Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio logo, used since 2003
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$2.82 billion (FY 2010)[1]
Operating income	US$47.7 million (FY 2010)[1]
Net income	US$465 million (FY 2010)[1]
Total assets	US$7.38 billion (FY 2010)[2]
Total equity	US$208 million (FY 2010)[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 The Opie & Anthony Channel, 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 rename 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.

Early Days of Sirius[link]

The neutrality of the style of writing in this article is questioned. Please see the discussion on the talk page. (August 2011)

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 renamed 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.

XM Satellite merger[link]

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

Content[link]

Channels[link]

• List of Sirius Satellite Radio stations

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]

Programming content[link]

Subscriber growth for XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio

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:

• Sports figures such as seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton, sports show host Scott Ferrall, fantasy football experts John Hansen^{[disambiguation needed ]} and Adam Caplan from FantasyGuru.com, notable skateboarder Tony Hawk, skateboarder/MTV personality Bam Margera, and skateboarder Jason Ellis.
• Musicians such as Joan Jett, Keith Morris of Black Flag, the B-52's lead singer Fred Schneider, Marky Ramone of The Ramones, and New York Dolls singer David Johansen.
• Veteran deejays including: New York City DJ "Bruce Morrow", freeform radio pioneer Vin Scelsa, Richard Blade, Joe Causi and Kid Leo.
• Original MTV veejays Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn.
• Hip Hop superstars including Eminem and 50 Cent along with legends like Grandmaster Flash, Kool DJ Red Alert, Kurtis Blow and DJ Premier.
• Popular dance music artists and DJs like Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, Liquid Todd, Pete Tong, The Riddler and DJ Icey.
• Political commentators including Bill Press, Andrew Wilkow, Mike Church, Rusty Humphries, Mike Malloy, Lynn Samuels, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
• Comedians and satirists include Harry Shearer, Duane Cahill, Mojo Nixon, and Jim Breuer.
• Entertainment such as Cosmo and Maxim Radio featuring Covino and Rich.

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.

Sports[link]

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.^{[citation needed]} It is currently unclear if and when baseball games will be available to Sirius subscribers.

SIRIUS Music for Business[link]

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).

Sirius Backseat TV[link]

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]

Other content[link]

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.

Exclusive channels[link]

• The Howard Stern Show aka Howard 100 and Howard 101
• Iceberg Radio
• CBC Radio 3
• Rock Velours
• Énergie2
• Sports extra
• Hardcore Sports Radio
• Sports express
• ESPN All Access
• Radio Korea
• NPR Talk
• RCI +
• CBC Radio One
• The Weather Network Satellite Radio Service
• Sporting News Radio

Technology[link]

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.

Signal architecture and early prototypes[link]

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.

Receiver technology[link]

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]

Satellite technology[link]

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]

Future fleet[link]

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]

Receivers[link]

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:

• Sportster 5 – plug and play radio with a color screen and one hour of storage
• Sirius Stiletto 100 – 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.
• Sirius Stiletto 10 -The "feature"-lite version to the Stiletto 100. The Stiletto 10 offers all that the Stiletto 100 offers but does not offer Wi-Fi, MP3/WMA playback and only offers 256 megabytes of storage space (about 10 hours of Sirius programming). The Stiletto 10 offers Artist and Song Seek – Not featured on the Stiletto 100 or Stiletto 2. This seek function will watch for your favorite artists and songs that you want to hear and will let you know when they are playing on any other station.
• Sirius Stiletto 2 – the newest portable Sirius radio. A slimmer, improved version of the Stilleto 100. Has microSD slot behind battery for storing MP3/WMA files and playlists (not Sirius content). Wi-Fi support expanded to handle WPA and WPA2 (non-Enterprise) with passcodes.
• Sportster 3 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. The RIAA through its efforts to amend the Audio Home Recording Act and its lawsuit against XM Radio has crippled the S50 as it tried to limit the number and quality of downloads available to consumers.^[24][25]
• 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 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 to provide a Serial or USB Serial interface to control the radio.

