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"SIRIUS" redirects here. For other uses, see Sirius (disambiguation). {{Infobox_Company| company_name = Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.| company_logo = | company_type = Public company | company_slogan = The Best Radio on Radio| foundation = May 17, 1990 (as Satellite CD Radio, Inc.)], United States, [CEO
Scott Greenstein, President, Entertainment/Sports
James Meyer, President, Operations & Sales] - Radio| revenue = [United States dollar637.24 million (2006)| net_income = United States dollar1,104.87 million (2006)| homepage = www.sirius.com-->Sirius Satellite Radio 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, Tennessee, 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. 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 a tundra 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 each additional receiver) to US$499.99 for lifetime subscription. There is a US$15 activation fee for every radio activated. Sirius announced it has achieved its first positive cash flow quarter for the period ending December 2006.

Sirius was founded as Satellite CD Radio, Inc., which it was known by until the company's founder and CEO, David Margolese, along with Ira Bahr, changed the name to its current designation 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.

XM Satellite Merger On February 19, 2007, Sirius announced a merger deal with XM Satellite Radio. Upon government approval, the merger will combine the two radio services and create a single satellite radio network in the United States.

Content Channels

Programming content and Sirius Satellite RadioA 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 outlaw country.

By far the largest of these deals was announced on October 6, 2004 when Sirius announced that it signed a five-year, United States dollar100 million per year agreement with Howard Stern to move his radio show, The Howard Stern Show, to Sirius starting on January 9, 2006. 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 Federal Communications Commission whose enforcement was intensified following the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. Beginning with the announcement of his imminent departure, Stern complained CBS Radio 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, 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 chief operating officer 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.

Sports Another cornerstone of Sirius’ business strategy has been to pursue exclusive sports content. Currently, Sirius has exclusive satellite radio broadcasting rights to all National Football League, Canadian Football League and National Basketball Association 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. National Hockey League 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.

Sirius also has rights to a number of major college sports teams, including teams in the Big East Conference, Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conferences as well as schools like Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Beginning in 2005 Sirius also has exclusive radio rights to cover the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. 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 horseracing 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.

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

Business Music Service In August 2003, Sirius partnered with Clearwater, Florida-based Applied Media Technologies Corporation, a provider of telephone "on hold" messaging. 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, 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. 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 intends to launch a geostationary satellite to improve service to non-mobile customers such as those of Sirius Business. 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, the first satellite radio company to do so.

Sirius Backseat TV 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, which will be offered exclusively through Chrysler OEM factory units. The service includes streaming video from three "family" television channels: Nickelodeon (TV channel), Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. There will be a single screen 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.

Other content In June 2005, Sirius signed an agreement with BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom 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 Chaîne and Bande à part (radio) for French language 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. Howard 100 and Howard 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 (magazine) 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 of 2003 Sirius launched Sirius OutQ, the first ever 24/7 talk channel designed for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered audience. Personalities associated with the channel include Frank DeCaro, Michelangelo Signorile, Derek Hartley, and Romaine Patterson.

Sirius' satellites 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 (rocket)-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.

Sirius' satellites are named Radiosat because there is already a fleet of satellites named SIRIUS (satellite), 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, New Jersey, Sussex County, New Jersey, 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 decomissioned.

Sirius does not as yet use geostationary satellites, though plans to expand their network in 2008 will add one. Currently, its three satellites fly in geosynchronous highly elliptical orbit (Tundra 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 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 competitor XM. 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.

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 Diversity combining. 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.

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%.

On June 8, 2006, Space Systems/Loral announced that it was awarded a contract for the fifth Sirius spacecraft. 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 antennas for optimal reception).

Receivers As of 2005, Sirius receivers are available for various new Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford Motor Company, Infiniti, Jaguar Cars, Jeep, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln (automobile), Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury (automobile), BMW MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Scion, Toyota, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Volvo Cars 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 Motor Cars 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.

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.

Popular radios from Sirius:

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.

On-line media streaming options 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.

Attractive alternatives to the browser based player are available such as a Yahoo! Widgets (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.

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.

SiriusMac is a Sirius Radio streamer for Mac OS X.

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.

Sirius in 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 Cabinet of Canada 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.

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 32Kilobit per second 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 100 users via WiFi.

See also

References External links



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