Sirius Satellite Radio
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SiriusRadioMpegMan.jpg
Sirius Satellite Radio Template:Nasdaq is a satellite radio (DARS) service in the United States that provides 65 streams (channels) of music and 55 streams of sports, news and entertainment. Music streams on Sirius contain almost every type of music genre imaginable, broadcasting 24 hours a day, commercial free. With any Sirius-enabled radio, the user can see the artist and song information on display while listening to the stream. The streams are broadcast from three satellites in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit above North America.
Sirius is based in New York City. Its business model is to provide pay-for-service radio, free of commercials, analogous to the business model for cable television. Sirius competes with XM Satellite Radio. Subscription costs for Sirius range from $12.95/mo. to $499.99 for a lifetime subscription (of the receiver, not the subscriber). A $10 activation fee is also required.
Sirius' spacecraft Sirius 1 through Sirius 4 were manufactured by Space Systems/Loral. The first three of the series were orbited in 2000 by Proton-K Block-DM3 launch vehicles. Sirius 4 is a ground spare, in storage at SS/Loral's facility in Palo Alto, California.
The Sirius uplink facility is located in New Jersey.
Sirius was previously known as CD Radio. The dog in the Sirius logo is unofficially named "Mongo," a name garnished from the debut of Sirius Satellite Radio's sponsorship on Jimmy Spencer's NASCAR entry, when the announcing cast voted on names. "Mongo" later became NASCAR driver Spencer's nickname with the NASCAR Broadcasters in the following races.
On October 6, 2004 Sirius announced that it signed a five-year, $500-million agreement with shock jock Howard Stern to move his radio show to Sirius starting on January 1, 2006, much to the chagrin of his current employer Infinity Broadcasting. Stern complained repeatedly on his show that he was very dissatisfied with the excessive FCC regulation of terrestrial radio, especially when it became more intense in the wake of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl controversy.
On November 18, 2004 the former COO and President of Viacom, Mel Karmazin, was named the CEO of Sirius.
As of 2005, Sirius receivers are available for various new Ford, BMW and DaimlerChrysler vehicles, and the service plans on adding availablity for portable use.
Sirius has exclusive satellite radio broadcasting rights to all NFL, NBA and NHL games. Sirius also has full NASCAR coverage coming in 2007, and just obtained Jimmy Buffet's Radio Margaritaville.
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; an official launch date for the service has not yet been announced.
Canadian channels available on Sirius Canada will include the CBC's English and French radio networks (CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Two, La Première Chaîne, Espace musique) and new channels built from the CBC's web services CBC Radio Three and Bandeapart.
External links
- Sirius Satellite Radio (http://www.sirius.com/)
- SIRIUSBackstage.com (http://www.siriusbackstage.com/) Unofficial source for Sirius news with fan discussion online
- Digital Insurrection Sirius Radio Information (http://satelliteradio.digitalinsurrection.com/sirius_radio.php)
- Orbitcast.com (http://www.orbitcast.com/) A blog about all things Satellite Radio
- Satellite Radio Review (http://www.satelliteradioreview.com/)
- Sirius Satellite Radio Products and News (http://www.satradioweb.com/)
- The Rise of a New Behemoth: Sirius Satellite Radio (http://www.antandsons.com/therealdeal/dec04)fr:Sirius Satellite Radio