On-line media streaming options[link]

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]

iPhone and iPod Touch application[link]

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.

Android Application[link]

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.

BlackBerry application[link]

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:

• BlackBerry Curve 8500
• BlackBerry Curve 8900
• BlackBerry Bold
• BlackBerry Storm
• BlackBerry Storm 2
• BlackBerry Tour
• BlackBerry Curve 8330¹

¹ If OS version is above 5.0.239

Sirius in Canada[link]

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]

Sirius in Puerto Rico[link]

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.

Sirius Internet Radio[link]

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.

Liberty Media Corporation investment[link]

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.

See also[link]

Electronics portal

• Applied Media Technologies Corporation – Primary distribution partner for SIRIUS commercial accounts
• Commercialization of space
• Dish Network
• WorldSpace
• Primosphere Limited Partnership, a SDARS license auction participant
• Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation, a SDARS license auction participant

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sirius Satellite Radio Official website (United States)
• Sirius Satellite Radio Official website (Canada)
• Sirius Satellite Radio Official channel guide
• Sirius Satellite Radio Blog and Fan Website
• FCC Spectrum Award [4]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

Satellite radio is an analogue or digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations. While in Europe many primarily-FM radio stations provide an additional unencrypted satellite feed, there are also subscription based digital packages of numerous channels that do not broadcast terrestrially, notably in the US. In Europe, FM radio is used by many suppliers that use a network of several local FM repeaters to broadcast a single programme to a large area, usually a whole nation. Many of those have an additional satellite signal that can be heard in many parts of the continent. In contrast, US terrestrial stations are always local and each of them has a unique programme, albeit they are sometimes interconnected for syndicated contents; but each local station still carries its own commercial and news breaks even then. This means that a national distribution of the contents of original terrestrial stations via satellite makes no real sense in the US, wherefore satellite radio is used in a different way there. History: Began broadcasting January 5, 2001 at 11:17AM Eastern, Tim McGraw was the first artist ever played on satellite radio. He gave a special welcome introduction which segued into his song "Things Change" on Sirius! Mobile services, such as Sirius, XM, and Worldspace, allow listeners to roam across an entire continent, listening to the same audio programming anywhere they go. Other services, such as Music Choice or Muzak's satellite-delivered content, require a fixed-location receiver and a dish antenna. In all cases, the antenna must have a clear view to the satellites. In areas where tall buildings, bridges, or even parking garages obscure the signal, repeaters can be placed to make the signal available to listeners.

Radio services are usually provided by commercial ventures and are subscription-based. The various services are proprietary signals, requiring specialized hardware for decoding and playback. Providers usually carry a variety of news, weather, sports, and music channels, with the music channels generally being commercial-free.

In areas with a relatively high population density, it is easier and less expensive to reach the bulk of the population with terrestrial broadcasts. Thus in the UK and some other countries, the contemporary evolution of radio services is focused on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) services or HD Radio, rather than satellite radio.

Business applications[link]

Satellite radio, particularly in the United States, has become a major provider of background music to businesses such as hotels, retail chains, and restaurants. Compared to old-line competitors such as Muzak, satellite radio's significantly lower price, commercial-free channel variety, and more reliable technology make it a very attractive option.^{[citation needed]} Both North American satellite radio providers offer business subscriptions, though given the merger of XM Satellite Radio with Sirius, the future of XM for Business is uncertain. Sirius's commercial services are provided nationally by third-party partner Applied Media Technologies Corporation^{[citation needed]}.

System design[link]

Satellite radio uses the 2.3 GHz S band in North America and generally shares the 1.4 GHz L band with local Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) stations elsewhere. It is a type of direct broadcast satellite and is strong enough that it requires no satellite dish to receive. Curvature of the earth limits the reach of the signal, but due to the high orbit of the satellites, two or three are usually sufficient to provide coverage for an entire continent.

Local repeaters similar to broadcast translator boosters enable signals to be available even if the view of the satellite is blocked, for example, by skyscrapers in a large town. Major tunnels can also have repeaters. This method also allows local programming to be transmitted such as traffic and weather in most major metropolitan areas, as of March 2004.

