“ sirius ” redirects here. For other uses, see Sirius ( disambiguation )
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio receiver ( SDARS ) and on-line radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002. It now provides 69 streams ( channels ) of music and 65 streams of sports, news, and entertainment to its subscribers. music stream on Sirius carry a wide kind of genres, broadcasting 24 hours daily, commercial-free, and uncensored. A subset of Sirius music channels is included as character of the Dish Network satellite television service. Sirius channels are identified by Nielsen Audio with the tag “ SR ” ( e.g. “ SR120 ”, “ SR9 ”, “ SR17 ” ). Its commercial enterprise model is to provide pay-for-service radio, analogous to the business exemplary for bounty cable television. music channels are presented without advertise, while its talk channels, such as Howard Stern ‘s Howard 100 and Howard 101 and Jason Ellis ‘ Faction talk 103, carry commercials. Because all channels are free from FCC contented regulation, songs are played unedited for language ; talk programs may besides feature denotative content if they wish. Subscriptions are prepaid and range in price from US $ 14.99 monthly ( US $ 9.99 for each extra receiver ) to US $ 699.99 for life ( of the recipient equipment [ 1 ] ). There is a US $ 15 activation fee for every radio activated. Sirius announced it had achieved its first positivist cash flow quarter for the period ending December 2006. [ 2 ] Sirius launched its radio receiver service in four states on February 14, 2002, expanding service to the respite of the adjacent 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 exploiter name and password. On July 29, 2008, Sirius formally completed its fusion with former rival XM Satellite Radio. The compound company began operating under the list Sirius XM Satellite Radio. [ 3 ] On November 12, 2008, Sirius and XM began broadcasting with their new, combined channel batting order. [ 4 ] On January 13, 2011, Sirius Satellite Radio was dissolved as a discriminate entity and merged into Sirius XM Radio, Inc. [ 5 ]
Contents
early days of Sirius.
Sirius was founded by Martine Rothblatt, who served as the new company ‘s Chairman of the Board. [ 6 ] Co-founder David Margolese served as Chief Executive Officer and Robert Briskman served as President and Chief Operating Officer. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] In 1990, Rothblatt founded Satellite CD Radio, Inc. in Washington, DC. [ 6 ] [ 10 ] The company was the first gear to petition the FCC to assign idle frequencies for satellite radio broadcast, which “ provoked a furor among owners of both large and small [ planetary ] radio receiver stations. ” [ 10 ] Rothblatt had previously helped create the PanAmSat external satellite television receiver system, [ 11 ] and helped launch and served as CEO of the Geostar satellite seafaring system. [ 6 ] [ 12 ] In April 1992, she resigned as chair and CEO of Sirius in order to start a medical inquiry foundation, focused on finding a cure for her daughter ‘s illness. [ 6 ] Former NASA engineer Robert Briskman, who designed the company ‘s satellite technology, was then appointed Chairman and CEO. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] Six months late, in November 1992, Rogers Wireless co-founder David Margolese, who had provided fiscal second for the venture, acquired control of the company and succeeded Briskman. Margolese renamed the company compact disk Radio, and spent the future five years lobbying the FCC to allow satellite radio to be deployed, and the comply five years raising $ 1.6 billion, which was used to build and launch three satellites into egg-shaped eye socket from Kazakhstan in July 2000. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] [ 17 ] The caller successfully bid $ 83.3 million to purchase their satellite radio license. [ 18 ] In 1997, after Margolese had obtained regulative clearance and “ efficaciously created the diligence, ” the FCC besides sold a license to XM Satellite Radio, which followed Sirius ‘s model. [ 19 ] In November 1999, Marketing foreman Ira Bahr convinced Margolese to again change the name of the caller, this time to Sirius Satellite Radio, in ordain to avoid association with the soon-to-be-outdated CD engineering. [ 8 ] It had secured installation deals with automakers including Chrysler, Ford and BMW. [ 17 ] Sirius launched the initial phase of its servicing