclusive rights. Sirius currently has full NASCAR coverage, including, among other programs, a two hour weekly show hosted by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. In 2009, for the first time, it carried live coverage of the Le Mans 24 hour race from Radio Le Mans.
Sirius also has rights to a number of major college sports teams, including teams in the Big East, Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences as well as The University of 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 Sirius 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 has the only national Horse racing talk show, At the Races, hosted by noted racing handicapper, Steve Byk. The show which airs weekdays between 4 and 7, is unique in the horseracing world.
The Hardcore Poker Show, Wednesday night at 8 p.m. (eastern), hosted by Rob Pizzo and Chris Tessaro, is the only syndicated poker talk show in North America.
Sirius also broadcasts select Premier League matches which generally air on Saturday and Sunday Mornings during the season, but there are occasional games on weekday afternoons. Continuing their major expansion of soccer coverage, Sirius announced a deal to add UEFA Champions League soccer to their lineup on September 27, 2006. As of recently Sirius also had exclusive radio rights to broadcast the ESPN television feed of the Euro 2008 championships. . Rounding out their coverage Sirius also airs a two hour soccer talk show on Wednesday nights on channel 125 called "The Football Show" with former Metrostars GM Charlie Stillitano and former International Italian star Giorgio Chinaglia. The show also airs on Tuesday evenings after UEFA Champions League Matches. On Saturdays and Sundays during premier league season, Sirius airs Radio 606, a classic radio call in show from the UK discussing all of the days top matches.
On September 15, Chris Russo launched his own show called Mad Dog Unleashed.
As of March 2009, Major League Baseball games remain exclusive to XM Radio as a result of an arrangement dispute between MLB and Sirius XM. It is currently unclear if and when baseball games will be available to Sirius subscribers.
In August 2003, Sirius partnered with Clearwater, Florida-based Applied Media Technologies Corporation, a provider of telephone "on hold" messaging.[11] AMTC provides Sirius service in a package branded as Sirius Music for Business. For US$29.95 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 / DMX Music or Music Choice, 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. Unfortunately, the highly elliptical orbit of the Sirius satellite constellation can pose difficulties for the reliable delivery of the signal to stationary antennas in certain parts of the country. To eliminate this potential problem, Sirius launched a new geostationary satellite, FM-5, to improve service to non-mobile customers such as those of Sirius Music for Business.[12] The service can also be accessed online using Sirius' online streaming technology, allowing any business with a broadband Internet connection to overcome any potential reception issues. Additionally, Sirius is applying for repeaters in Hawaii and Alaska and has already been granted authority for 20 repeaters covering the island of Puerto Rico by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In March 2007, Sirius announced the upcoming availability of its first video service called "Backseat TV". In August 2007, the company revealed details of the first receiver, the SVC1, was originally offered exclusively through Chrysler OEM factory units. The service includes streaming video from three "family" television channels: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network Mobile. There will be a single screen (or a dual screen option in the Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan) for back seat passengers to watch while front seat passengers have the option of simultaneously listening to any normal Sirius radio channel. The service is reported to cost an additional US$6.99 per month on top of the standard Sirius subscription price.[13][14] The MSRP of the factory installed units is US$470 and the aftermarket unit has an MSRP of US$299.99. Both were made available in the fourth quarter of 2007.[15]
In June 2005, Sirius signed an agreement with BBC Radio 1 in the UK to rebroadcast the station to an American audience. In August 2011 Sirius abruptly dropped BBC Radio 1 leading to thousands of angry customers, as evidenced by the facebook groups that soon emerged.[16]
Sirius also has exclusive satellite radio rights to National Public Radio, carrying two separate streams (whereas XM's XM Public Radio channel carries only programming not produced by NPR, such as by PRI). The deal with NPR was the first high-profile deal entered into by Sirius. The Sirius NPR NOW (now available on XM) programming does not include the popular programs All Things Considered and Morning Edition.[17]
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, Énergie2, 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(since having ceased operations), including live feeds of Sean Hannity and Larry Elder's syndicated radio shows, Patriot Talk channel 144 (which includes Michael Reagan's 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 Cosmo 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.