Each receiver has an Electronic Serial Number (ESN) Radio ID to identify it. When a unit is activated with a subscription, an authorization code is sent in the digital stream telling the receiver to allow access to the blocked channels. Most services have at least one "free to air" or "in the clear" (ITC) channel as a test. For example, Sirius uses channel 184, Sirius Weather & Emergency.

Most (if not all) of the systems in use now are proprietary, using different codecs for audio data compression, different modulation techniques, and/or different methods for encryption and conditional access.

Like other radio services, satellite radio also transmits program-associated data (PAD or metadata), with the artist and title of each song or program and possibly the name of the channel.

Satellite radio vs. other formats[link]

Satellite radio differs from AM or FM radio and digital television radio (or DTR) in the following ways. The table applies primarily to the United States.

² The sound quality with both satellite radio providers and DTR providers varies with each channel. Some channels have near CD-quality audio, and others use low-bandwidth audio suitable only for speech. Since only a certain amount of bandwidth is available within the licenses available, adding more channels means that the quality on some channels must be reduced. Both the frequency response and the dynamic range of satellite channels can be superior to most, but not all AM or FM radio stations, as most AM and FM stations clip the audio peaks to sound louder; even the worst channels are still superior to most AM radios, but a very few AM tuners are equal to or better than the best FM or satellite broadcasts when tuned to a local station, even if not capable of stereo. AM does not suffer from multipath distortion or flutter in a moving vehicle like FM, nor does it become silent as you go behind a big hill like satellite radio.

³ Some satellite radio services and DTR services act as in situ repeaters for local AM/FM stations and thus feature a high frequency of interruption.

⁴ Nonprofit stations and public radio networks such as CBC/Radio-Canada, NPR, and PRI-affiliated stations and the BBC are commercial-free. In the US, all stations are required to have periodic station identifications and public service announcements.

⁵ In the United States, the FCC regulates technical broadcast spectrum only. Program content is unregulated. However, the FCC has tried in the past to expand its reach to regulate content to satellite radio and cable television, and its options are still open to attempt such in the future. The FCC does issue licenses to both satellite radio providers (XM and Sirius) and controls who holds these licenses to broadcast.

⁶ Degree of content regulation varies by country; however, the majority of industrialized nations have regulations regarding obscene and/or objectionable content.

United States[link]

In the United States and Canada, one holding company, Sirius XM Radio, operates the two satellite radio services, after a merger (technically the acquisition of XM by Sirius) in July 2008. A monthly fee is charged for both services. As of 2005, Sirius also offered a one-time lifetime subscription fee of nearly $500 valid for the lifetime of the equipment, and there was a $70.00 USD fee for switching receivers, which could be done only three times. However, as of 2012, Sirius customer service reports that lifetime subscriptions are no longer offered. Some XM music channels have commercials, while Sirius is commercial-free. Both services have commercial-free music stations, as well as talk and news stations, some of which include commercials. XM uses fixed-location geostationary satellites in two positions, and Sirius uses three geosynchronous satellites in highly elliptical orbits passing over North and South America, to transmit the digital streams. The net difference is that the Sirius signal comes from a higher elevation angle in the northern part of the U.S. and even more so in Canada. (This higher angle makes Sirius' signal less likely to drop out on cities, but more likely to drop out in parking garages, gas stations, tunnels, and other covered spaces.)

Both services are available mainly via portable receivers in automobiles, but both have many accessories so one can listen at home through a home stereo, with a portable boombox, or online through a personal computer. Both services now have some form of receiver that is completely portable.

Satellite radio's chief asset is the fact that it is not localized: drivers can receive the same programming anywhere in the footprint of the service. A stop at any truck stop will demonstrate the popularity of Sirius XM among long-haul drivers. In addition, both XM and Sirius carry programming that is simply not feasible on commercial radio stations. Specialty stations cover things such as family talk, radio drama, classical music, and live events.