in four cities, with the first telephone receiver sold at Cowboy Maloney ‘s in Jackson, MS [ 20 ] on February 14, 2002, [ 21 ] expanding to the lie of the conterminous United States on July 1, 2002. [ 22 ] In 2001 Margolese stepped down vitamin a CEO, remaining as president until November 2003, with Sirius issuing a statement thanking him “ for his capital vision, leadership and dedication in creating both Sirius and the satellite radio diligence. ” [ 23 ] The first base confirmed music transmission from satellite to radio recipient for Sirius was September 1, 2000 in NYC at the current HQ of SiriusXM. Ten employees were present during the beginning music transmission. One being current Lawrence J. Simon Current VP Business and Ground Ops ( Former B2B board member for NASCAR, Director of lab for Lockheed Martin and Grumman ), Paul De Lia, Current Senior Advisor for BCG ( Former CTO for L3-Harris ). Joe Clayton, early CEO of Global Crossing, followed as CEO from November 2001 until November 2004. He remained chair until July 2008. [ 24 ] Mel Karmazin, erstwhile president of Viacom, became CEO in November 2004 and remained in that position through the amalgamation in December 2012. [ 25 ] [ 26 ]
fusion with XM Satellite Radio and company restructure.
On February 19, 2007, Sirius announced a fusion deal with rival XM Satellite Radio. [ 27 ] If the pending fusion received government approval, which was required because of antimonopoly considerations, it would combine the two services into a one satellite radio network in the United States and would be named Sirius/XM Radio. [ 28 ] On March 24, 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice approved the fusion of Sirius and XM. [ 29 ] Approval from the FCC cleared on July 25, 2008. [ 30 ] Conditions of the amalgamation included allowing any third-party company to make satellite radio receiver devices ; producing newly radios that can receive both XM and Sirius channels within one year ; allowing consumers to choose which channels they would like to have ; freezing subscription rates for three years ; setting aside 8 % of its channels for noncommercial programmers ; and paying $ 19.7 million in fines for past rule violations. [ 30 ]
content.
Channels.
According to a spring 2007 Arbitron report, the five channels most listened to on Sirius based on their average quarterly Hour ( AQH ) Share were Howard 100, Howard 101, The Highway ( 56 ), Sirius Hits 1, and Octane ( 37 ). [ 31 ]
Howard Stern.
On October 6, 2004, Sirius announced that it had signed a five-year, US $ 100 million per year agreement with Howard Stern to move his radio receiver show, The Howard Stern Show, to Sirius starting on January 9, 2006. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] Stern said his move was forced by the rigorous regulations of the FCC whose enforcement was intensified following the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. In the aftermath of the announcement of his pending passing, Stern complained that Infinity Broadcasting was making his deviation more acrimonious than was necessity. The softwood, which gave Sirius exclusive rights to Stern ‘s radio receiver show, besides gave Stern the right to build three full-time scheduling channels. His hearing had grown about tenfold by the end of his second year on Sirius, from fewer than 700,000 subscribers to 6 million ( see graph on the justly ). Stern now has two channels operating on Sirius, but still retains the correct to a third base .
Programming content.
Sirius/XM ‘s channels carried an array of programming that cover Music, News/Talk, Sports, and Entertainment. Sirius had deals with entertainers and personalities for broadcast streams. Besides Stern, Sirius had deals with Martha Stewart, [ 34 ] E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt, [ 35 ] Jimmy Buffett, [ 36 ] and Eminem [ 37 ] to executive-produce streams or channels on Sirius. Van Zandt created two stations for Sirius : the Underground Garage, dedicated to garage rock ‘n’ roll, and Outlaw Country with its stress on alternative country music. [ 35 ] The majority of the party ‘s scheduling was self-generated entirely for Sirius. however, there were some shows—especially in the spill the beans genre—that were originally created for planetary radio, but then aired on conventional radio and on Sirius/XM simultaneously ; one case was the Eternal Word Television Network. Among the hosts with Sirius/XM shows were :
Sports.