In April 2003 Sirius launched Sirius OutQ, the first ever 24/7 talk channel designed for the LGBT audience. Personalities associated with the channel include Frank DeCaro, Michelangelo Signorile, Derek Hartley, and Romaine Patterson.
In addition to the audio programming, the Sirius broadcast stream also carries a Data Services channel that is utilized by capable receivers and graphical display hardware. Some of the data services offered are traffic speed and flow, marine weather, and fuel prices to name just a few. Examples of capable hardware are the Raymarine SR100 Satellite Weather receiver and the Alpine NVE-N872A Satellite Traffic Ready navigation system.
The Sirius signal is separated into three carriers, one each for the two satellites, and the third for the terrestrial repeater network where available. Sirius receivers decode all three 4 MHz carrier signals at once to achieve signal diversity. This is in contrast to XM which uses six carriers and decodes three 2 MHz carriers to economize on receiver power consumption and complexity at the cost of channel-changing speed. There is an intentional four-second delay between the two satellite carrier signals. 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.
A third, separate signal is uplinked to the AMC-6 Ku-band satellite and received by 36-inch (910 mm) satellite dishes for the ground repeater network. This third signal is broadcast on a third segment of the signal.
The technology for Sirius Satellite Radio receivers as well as some of the uplink equipment, and the studio encoder, originated at Bell Labs in the late 1990s and subsequent years. The studio encoder was a result of Bell Labs efforts in statistical multiplexing of perceptual audio coded signals, a cousin of the MP3 standards. The waveform design for the terrestrial and satellite signals, as well as the early prototype receivers, were implemented in a FPGA logic and tested in the field to verify the performance of the receivers. This work was contracted by Sirius to Lucent Technologies, at the time a spinoff of AT&T. Early prototypes were followed by a number of generations of ASIC custom designed chipsets, supplied at first by Agere Systems and later supplied by Agere Systems and their competitor ST microelectronics.
Three signals from three different sources (satellite, satellite, and terrestrial) are therefore combined in the receiver as radio signals, (not as audio signals). The three signals need to be combined constructively (avoiding situations where bad signals pollute good signals) in the receiver before being decoded. Heavy error correction is applied to the signals. All three signals contain the same audio content on all the channels that the receiver can receive, with the exception of one audio program waveform being transmitted ahead of the other two by approximately four seconds. With this time skew, the signals, once realigned, need to see an 8 second obstruction of overpass fade in order to lose audio content. This increases the robustness of the signal delivery in most driving conditions.
In order to recover meaningful signal and error free audio from a signal impaired by interference and fading, the receiver uses concatenated Reed-Solomon block coding and Forward Error Correction encoding and decoding (codec). This technique was proven in the early days of satellite modems in the late 1970s. Linkabit, then run by Ira Jacobs prior to his involvement with Qualcomm, offered such a codec for rack mounting in satellite earth stations. The Sirius signal uses more robust error correction on control channels than on the audio content, trading off error correction and bandwidth differently for separate categories of bits in the signal waveform.
The terrestrial carrier is a OFDM QPSK signal, cousin to WiMax and LTE, with the particular feature that more than one transmitter operates on the same frequency, forming a single frequency network. A number of transmitters can be placed around a city to create coverage that is less subject to fading than if a single transmitter were used. The satellite signal is QPSK. Both satellite and terrestrial signals have hierarchical modulation superposed on the original signal, a measure created to add bandwidth at a small expense in the satellite link budget for decoding the core audio content.
This architecture has worked remarkably well in avoiding drop out of audio signal when driving under highway overpasses, and when scintillating (very deep and frequent losses in signal strength caused by radio fading from trees) conditions exist. Since Sirius and XM separately entered the market with incompatible waveforms on the satellite, one would logically conclude that the merged company will eventually evolve the signal format again to take advantage of their size, but this is a speculative statement. The use of satellite and terrestrial combined service has been adopted by the DVB-SH standard, and companies such as ICO communications who cooperated with Alcatel-Lucent on system design and field trials. ONDAS, a Madrid based company, also adopted this pioneering system architecture.