The footprint of both Sirius and XM is only the United States, Canada, and the upper third of Mexico. Although It does not cover portions of Alaska or the state of Hawaii as satellite TV does, SiriusXM has been given the green light by the FCC to expand its services into the two states in 2011, even though the date as to when it will be available in those states has yet to be announced.

Success so far[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

As of November, 2010 Sirius XM claims over 20 million subscribers.^[1] One critical factor for the success of satellite radio is the deployment of in-car receivers. Sirius XM has attempted to convince automakers to equip vehicles with their receiver. As of 2008, the following manufacturers offer satellite radio as original equipment:

Sirius has an exclusive contract for VW and Audi vehicles from 2007 through 2012^{[citation needed]}. Those brands previously offered both services. GM, Honda and Suzuki are all major investors in XM; Sirius is not offered as options in their vehicles.^[2] Bentley and Rolls-Royce come not only with receivers but lifetime subscriptions for Sirius service as well. XM is featured in select Harley-Davidson motorcycle models, while Sirius can be heard in several brands of recreational vehicles and boats.^{[citation needed]}

One of the challenges for satellite radio has been to move away from cars and into the homes of consumers.^{[citation needed]} Several portable satellite radio receivers have been made for this purpose. XM satellite radio has developed the XM2go line of "Walkman-like" portable receivers, such as the Delphi MyFi, the Pioneer AirWare and Giant International's Tao. Polk Audio makes a component-style home XM Reference Tuner^[3] and a tabletop entertainment system, the I-Sonic,^[4] with XM capability. Sirius has developed the Kenwood Portable Satellite Radio Tuner, Sirius S50, Here2Anywhere and the Sirius Stiletto 100.^[5] The Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix for XM were among the first portable receivers to offer the ability of recording live content for playback later. Thus allowing for satellite radio to compete more fully with MP3 players.

While key agreements with automobile manufacturers are still being made, both companies have made the leap away from satellite radio only in the car and into the homes of consumers. One bump in the road to becoming more widely used in the home was both Sirius and XM running into legal issues in early 2006 with the FCC about their internal FM Transmitters. This required Sirius and XM to pull several of their models off the shelf and fix the problem. The FCC was claiming that the emissions of the internal FM Transmitters were too powerful and needed to be lowered. With these changes any customer buying a new satellite radio receiver doesn't achieve nearly the broadcast distance as the old models. Since this is a key point in the ability to use a satellite radio in the home (i.e. by taking the signal received and then broadcasting it to multiple points throughout the home at the same time and avoid having to bring the satellite radio with them as they move around the home) it has led many subscribers to use an external Personal FM transmitter to replace the lower powered internal FM Transmitter. Since these external FM Transmitters are Part 15 compliant they can broadcast the signal further than the new internal FM Transmitters now included in the satellite radios and still be legal. These external FM transmitters may prevent a slow down in the progress already made into the home consumer market for Sirius and XM satellite radio.

Satellite radio technology was inducted into the Space Foundation Space Technology Hall of Fame in 2002.

Canada[link]

On November 1, 2004, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) began hearing applications for Canada's first satellite radio operations. Three applications were filed: one by Standard Broadcasting and the CBC in partnership with Sirius, one by Canadian Satellite Radio in partnership with XM, and one at the last minute by CHUM Limited and Astral Media.

The first two would use the same systems already set up for the U.S., while CHUM's application was for a subscription radio service delivered through existing terrestrial DAB transmitters rather than directly by satellite (although satellites would be used to deliver programming to the transmitters). The CHUM service was all-Canadian; the other two applications propose to offer a mix of Canadian-produced channels and existing channels from their American partner services.

A small "grey market" already existed for Sirius and XM receivers in Canada in which a Canadian would use an American address to register their receiver and setup.

On June 16, 2005, the CRTC approved all three services.^[6]

In its decision, the CRTC required the following conditions from the satellite radio licensees:

• A minimum of eight channels must be produced in Canada, and for each Canadian channel, nine foreign channels can be broadcast.
• At least 85% of the content on the Canadian-produced channels (whether musical or spoken word) must be Canadian.
• At least 25% of the Canadian channels must be French-language stations.
• At least 25% of the music aired on the Canadian channels must be new Canadian music.
• At least 25% of the music played on the Canadian channels must be from up-and-coming Canadian artists.