Sirius besides broadcast sports contentedness. It had single satellite radio broadcast rights to all NFL, CFL and NBA games. In December 2005, Sirius announced a multi-year hand with the NBA. [ 38 ] The agreement besides created a 24-hour NBA Radio Channel. [ 38 ] Sirius aired Full Court Press, an all-NBA appearance. On November 12, 2008, NBA games switched to XM and were replaced by Sporting News Radio. NHL games were shared with XM for the 2005–2006 season, and in 2007 Sirius/XM gained single rights to NHL games. Sirius besides had full NASCAR coverage, including a weekly read hosted by now-retired driver Tony Stewart. In 2009, Sirius/XM was the inaugural to carry exist coverage of the 24-hour road slipstream from Le Mans. Sirius/XM besides had the rights to a number of major college sports teams, including teams in the Big East, Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences, a well as The University of Notre Dame. Beginning in 2005, Sirius besides had 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 pour for covering the NFL. Sirius besides had the entirely home Horse racing lecture show, At the Races, hosted by note racing odds-maker, Steve Byk. The Hardcore Poker Show, hosted by Rob Pizzo and Chris Tessaro, was the entirely syndicated poker lecture express in North America. Sirius besides broadcast choice Premier League matches. On September 27, 2006 Sirius announced a share to add UEFA Champions League soccer to their lineup. Sirius had exclusive radio rights to broadcast the ESPN television feed of the Euro 2008 championships. Sirius besides aired a soccer talk usher called “ The Football Show ” with former Metrostars GM Charlie Stillitano and early International Italian leading Giorgio Chinaglia. On Saturdays and Sundays during premier league season, Sirius aired Radio 606, a classical radio call-in display from the UK discussing all of the days exceed matches. On September 15, 2008, Chris Russo launched his own show called Mad Dog Unleashed. After the amalgamation between Sirius and XM was completed, Major League Baseball games remained exclusive to XM Radio as a consequence of an musical arrangement dispute between MLB and Sirius XM, which prevented Sirius subscribers from listening to games. [ citation needed ] however, on August 19, 2013, Sirius XM reached an agreement with MLB allowing all customers with both Sirius and XM receivers to hear the games with a premium subscription. [ 39 ]
SiriusXM for Business.
In August 2003, Sirius partnered with Clearwater, Florida -based Applied Media Technologies Corporation, a provider of call “ on clasp ” messaging. [ 40 ] AMTC provides Sirius service in a package branded as Sirius Music for Business. For US $ 29.95 per calendar month, AMTC provides all of Sirius ‘ streams of commercial-free music, and pays all operation 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 SiriusXM for Business service uses the same channels and SDARS manner of speaking platform as the consumer Sirius service. The SDARS manner of speaking platform, on the early hand, is more reliable than any of the other services in that it is not subjugate to satellite smasher rain fade. The highly elliptic sphere of the Sirius satellite configuration can pose difficulties for the authentic delivery of the bespeak 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 SiriusXM for Business. [ 41 ] The serve can besides be accessed on-line using Sirius ‘ on-line streaming technology, allowing any business with a broadband Internet connection to overcome any potential reception issues. additionally, Sirius applied for repeaters in Hawaii and Alaska and has already been granted assurance for 20 repeaters covering the island of Puerto Rico by the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) .
Sirius Backseat television.
In March 2007, Sirius announced the handiness of its first television service called “ Backseat television receiver ”. In August 2007, the party revealed details of the first receiver, the SCV1, was in the first place offered entirely through Chrysler OEM factory units. The service includes streaming video from three “ family ” television receiver channels : Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network Mobile. There is a single screen ( or a double screen option in the Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan ) for back seat passengers to watch while front seat passengers have the choice of simultaneously listening to any normal Sirius radio distribution channel. The serve is reported to cost an extra US $ 6.99 per month on top of the standard Sirius subscription price. [ 42 ] [ 43 ] The MSRP of the factory installed units is US $ 470 and the aftermarket unit of measurement has an MSRP of US $ 299.99. Both were made available in the fourthly quarter of 2007. [ 44 ] As of 1 January 2016 the service has been discontinued .
other content.