The receiver is designed to mitigate and retain signal quality in hostile signal conditions and the relatively weak signal levels from distant satellites. Because the satellites are not all geostationary they appear and disappear over the horizon. Terrestrial signals are present only in major cities to augment the satellite signals.
Approximately five chipset versions were built by Agere and approximately 4 versions were built by STMicroelectronics after the initial prototypes, although all of the early receivers included an Agere chipset known as Northstar. This platform enjoyed the highest volume of chipsets to date, representing the bulk of total production from 2002 to 2010. As of 2010, most of the chipsets are produced by STMicroelectronics.
At the heart of a Sirius receiver is a custom application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip called the Baseband Integrated Circuit currently the STA240, which is produced by STMicroelectronics. The chip contains embedded ARM7TDMI and ARM946E-S microprocessors synthesized from IP cores. Every baseband has a unique Electronic Serial Number (or Sirius ID). Another major section of a Sirius receiver is the tuner. The tuner is also a custom ASIC, the STA210. The tuner connects to the antenna, and receives the incoming satellite and terrestrial signals at 2.315 GHz and downconverts them to intermediate frequency signals at around 75 MHz. The strength of the signals is approximately −50dBm in clear-sky conditions. 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 with a "pause" feature, a dual-port PSRAM is employed to store up to 60 minutes of the selected channel. The baseband processor outputs digital audio over a Serial Peripheral 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.
Sirius offers car radios and home entertainment systems, as well as car and home kits for portable use. The Sirius receiver includes 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%.[18]
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, antennas 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.[19][20]
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 current primary uplink facility for Sirius is located in Vernon, Sussex County, New Jersey. The original facility was located on the roof of the building housing the Sirius studios in Rockefeller Center in New York City but has since been decommissioned.
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 Space Systems/Loral’s facility in Palo Alto, California, ready to be launched if any of the three active satellites encounter transmission problems. The satellites are based on the Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform. 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.
Satellites Radiosat 1 through Radiosat 3 fly in geosynchronous highly elliptical orbit (Tundra orbit) in a 24-hour orbital period. 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 orbit allows the satellites to broadcast from directly overhead the continental United States, avoiding the problem of large buildings or objects blocking the signal and requiring a much smaller terrestrial repeater network than does sister network XM.
On June 8, 2006, Space Systems/Loral announced that it was awarded a contract for the fifth Sirius spacecraft.[21] The new spacecraft features 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 antennas for optimal reception). Radiosat 5 is in a geostationary orbit at 96 degrees west. It was launched July 9, 2009, and announced to be in service as of September 9, 2009. [1]
On February 29, 2008, the launch service provider International Launch Services (ILS) announced a contract which includes launch of the SIRIUS FM-6 satellite on a Proton Breeze M rocket. SIRIUS FM-6 is currently under construction at Space Systems/Loral. ILS anticipates the launch will take place in the fourth quarter of 2010.[22]
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 (except Corolla), 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 Motors 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.[23] Porsche switched to XM Satellite Radio on their vehicles beginning with the 2007 model year. Currently, only Toyota (including its Lexus and Scion divisions) and Subaru offer both Sirius and XM contracts.
Sirius also makes several receivers for aftermarket installations such as the Sportster4, Starmate Replay, Sirius S50 with built in 1 GB MP3 player, and the Sirius One.
Radios from Sirius:
For an additional fee, Sirius subscribers are also able to access all of the proprietary music channels and most of the talk stations via streaming media through Sirius.com. A standard 64 kbit/s and "Premium" 128 kbit/s feed are available; the latter costs an additional $12.95 fee per month.
Alternatives to the browser based player are available such as a Yahoo! Widget (designed to look like a miniature Sportster model receiver), 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.
Recently, SiriusXMStream has come available as a replacement to Usirius. It offers a server capaility to stream sirius and xm programming to game consoles and mobile phones as an alternative to the iPhone And Blackberry app.