These conditions were an extension of the existing Canadian content rules applicable to all broadcasters in Canada. The applicants had until 13 November 2005, to notify the CRTC of their decision. Both companies managed to negotiate the standards a little to their favor, and in return, they would instead play 50% French content as opposed to 25%. Also, XM Canada succeeded in getting an extra five channels of National Hockey League Play-by-Play onto their platform, without an additional channel creation, by agreeing to cover every Canadian team's game during the season.

CHUM appealed the decision, claiming they would not survive if Sirius and XM both were allowed in the Canadian market, and that the licence conditions regarding Canadian content imposed on Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius Canada were too lax. Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius Canada countered that CHUM was simply trying to create a monopoly in the Canadian market.

In late August 2005, Heritage Minister Liza Frulla asked the federal cabinet to review the CRTC decision and possibly send it back to the CRTC for further review. Lobbyists complained that the CRTC decision did not require enough Canadian content from the broadcasters. The broadcasters responded by promising to add additional Canadian and French content.

After vigorous lobbying from both sides, the federal cabinet officially accepted the CRTC decision on September 10, 2005.

XM satellite radio was launched in Canada on November 29, 2005. Sirius followed later on December 1, 2005. Monthly subscription rates are $12.99 for XM (85 channels) with a one-time activation fee of $19.99 and $14.99 for Sirius with a one-time activation fee of $19.99 (100 channels). (All prices are in Canadian dollars.) The CHUM/Astral service never launched, and its license expired on June 16, 2007.

Following the merger of Sirius and XM in the United States in 2010, the Canadian companies did not immediately follow suit, but continued as competing providers even as their programming became increasingly integrated. They subsequently reached a merger deal, becoming Sirius XM Canada in June 2011.^[7]

Europe[link]

Eutelsat W2A satellite carrying a Solaris Mobile ([1] an Eutelsat and SES joint venture) DVB-SH S band payload was launched on 3 April 2009.

WorldSpace Europe ([2]) and ONDAS Media ([3]) will use ETSI SDR for their new networks covering Europe.

See also[link]

Radio portal

• Digital Multimedia Broadcasting
• List of United States radio networks
• Ripping music from satellite radio broadcasts
• XM/Sirius merger
• MobaHo!
• Satellite subcarrier audio

References[link]

External links[link]

• Orbitcast Satellite radio trade publication

Howard Stern
Stern at WXRK in New York City, 2000
Born	Howard Allan Stern (1954-01-12) January 12, 1954 (age 58) Jackson Heights, New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Radio personality, television host, author, actor, photographer
Years active	1975–present
Political party	Libertarian during 1994 Governor of New York campaign
Spouse	Alison Berns (1978–2001; div.) Beth Ostrosky Stern (2008–present)
Website
www.howardstern.com

Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio personality, television host, author, actor and photographer best known for his radio show which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. Stern has been exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, since 2006. The son of a former recording and radio engineer, Stern wished to pursue a career in radio at the age of five. While at Boston University he worked at the campus station WTBU before a brief stint at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts.

He developed his on-air personality when he landed positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, WCCC in Hartford and WWWW in Detroit. In 1981, he was paired with his current newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers at WWDC in Washington, D.C. Stern then moved to WNBC in New York City in 1982 to host afternoons until his firing in 1985. He re-emerged on WXRK that year, and became one of the most popular radio personalities during his 20-year tenure at the station. Stern's show is the most-fined radio program, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines to station licensees for allegedly indecent material that totaled $2.5 million. Stern has won Billboard's Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year award eight times, and is one of the highest-paid figures in radio.^[1]

Stern describes himself as the King of All Media for his ventures outside radio. Since 1987, he has hosted numerous late night television shows, pay-per-view events and home video releases. He embarked on a five-month political campaign for Governor of New York in 1994. His two books, Private Parts (1993) and Miss America (1995), spent 20 and 16 weeks respectively on The New York Times Best Seller list. The former was adapted into Private Parts (1997), a biographical comedy film that starred Stern and his radio show staff that earned $41.2 million in domestic revenue. Stern performs on its soundtrack which topped the Billboard 200 chart.