In June 2005, Sirius signed an agreement with BBC Radio 1 in the UK to rebroadcast the place to an american audience. [ 45 ] In August 2011, Sirius dropped BBC Radio 1, [ 46 ] but a week belated they announced that the duct would return on-line. [ 47 ] Sirius besides had exclusive satellite radio rights to National Public Radio, carrying two separate streams. The Sirius NPR NOW programming did n’t include the popular programs All Things Considered and Morning Edition. [ 48 ] 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 besides provides a act of extra channels exclusive to Canada ; the other four do from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After a delay and exclaim from canadian subscribers, Sirius Canada added Howard Stern ‘s Channel 100 to their lineup in early 2006. Channel 101, Stern ‘s other groove ( featuring Bubba the Love Sponge, Scott Ferrall, and early personalities ), were made available in late June 2006. lecture 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 syndicate radio receiver shows, Patriot Talk channel 125 ( which includes Michael Reagan ‘s syndicate radio receiver prove ) and Fox News Talk channel 145 ( which includes syndicate 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 television fertilize, which was previously removed during a contract challenge. The service besides added Fox ‘s satellite talk radio channel, Fox News Talk. In April 2003, Sirius launched Sirius OutQ, the first-ever 24/7 talk impart designed for the LGBT hearing. [ 49 ] Personalities associated with the channel include Frank DeCaro, Michelangelo Signorile, Derek Hartley, and Romaine Patterson. In addition to the sound recording programming, the Sirius broadcast flow besides carries a Data Services transmit that is utilized by able receivers and graphic display hardware. Some of the data services offered are traffic rush and menstruation, marine weather, and fuel prices to name just a few. Examples of adequate to hardware are the Raymarine SR100 Satellite Weather liquidator and the Alpine NVE-N872A Satellite Traffic Ready seafaring system .
single channels.
technology.
The Sirius bespeak is separated into three carriers, one each for the two satellites, and the third for the planetary repeater net 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 liquidator exponent consumption and complexity at the cost of channel-changing speed. There is an designed four-second delay between the two satellite carrier signals. This enables the liquidator to maintain a big buffer of the audio pour, which, along with forward error correction, helps keep the sound recording bring in the event that the bespeak is temporarily lost, such as when driving under an overpass or otherwise miss line-of-sight of any of the satellites or ground repeating firearm stations. A third, offprint bespeak is uplinked to the AMC-6 Ku-band satellite and received by 36-inch ( 910 millimeter ) satellite dishes for the labor repeater net. This third sign is broadcast on a one-third section of the signal .
sign architecture and early prototypes.