NiceMac LLC, creator of the StarPlayr and StarLightXM product lines have created clients for Mac, PC, Windows Mobile and iPhone. The company recently merged with Jason Millard of Millard Software and plans to release uSirius StarPlayr, a Sirius XM iPhone client in 2009. [2]
CatPig Studios Inc. has also released Radium for Mac, a general-purpose internet radio player that supports XM and Sirius. In early 2010, Rogue Amoeba software released Pulsar, a standalone Sirius-XM player for Mac OSX. [3]
In addition to being available through Sirius.com, Howard Stern's website offers a Java application that streams the two Stern-themed channels. The site also states that Stern-specific video and audio clips will be made available at a later date.[26]
Sirius XM has developed a software application for use on the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch devices that allows its subscribers and users of those devices to listen to its programming. The application was released and available for download on the evening of June 17, 2009. The Sirius XM app is available at the iTunes App Store. Also integrated into the app is a "click to buy" function where if a user clicks any song title playing on Sirius XM they are given the option to be taken to the iTunes Music Store where they can purchase the track or album. Some select programming, including MLB Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, and SIRIUS NASCAR Radio are not available at this time. Due to the terms of a new contract, the Howard Stern channels were added on Tuesday, December 21.
Sirius XM has developed a streaming app for the Android Smartphone platform. This app is available free of charge in the market, and requires an additional US$2.99/mo to subscribe to. The app features all of the content available on a standard Sirius receiver.
Sirius XM has also developed an application for use on certain 3G enabled Rim BlackBerry smartphones. Much like its iPhone and iPod Touch counterpart, it features a restricted 120 channel lineup featuring most of the music channels and selected talk programming. As with the iPhone app, some select programming, including MLB Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, SIRIUS NASCAR Radio are not available on the Blackberry. Shortly after signing a new contract, Howard Stern began promoting the mobile app, and his content was added to the mobile offerings.
Blackberry smartphones currently compatible with the Sirius app:
1 If OS version is above 5.0.239
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.[27]
in September 2009, The Federal Communications Commission said "yes" to Sirius XM's request for Special Temporary Authority temporarily to operate 20 terrestrial repeaters for the satellite radio service in Puerto Rico.
The commission did so over the objections of the Puerto Rico Radio Broadcasters Association (Asociación de Radiodifusores de Puerto Rico), who said the approval in essence expands the Sirius XM footprint outside its authorized coverage area and that the satcaster would compete with terrestrial broadcasters for listeners.
After receiving communications by public officials in opposition to the broadcasters, such as Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock, in rejecting those arguments, the commission said Sirius XM's footprint already covers the island but the signal is weak and blocked by tall buildings and foliage. As for the impact on competition, the FCC said it has considered these arguments before and "declined to find that" satellite radio would harm local broadcasters.
The Sirius full terrestrial coverage is available in select sites in the cities of San Juan, Carolina, Bayamón, Cataño, Caguas and Ponce. In the rest of Puerto Rico, coverage is provided by Sirius' constellation of satellites.
In October 2006, Sirius announced that it was launching a new service named Sirius Internet Radio that offered 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 32kbit/s 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 internet subscription can also be heard on WiFi enabled internet radio such as those designed by Grace Digital. The service also expands the number of channels that are available to Sirius Stiletto 100 users via WiFi.
As of February 11, 2009, Sirius XM had $3.25 billion in total debt and had until February 17, 2009 to repay $175 million in bonds held by EchoStar. EchoStar has been buying Sirius XM's debt since an unsuccessful December 2008 takeover bid. Shares of Sirius XM had been trading for less than $1 from September 10, 2008 until February 2010.[28] The company announced in early February 2009 that it may file for bankruptcy "as early as" Tuesday, February 17, 2009.[29] On February 17, 2009, Sirius entered into an investment agreement with Liberty Media Corporation. Sirius received 550 million dollars to pay off maturing debt in exchange for 40% of its convertible preferred stock.
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