Early life and education[link]

Stern graduated from the College of Public Communications at Boston University in 1976.

Stern was born on January 12, 1954 into a Jewish family who lived in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City.^[2][3] His parents Ben and Ray (née Schiffman) are children of Austro-Hungarian immigrants, and his sister Ellen is four years older than he.^[2] The family moved to the hamlet of Roosevelt on Long Island in 1955,^[4] where Stern developed an interest in radio at five years of age.^[5] While Ray was a homemaker and later an inhalation therapist,^[6][7] Ben was a co-owner of Aura Recording, Inc., a recording studio in Manhattan where cartoons and commercials were produced.^[8] When he made occasional visits with his father, Stern witnessed actors Wally Cox, Don Adams and Larry Storch voice his favorite cartoon characters,^[9][10] which influenced him to later talk on the air rather than play records.^[11] Ben was also an engineer at WHOM, a radio station in Manhattan.^[8] On completion of sixth grade, Stern left Washington-Rose Elementary School for Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School.^[12] In June 1969, the family moved to nearby Rockville Centre and Stern transferred to South Side High School.^[13]

Stern spent the first two of four years at Boston University in the College of Basic Studies.^[14] In 1973, he started to work at WTBU, the campus radio station where he spun records, read the news, and hosted interviews.^[14] He also hosted a comedy program with three fellow students called The King Schmaltz Bagel Hour.^[15] Stern gained admission to the School of Public Communications in 1974^[16] and earned a diploma in July 1975 at the Radio Engineering Institute of Electronics in Fredericksburg, Virginia which allowed him to apply for a first class FCC radio-telephone license.^[17][18] With the license, Stern made his professional debut at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts, performing airshift, newscasting and production duties between August and December 1975.^[19] He graduated magna cum laude from Boston University in May 1976 with a degree in Communications^[3][14] and now funds a scholarship at the university.^[20]

Career[link]

Early professional radio career (1976–1981)[link]

After his graduation in 1976, Stern declined an offer to work evenings at WRNW, a progressive rock station in Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York.^[21] He was unsure of his talent, and questioned his future in the professional industry. Stern took creative and media planning roles at Benton & Bowles, a New York advertising agency, followed by a job in selling radio time to advertisers.^[22] He realized the mistake of declining on-air work and contacted WRNW a second time where he agreed to work covering shifts over the Christmas holiday period.^[19][23] Stern was hired full time in 1977 and worked a four-hour midday shift, six days per week a $96 weekly salary.^[17] He subsequently worked as the station's production and program director for an increased salary of $250.^[19][24]

In 1979, Stern spotted an advertisement for a "wild, fun morning guy" at rock station WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut.^[25] He submitted a more outrageous audition tape with Robert Klein and Cheech and Chong records mixed with flatulence routines and one-liners.^[26] Stern was hired with no change in salary with a more intense schedule. After four hours on the air he voiced and produced commercials for another four. On Saturdays, following a six-hour show, he did production work for the next three. As the station's public affairs director he also hosted a Sunday morning talk show which he favoured.^[27] In the summer of the 1979 energy crisis, Stern held a two-day boycott of Shell Oil Company which attracted media attention.^[28] Stern left WCCC a year later after he was declined a pay increase.^[29] Fred Norris, the overnight disc jockey, has been Stern's producer and writer since 1981.^[30]