The technology for Sirius Satellite Radio receivers deoxyadenosine monophosphate 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 consequence of Bell Labs ‘ efforts in statistical multiplexing of perceptual audio coded signals, a cousin of the MP3 standards. The wave form design for the tellurian and satellite signals, american samoa well as the early prototype receivers, were implemented in an 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 late supplied by Agere Systems and their rival STMicroelectronics. Three signals from three different sources ( satellite, satellite, and tellurian ) are consequently combined in the telephone receiver as radio signals, ( not as sound recording signals ). The three signals need to be combined constructively ( avoiding situations where bad signals pollute commodity signals ) in the receiver before being decoded. Heavy error correction is applied to the signals. All three signals contain the like audio contented on all the channels that the liquidator can receive, with the exception of one audio program wave form 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 evanesce in regulate to lose sound recording content. This increases the robustness of the signal manner of speaking in most drive conditions. In order to recover meaningful bespeak and error-free audio from a signal impaired by hindrance and fade, the receiver uses concatenated Reed-Solomon obstruct code 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 Irwin Jacobs anterior to his participation with Qualcomm, offered such a codec for rack mount in satellite earth stations. The Sirius signal uses more robust error correction on control condition channels than on the audio contentedness, trading off error correction and bandwidth differently for distinguish categories of bits in the bespeak wave form. The planetary carrier is an OFDM QPSK signal, and cousin to WiMax and LTE, with the especial feature that more than one sender operates on the same frequency, forming a single frequency network. A numeral of transmitters can be placed around a city to create coverage that is less submit to fading than if a single transmitter were used. The satellite signal is QPSK. Both satellite and planetary signals have hierarchical modulation superposed on the original signal, a bill created to add bandwidth at a little expense in the satellite link budget for decoding the kernel sound recording content. This architecture has worked signally good in avoiding flatten out of sound recording signal when driving under highway overpasses, and when scintillating ( very deep and frequent losses in sign persuasiveness caused by radio languish from trees ) conditions exist. Since Sirius and XM individually entered the marketplace with incompatible waveforms on the satellite, one would logically conclude that the merged company will finally evolve the signal format again to take advantage of their size, but this is a inquisitive statement. The use of a satellite and planetary combined avail has been adopted by the DVB-SH standard, and companies such as ICO communications who cooperated with Alcatel-Lucent on system invention and field trials. ONDAS, a Madrid-based company, besides adopted this pioneer system architecture .
Receiver engineering.
The receiver is designed to mitigate and retain bespeak quality in hostile signal conditions and the relatively weak bespeak levels from distant satellites. Because the satellites are not all geostationary they appear and disappear over the horizon. terrestrial signals are confront only in major cities to augment the satellite signals.
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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 chopine enjoyed the highest volume of chipsets to date, representing the majority of entire production from 2002 to 2010. As of 2010, most of the chipsets are produced by STMicroelectronics. At the heart of a Sirius recipient is a custom application-specific integrated tour ( ASIC ) chip called the Baseband Integrated Circuit presently the STA240, which is produced by STMicroelectronics. The chip contains embedded ARM7TDMI and ARM946E-S microprocessors synthesized from IP cores. Every baseband has a singular Electronic Serial Number ( or Sirius ID ). Another major part of a Sirius recipient is the radio receiver. The tuner is besides a custom-made 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 intensity 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 speciate circuits on the chip. The baseband processor utilizes a 16MB SDRAM memory to buffer four seconds of one of the satellite signals in order to bring it into time concurrence with the early for Maximal-ratio blend. On newer receivers with a “ hesitate ” feature of speech, a dual-port PSRAM is employed to store up to 60 minutes of the selected channel. The baseband central processing unit outputs digital audio over a serial Peripheral Interface, which is fed to a D/A converter to produce the analogue sound recording 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 drug user. This is implemented by the third-party designers of Sirius-ready receivers, using a microprocessor of their option. Sirius offers car radios and home entertainment systems, vitamin a well as car and base kits for portable practice. The Sirius receiver includes the antenna module and the recipient module. The antenna module picks up signals from the earth repeaters or the satellite, amplifies the sign and filters out any interference. The signal is then passed on to the liquidator module. Inside the recipient module is a chipset consist of eight chips. The chipset converts the signals from 2.3 gigahertz ( GHz ) to a lower average frequency. Sirius besides offers an arranger 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 proprietorship form of Lucent ‘s Perceptual Audio Coder compression algorithm and encrypted with a proprietorship conditional access system. Sirius has announced that they intend to implement hierarchical modulation technology to economize on bandwidth up to 25 %. [ 50 ] Each receiver must be connected to an external antenna, which is included with the recipient. Antenna placement is crucial to receiving a open signal. In some locations users have experienced difficulty receiving the Sirius program because the sign is not systematically potent. For the best reception, antenna should be placed such that they have an unobstructed scene of the flip ( preferably on rooftops without overhanging eaves or trees ). If this is not an choice, the antenna should be placed on an exterior wall. When placing on an outside wall, the antenna should be mounted to a wall which faces the southerly continental United States in order to minimize the likelihood of the build up itself blocking the sign. [ 51 ] [ 52 ]
Volkswagen ‘s RNS-510 radio receiver offers SiriusXM Radio with place logos a well as TravelLink .
