Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. provides satellite radio in the United States. The company offer approximately 130 channels to its subscribers, including 69 channels of music; 54 channels of sports, news, talk, and entertainment; 11 channels of traffic and weather; and informational data services.
In 2006, the company launched SIRIUS Internet Radio (SIR), which is an internet service offering a CD-quality, Internet-only version of its service. SIR delivers a simulcast of approximately 75 channels of its talk, entertainment, sports and music programming. Its music channels are also available to certain DISH satellite television subscribers, and a select number of its music channels are available to certain subscribers to the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network.
In 2006, the company introduced a service that provides graphic information as to road closings, traffic flow and incident data to consumers with in-vehicle navigation systems and a marine weather service that provides a range of information, including sea surface temperatures, wave heights and extended forecasts, to recreational boaters.
Music Channels
The company’s music channels offer an extensive selection of music genres—from rock, pop and hip-hop to country, dance, jazz, Latin and classical. Within each genre it offers a range of formats, styles and recordings.
In 2006, the company launched Metropolitan Opera Radio, consisting of live and archived operas from the famed Metropolitan Opera in New York City; broadcasted concerts from Jimmy Buffett’s Party at The End of the World tour exclusively on its Radio Margaritaville channel; broadcasted the final performance at New York’s CBGBs Club; and broadcasted various live performances originating from its broadcast facility in Rockefeller Center.
Sports Programming
Live play-by-play sports is an important part of the company’s programming strategy. The company is the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the National Football League, with exclusive satellite radio rights to use the NFL logo and collective NFL team trademarks. It carries NFL regular season, pre-season and post-season games. It carries both the home and visiting team game broadcasts, as well as Spanish language broadcasts of select games. It also carries the Super Bowl. The company also produces and broadcasts ‘SIRIUS NFL Radio’, an exclusive channel of NFL content for its subscribers.
The company broadcasts live all NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. It has created ‘SIRIUS NASCAR Radio’, a channel of exclusive NASCAR-related programming, including Tony Stewart Live and race coverage. In addition to the live race broadcasts, the company takes fans into the cars and pits by devoting additional ‘Driver2Crew Chatter’ channels that carry the driver-to-crew communications of up to 10 different race teams during NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races.
The company is the exclusive Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NBA and carry NBA Radio, a talk channel devoted to the NBA. It transmits live play-by-play broadcasts of approximately 1,000 NBA games during each season, including the NBA playoffs and the NBA finals.
The company is also the satellite radio provider of the League’s Chelsea football club. Every Chelsea match features an exclusive pre-game show co-hosted by soccer giant Giorgio Chinaglia. Its soccer coverage also includes live matches from the UEFA Champions League.
The company carries live play-by-play coverage of college football and basketball games. Its broadcasts include football, basketball and other sports from schools in 20 NCAA Division I conferences. It also has the right to broadcast all games of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. Its sports channels include ESPN Radio, ESPN News and ESPN’s Spanish language programming, ESPN Deportes.
Talk and Entertainment Programming
The company offers 30 talk and entertainment channels for various audiences. The company has agreement with Howard Stern. Its talk radio offerings also feature talk personalities, most creating radio shows that air exclusively on SIRIUS, including Senator Bill Bradley, Deepak Chopra, Richard Simmons, Martha Stewart and Barbara Walters.
The company’s comedy channels present a range of humor on the channels Laugh Break, Blue Collar Comedy and Raw Dog Comedy and its other entertainment channels include Cosmo Radio, MAXIM Radio, Road Dog Trucking Radio, Playboy Radio and Radio Disney – all exclusively broadcast on SIRIUS. It also broadcasts the Catholic Channel which is programmed with the assistance of the Archdiocese of New York.
News and Information Programming
The company offers 25 news and information channels. These channels present a range of national, international and financial news, including news from BBC World News, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, CNN, FOX News, NPR and the World Radio Network. It offers continuous, local traffic reports for 20 metropolitan markets throughout the United States. It broadcasts these reports, together with local weather reports from The Weather Channel.
The company broadcasts national weather reports produced by The Weather Channel on its weather and emergency channel, which also alerts listeners to key information during civil and natural emergencies. In addition, the company inserts appropriate emergency announcements and broadcasts into its channels and participates in the national Emergency Alert System.
Markets
SIRIUS radios are marketed and distributed through major national and regional retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City, Crutchfield, Costco, Target and Wal-Mart.
The company has agreements with DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Mitsubishi, BMW, Volkswagen, Kia, Bentley and Rolls-Royce to offer SIRIUS radios as factory or dealer-installed equipment in their vehicles, including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Mercedes, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar, Volkswagen, Audi, Kia, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, BMW, MINI, Bentley and Rolls-Royce vehicles and Freightliner and Sterling heavy trucks. It also has relationships with Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Lexus, Scion and Subaru to offer SIRIUS radios as factory or dealer-installed equipment. In 2006, the company signed agreements with Volkswagen/Audi, Kia, Bentley and Rolls-Royce. SIRIUS radios are also offered to renters of Hertz vehicles at airport locations nationwide.
SIRIUS radios are available nationwide at various truck stops, including Travel Centers of America, Flying J, Petro, Pilot Travel Centers and Interstate Connections locations. Freightliner, Sterling, Peterbilt, Kenworth, Volvo and International offer SIRIUS radios as a factory-installed option on the trucks they manufacture. Various manufacturers of recreational vehicles, including Fleetwood, Monaco, Winnebago, National, Tiffin and Alfa Leisure, offer SIRIUS radios as a factory-installed option.
Competition
The Company's major competitors in satellite radio service include XM Radio, Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Yahoo Music, Apple, Napster, Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless. It may face competition from QUALCOMM, Modeo LLC, HiWire, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications.
History
Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 as Satellite CD Radio, Inc. and changed its name to CD Radio, Inc. in 1992. Further, it changed its name to Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. in 1999.