Management at rock outlet WWWW in Detroit, Michigan praised Stern's audition tape in their search for a new morning man.^[31] Stern was hired for the job which he started on April 21, 1980.^[13] He learned to become more open on the air and "decided to cut down the barriers...strip down all the ego...and be totally honest", he later told Newsday.^[32] His efforts earned him a Billboard award for "Album-Oriented Rock Personality of the Year For a Major Market" and the Drake-Chenault "Top Five Talent Search" title.^[33][34] The station however, ran into problems after Stern's quarterly Arbitron ratings had decreased while it struggled to compete with its stronger rock competitors. In January 1981, WWWW switched to a country music format much to Stern's dislike, who left the station soon after.^[35] He received offers to work at WXRT in Chicago and CHUM in Toronto, but did not take them.^[34][36]

Washington and WNBC New York (1981–1985)[link]

Stern moved to Washington, D.C. to host mornings at rock station WWDC on March 2, 1981.^[37][38] He wanted to develop his show further, and looked for a co-worker with a sense of humor to riff with on news and current events.^[39] The station paired Stern with Robin Quivers, a newscaster and consumer affairs reporter from WFBR in Baltimore.^[40] Though he felt restricted and controlled by management who enforced a strict format, Stern had the second highest rated morning radio program in January 1982.^[41][42] Impressed with his ratings success, NBC approached Stern with an offer to work afternoons at WNBC in New York City. After Stern signed a five-year contract worth $1 million in March,^[43] his relationship with WWDC management worsened,^[44] and his contract with the station was terminated on June 25. He had more than tripled the station's morning ratings during his stay.^[45] In its July issue The Washingtonian named Stern the area's best disc jockey.^[46] Stern released 50 Ways to Rank Your Mother, a comedy album of his radio bits. The record was re-released as Unclean Beaver in November 1994.^[47]

On April 2, 1982, a news report by Douglas Kiker on raunch radio featuring Stern aired on NBC Magazine.^[48] The piece stimulated discussion among NBC management to withdraw Stern's contract. When he began his afternoon program in September,^[49] management closely monitored Stern, telling him to avoid talk of a sexual and religious nature.^[50] In his first month, Stern was suspended for several days for "Virgin Mary Kong", a segment featuring a video game where a group of men pursued the Virgin Mary around a singles bar in Jerusalem.^[48] An attorney was hired to man a "dump button", and cut Stern off the microphone should potentially offensive areas be discussed. This became the task of program director Kevin Metheny, who Stern nicknamed "Pig Virus".^[48] On May 21, 1984, Stern made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, launching him into the national spotlight.^[13] A year later he claimed the highest ratings at WNBC in four years with a 5.7% market share.^[51]

On September 30, 1985, Stern and Quivers were fired for what management termed "conceptual differences" regarding the show.^[52] "Over the course of time, we made a very conscious effort to make Stern aware that certain elements of the program should be changed...I don't think it's appropriate to say what those specifics were",^[53] said program director John Hayes, who Stern nicknamed "The Incubus". In 1992, Stern believed Thornton Bradshaw, chairman of WNBC's owner RCA, heard his "Bestiality Dial-a-Date" segment and ordered his firing.^[50] Stern and Quivers kept in touch with their audience throughout October and November where they toured club venues with a stage show.^[52]

K-Rock, early television endeavors and Fartman (1985–1992)[link]

Stern signed a contract with Infinity Broadcasting worth around $500,000^[54] and returned to afternoons on its New York rock station WXRK on November 18, 1985.^[52] The show moved to mornings on February 18, 1986 and entered national syndication on August 18 when WYSP in Philadelphia first simulcast the program.^[52] In October 1992, Stern became the first to have the number one morning radio show in New York and Los Angeles simultaneously.^[55] In the New York market The Howard Stern Show was the highest-rated morning program for seven consecutive years between 1994 and 2001.^[56] In 1994, Billboard magazine added the "Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year" category to its annual radio awards based on entertainment value, creativity and ratings success.^[57] Stern was awarded the title from 1994 to 2002.^[58][59]