Satellite engineering.
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 nowadays as SES Sirius ) and used for general telecommunication and satellite television throughout Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia. The current primary uplink facility for Sirius, which was once used as the uplink locate for Western Union ‘s Westar fleet of communication satellites from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, is located in Glenwood, New Jersey. The original adeptness was located on the roof of the build house 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 base three of the series were orbited in 2000 by Proton K Block-DM3 launch vehicles, with the concluding three-satellite configuration completed on November 30, 2000. Radiosat 4, built as a ground spare for the now-decommissioned egg-shaped mission, was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution ‘s National Air and Space Museum in October 2012. [ 53 ] It is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The satellites are based on the Space Systems/Loral 1300 chopine. Before the egg-shaped satellites were decommissioned, all three satellites broadcast directly to the consumer ‘s receiver, but due to the highly egg-shaped orbit entirely two of them broadcast at any given time. Today the satellites are located in the southern sky in the United States. Satellites Radiosat 1 through Radiosat 3, now decommissioned, fly in geosynchronous ( not geostationary ) Tundra orbits. Like the geostationary orb, the tundra orb has a period of 23 hours, 56 minutes ( one sidereal day ). Unlike the geostationary orbit, the tundra scope is egg-shaped, not circular, and is inclined with deference to the equator rather than orbiting directly over it. The bizarre orbit ensures that each satellite spends about 16 hours of each day high over the continental United States. At least one satellite is constantly visible, with another much visible arsenic well. The sphere ‘s gamey inclination places apogee just west of Hudson Bay in Canada, providing a much higher elevation angle for most of the country than is possible from a geostationary orbit. This was intended to reduce blockage from tall buildings in urban areas, allowing a a lot smaller sublunar repeating firearm network than does sister network XM, which uses geostationary orbits. This system has since been decommissioned in favor of newer geostationary satellites located at 96.0° and 116.15° that subscribe both the Sirius and XM platforms. On June 8, 2006, Space Systems/Loral announced that it was awarded a contract for the fifth Sirius spacecraft. [ 54 ] The fresh 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 scope, unlike the other satellites in the configuration ; the different sphere has the stated determination of allowing for more reproducible reception for fixed placement users ( many subscribers have reported having to regularly reposition their antennas for optimum reception ). Radiosat 5 ( FM-5 ) is in a geostationary orbit at 96.0° West. It was launched June 30, 2009, and announced to be in military service as of September 9, 2009. [ 55 ] On October 14, 2010, the XM-5 satellite was launched aboard an International plunge Services ( ILS ) Proton vehicle. It was placed into a geostationary orbit at 85.2° West to serve the easterly half of the United States. It is named XM-5 because it serves as an in-orbit fifth wheel that can replace both the Sirius Radiosat satellites and the XM satellites. The satellite was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral and was in full functional on December 3, 2010. [ 56 ] On February 29, 2008, the launching service supplier International Launch Services ( ILS ) announced a narrow which includes a launch of the SIRIUS FM-6 satellite on a Proton Briz M launch vehicle. [ 57 ] The establish planned for March 6, 2012, was canceled ascribable to concerns with a blueprint blemish in the solar dialog box deployment. [ 58 ] The Radiosat 6 ( FM-6 ) satellite was launched on October 25, 2013, and was put in a geostationary sphere at 116.15° West which services the western one-half of the United States. [ 59 ]
Satellites.
- Sirius FM-1 (Radiosat 1). Launch occurred on 30 June 2000.
- Sirius FM-2 (Radiosat 2). Launch occurred on 5 September 2000.
- Sirius FM-3 (Radiosat 3). Launch occurred on 30 November 2000.
- Sirius FM-4 (Radiosat 4). Ground spare, was not launched into orbit. Donated to Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in October 2012.
- Sirius FM-5 (Radiosat 5). Launch occurred 30 June 2009.
- Sirius FM-6 (Radiosat 6). Launch occurred October 25, 2013.
Receivers.
As of 2005, Sirius receivers were available for respective new Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, MINI, Mitsubishi, Scion, Toyota ( except Corolla ), Porsche, Volkswagen, and Volvo vehicles, and the service plans on adding handiness for portable manipulation. Subaru offers Sirius on the Forester and Impreza. Starting in 2006, all Rolls-Royce vehicles sold in the United States came with a Sirius radio and life subscription as standard equipment. Sirius had an single contract for VW and Audi vehicles from 2007 through 2012, and with Kia Motors from 2008 through 2014, with an optional propagation to 2017. Beginning in the 2007 model year, Bentley vehicles have had Sirius as an choice, and it became standard equipment in several models beginning in 2008. [ 60 ] Porsche switched to XM Satellite Radio on their vehicles beginning with the 2007 model class. Currently, entirely Toyota ( including its Lexus and Scion divisions ) and Subaru offer both Sirius and XM contracts ( however both companies normally equip vehicles with XM ). Sirius besides makes respective receivers for aftermarket installations such as the Sportster4, Starmate Replay, Sirius S50 with a built-in 1GB MP3 player, and the Sirius One. Radios from Sirius include :
- 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 watches for a driver’s favorite artists and songs that he or she wants to hear and will let him or her 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 a microSD slot behind the 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 into 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.[61]
- 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.
yahoo ! Widget For an extra fee, Sirius subscribers are besides able to entree all of the proprietorship music channels and most of the lecture stations via streaming media through Sirius.com. A standard 64 kbit/s and “ Premium ” 128 kbit/s feed are available. Alternatives to the browser-based actor are available such as a yahoo ! Widget ( designed to look like a miniature Sportster model recipient ), and SIRIUS Internet Radio Player ( based on Windows Media Player and available as a circuit board or standalone application ). Both alternatives have gained popularity with streaming listeners, and offer artist and track name data updated in real time, which is an improvement from the on-line Sirius musician. recently, SiriusXMStream has come available as a substitution to Usirius. It offers a server capability to stream Sirius and XM programming to game consoles and mobile phones as an alternative to the iPhone And Blackberry app. NiceMac LLC, godhead of the StarPlayr and StarLightXM product lines have created clients for Mac, personal computer, Windows Mobile and iPhone. The company recently merged with Jason Millard of Millard Software and released USirius StarPlayr, a Sirius XM iPhone node in 2009. CatPig Studios Inc. has besides released Radium for Mac, a general-purpose internet radio receiver player that supports XM and Sirius. In early on 2010, Rogue Amoeba software released Pulsar, a standalone Sirius-XM player for Mac OSX. In accession to being available through Sirius.com, Howard Stern ‘s web site offers a Java application that streams the two Stern-themed channels. The locate besides states that Stern-specific video and audio clips would be made available at a later date. [ 62 ]
Apple io app.
Sirius XM has developed a software application for habit on the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices that allows its subscribers and users of those devices to listen to its scheduling. 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. besides integrated into the app is a “ click to buy ” affair where if a user clicks any song deed acting on Sirius XM they are given the option to be taken to the iTunes Music Store where they can purchase the track or album. Due to the terms of a new narrow, the Howard Stern channels were added on Tuesday, December 21 .
Android app.
Sirius XM has developed a stream app for the Android Smartphone chopine. This app is available detached of charge in the market, and requires an extra US $ 3.49/mo to subscribe to. The app features all of the capacity available on a standard Sirius recipient .
BlackBerry app.
Sirius XM has besides developed an application for practice on certain 3G -enabled Rim BlackBerry smartphones. a lot like its Apple counterpart, it features a qualify 120-channel batting order featuring most of the music channels and selected lecture programming. As with the Apple app, some choose programming, including MLB Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, SIRIUS NASCAR Radio are not available on the Blackberry. shortly after signing a newly contract, Howard Stern began promoting the mobile app, and his content was added to the mobile offerings. Blackberry smartphones presently compatible with the Sirius app :
1 If OS version is above 5.0.239
In Canada.