In May 1987, Stern recorded five television pilots for Fox when the network planned to replace The Late Show hosted by Joan Rivers.^[60] The series was never picked up; one executive having described the show as "poorly produced", "in poor taste" and "boring".^[61] Stern hosted his first pay-per-view event on February 27, 1988 named Howard Stern's Negligeé and Underpants Party.^[52] Over 60,000 homes purchased the two-hour special that grossed $1.2 million.^[62] On September 7, 1989, over 16,000 fans packed out Nassau Coliseum for Howard Stern's U.S. Open Sores, a live event that featured a tennis match between Stern and his radio show producer, Gary Dell'Abate.^[52] Both events were released for home video. From 1990 to 1992, Stern was the host of The Howard Stern Show, a Saturday night program on WWOR-TV. The series ran for 69 episodes to 65 markets nationwide.^[63] In February 1991, Stern released Crucified by the FCC, a collection of censored radio segments following the first fine issued to Infinity by the FCC over alleged indecency.^[64] He released a third video tape, Butt Bongo Fiesta, in October 1992 that sold 260,000 copies for a gross of over $10 million.^[64][65] He returned to Saturday night television that November with The Howard Stern "Interview", a one-on-one celebrity interview series on E!.^{[citation needed]}

Stern appeared at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards as Fartman, a fictional superhero that first appeared in the National Lampoon humor magazine series. According to the trademark he filed for the character that October, he first used Fartman in July 1981.^[66] Stern rejected multiple scripts for a proposed summer 1993 release of The Adventures of Fartman until a verbal agreement was reached with New Line Cinema.^[67] Screenwriter J. F. Lawton had prepared a script before relations soured over the film's rating, content and merchandising rights and the project was abandoned.^[68][69]

[edit] Private Parts, E! show and run for Governor (1993–1994)

In 1993, Stern signed a $1 million advance contract with Simon & Schuster to publish his first book.^[70] Co-authored with Larry Sloman and edited by Judith Regan, the release of Private Parts on October 7 saw its first printing of 225,000 copies being sold within hours of going on sale. It became the fastest-selling title in the history of Schuster after five days.^[71] In its eighth printing two weeks later, over one million copies had been distributed.^[65][70] Stern embarked on a book signing tour that attracted an estimated 10,000 fans at a Barnes & Noble store on Fifth Avenue in New York.^[70] In its first run, Private Parts spent 20 weeks on The New York Times Best-Seller list.^[72] Stern has written forewords for Steal This Dream (1998), a biography of Abbie Hoffman, Disgustingly Dirty Joke Book (1998) by Jackie Martling, Too Fat to Fish (2008) by Artie Lange, and Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons: Tales of Redemption from an Irish Mailbox (2010) by Greg Fitzsimmons.

Stern hosted his second pay-per-view event, The Miss Howard Stern New Year's Eve Pageant, on December 31, 1993. It broke the subscriber record for a non-sports event previously held by a New Kids on the Block concert in 1990.^[65] Around 400,000 households purchased the event that grossed an estimated $16 million.^[73] Stern released the program on VHS in early 1994 as Howard Stern's New Year's Rotten Eve 1994. Between his book royalties and pay-per-view profits, Stern's earnings in the latter months of 1993 totalled around $7.5 million.^[74] In its 20th anniversary issue in 1993, Radio & Records named Stern the most influential air personality of the past two decades.^[75]

On March 21, 1994, Stern announced his candidacy for Governor of New York under the Libertarian Party ticket, challenging Mario Cuomo for re-election.^[76] He planned to reinstate the death penalty, stagger highway tolls to improve traffic flow, and limit road work to night hours.^[77] At the party's nomination convention in Albany on April 23, Stern won the required two-thirds majority on the first ballot, receiving 287 of the 381 votes cast (75.33%). James Ostrowski finished second with 34 votes (8.92%).^[78] To place his name on the November ballot, Stern was obliged to state his home address and to complete a financial disclosure form under the Ethics in Government Act of 1987. After declining to disclose his financial information, Stern was denied an injunction on August 2.^[79] He withdrew his candidacy two days later. Cuomo was defeated in the gubernatorial election on November 8 by George Pataki, who Stern backed. Pataki signed "The Howard Stern Bill" that limited construction on state roads to night hours in New York and Long Island, in 1995.^[80]