In November 2004, a partnership between Sirius, Standard Broadcasting and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation filed an lotion 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 act of circulate, labor, 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 reduce levels of canadian content and French-language programming, along with the exception of canadian non-commercial broadcasting. After a drawn-out argument, the cabinet rejected the appeals on September 9, 2005. Sirius Canada was officially launched December 1, 2005. In 2006 it offered a life plan to subscribers that for a $ 549 fee it would unlock the top tier channels for inexhaustible manipulation on any Sirius device, including the Internet and earphone. however, the company presently only offers at utmost, a three-year subscription. [ 63 ] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has reported inadequate reception in northern Canada. [ 64 ]
In Puerto Rico.
In September 2009, The Federal Communications Commission agreed to Sirius XM ‘s request for a especial impermanent authority to operate 20 planetary repeaters for the satellite radio receiver military service in Puerto Rico. [ 65 ] The perpetration did so over the objections of the Puerto Rico Radio Broadcasters Association ( Asociación de Radiodifusores de Puerto Rico ), who said the blessing expands the Sirius XM reach outside its empower coverage area and would allow Sirius XM to compete with mundane broadcasters for listeners. [ 65 ] 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 bespeak is unaccented and blocked by improbable buildings and leaf. As for the impact on rival, the FCC said it has considered these arguments before and “ declined to find that ” satellite radio would harm local anesthetic broadcasters. The Sirius full sublunar coverage is available in choice 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.
In October 2006, Sirius announced that it was launching a new service named Sirius Internet Radio ( SIR ) that offered approximately 75 of the 135 Sirius channels worldwide to people early than subscribers to its satellite radio service. Prior to this, Sirius subscribers who had a satellite radio were besides able to access many of the Sirius channels via the Internet, using a special password, but the overhaul operated at 32 kbit/s and was only available to those who purchased a satellite radio receiver. Sirius Internet Radio is an Internet-only subscription, allowing cosmopolitan listeners to listen to the content without having to purchase a satellite radio receiver recipient, the internet subscription can besides be heard on Wi-Fi -enabled Internet radio for consumer and business purposes such as those designed by Grace Digital. The service besides expands the number of channels that are available to Sirius Stiletto 100 users via Wi-Fi .
Liberty Media Corporation investment.
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 abortive December 2008 coup d’etat bid. Shares of Sirius XM had been trading for less than $ 1 from September 10, 2008, until February 2010. [ 66 ] The caller announced in early February 2009 that it may file for bankruptcy “ vitamin a early as ” Tuesday, February 17, 2009. [ 67 ] On February 17, 2009, Sirius entered into an investment agreement with Liberty Media Corporation. Sirius received $ 550 million to pay maturing debt in exchange for 40 % of its convertible choose stock .
course action lawsuits.
SirusXM has been involved in several high-profile class action lawsuits .
- Hooker v. Sirius XM radio was settled with a settlement pool of US$35 million in response to claims that SiriusXM denies that the company used robocalling techniques targeting non-subscribers that had received calls from SiriusXM after leasing or buying a car.[68]
- Blessing v. Sirius XM Class Action Suit – On August 25, 2011, the Court presiding over the lawsuit, Blessing v. Sirius XM Radio Inc., approved a class action settlement. A federal judge approved a US$180 million class action lawsuit settlement with SiriusXM Satellite Radio that accuses SiriusXM of breaking the law by raising subscription rates following its 2008 merger. The settlement provided a number of benefits to current and former SiriusXM subscribers, including one free month of service.[69]
- Turtles v. Sirius XM – SiriusXM paid up to US$99 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by The Turtles after the satellite radio company spent years broadcasting songs recorded before 1972 without compensating labels or artists.[70]