XM Satellite Radio

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XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite Radio (XM) is one of two satellite radio

Satellite radio

A satellite radio or subscription radio is a digital radio signal that is broadcast by a communications satellite, which covers a much wider geographical range than terrestrial radio signals....
(SDARS) services in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
and Canada

Canada

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting in which a television antenna is required....
. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional traffic and weather channels and 23 play-by-play sports channels. XM channels are identified by Arbitron

Arbitron

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Encyclopedia

XM Satellite Radio (XM) is one of two satellite radio

Satellite radio

United States

Canada

Cable television

Arbitron

Arbitron is a radio audience research company in the United States which collects listener data on radio audiences similar to that collected by Nielsen Media Research on television audiences....
with the label "XM" (e.g. "XM32").

The company was founded in 1978 as American Mobile Radio Corporation. The satellite service was officially launched on September 25, 2001. On July 29, 2008, XM and former competitor Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente...
formally completed their merger, following FCC approval, forming Sirius XM Radio, Inc. On November 12, 2008, Sirius and XM began broadcasting with their new, combined channel lineups. XM was also the largest satellite radio

Satellite radio

United States

Services

While the satellite receiver radio service is its primary product, XM actually operates several audio and data services, and advertising.

Satellite radio

XM's primary business is satellite radio entertainment. XM carries music, news (both simulcast and syndicated programming), sports, talk radio, comedy (both stand-up and radio shows), and even radio drama. In addition, XM broadcasts local weather and traffic conditions in its larger markets. The is available on-line.

To receive satellite radio programming, a customer is required to purchase a receiver. Prices range from less than $50 to over $200. With a service commitment, it's possible to get a simple receiver for free.

There are currently several types of receivers available to consumers:

Plug and Play receivers: The chief benefit of these units is flexibility. The receiver snaps in to a base unit, which provides power, antenna, and audio connections. Multiple base units can be installed in the home or car, and portable boom-box style units allow the plug and play receivers to be used outdoors. This is typically the least expensive option. Examples include the Xpress line, and the Delphi Skyfi.
In-dash receivers: these are integrated with a car's stereo system. Many factory stereo systems include XM or Sirius radio, and the more popular aftermarket stereo brands all have options to connect satellite radio receivers.
Desktop receivers and Home theater systems: Manufacturers are now offering several XM Ready systems. These use an external tuner which can connect to the head unit. These range from small clock-radio systems to powerful home theater receivers.
Portable personal systems: XM has offered portability kits for various receivers in the past. It also currently offers the Helix and Inno, which are self-contained and can play both live XM and recorded content with no external antennas.

XM also offers music downloads through XM+Napster for Windows users. This service is being integrated with XM Online and the new MP3 capable XM receivers, such as the Pioneer Inno or the Samsung Helix.

A subset of the XM programming can also be received on the DirecTV

DirecTV

DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite service based in El Segundo, California, California, which transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America....
satellite network. To listen to XM on DirecTV, no XM subscription is required, but you must have a DirecTV subscription.

XM also offers many of its stations to subscribers via the Internet. Most of its original programming is available, but the syndicated and simulcast channels are typically not included.

XM Radio Online

XM Radio Online, XM's Internet radio product, offers many of XM's music stations and can be accessed from any Internet connected Windows or Macintosh computer. It is now included with XM Radio subscriptions, or available separately for US$7.99 a month to Internet-only subscribers.

XM Radio will be upgrading its online audio stream to near CD-Quality sound. After March 11,2009 those who pay month to month will no longer be able to listen online for free. Those that are paying yearly, on their next renewal date will have to pay extra to listen to XM online. Those that have lifetime subscriptions with XM-Radio will not be affected.

Weather and traffic

XM also provides data services such as weather information for pilots and weather spotters through its XM WX Satellite Weather datacasting

Datacasting

Datacasting is the broadcasting of data over a wide area via radio waves. It most often refers to supplemental information sent by television stations along with digital television, but may also be applied to digital Signalling s on analog TV or radio....
service. This up to the minute weather information can be displayed in the cockpit of an aircraft equipped with a satellite weather receiver. Unlike weather radar, which relies on the aircraft's own equipment, the satellite service can give a pilot information about weather anywhere in the country. The downside is that the various weather streams (radar, cloud coverage, lightning, etc...) are transmitted every 5–15 minutes, meaning that the information is somewhat out-of-date by the time it is received. In-cockpit radar and lightning receivers return truly realtime information, but they can cost many thousands of dollars. Certain aircraft are also now integrating the XM radio service in to the aircraft's audio system, as well, allowing the pilot to listen to XM radio while flying.

XM also has dedicated traffic and weather channels that cover many major metropolitan areas. These channels play a continuous loop of local weather information and detailed traffic data.

Commercial adoption and partnerships

In 2005, AirTran Airways

AirTran Airways

AirTran Airways is a low-cost carrier airline that is a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Orlando, Florida, Florida, USA and is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings....
began putting XM Satellite Radio on their aircraft, while in January 2006, JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways is an American Low-cost carrier airline owned by JetBlue Airways Corporation . The company is headquartered in the Forest Hills, Queens neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens....
added XM Radio to their aircraft. United Airlines

United Airlines

United Air Lines, Inc., trading as United Airlines , is a major carrier of the United States. It is a subsidiary of UAL Corporation with corporate offices in Chicago at 77 West Wacker Drive, and its operations base in nearby Elk Grove Village, Illinois....
started carrying prerecorded XM content in March 2006. Zipcar

Zipcar

Zipcar is a for-profit, membership-based carsharing company providing automobile rental to its members, billable by the hour or day. Zipcar was founded in 1999 by Cambridge, Massachusetts residents Robin Chase and Antje Danielson....
, an urban car-sharing service in the United States, initially installed XM receivers in all of their vehicles available for daily or hourly rental. However, citing uncertainty in the satellite radio market, Zipcar announced on May 1, 2007 that all XM radios would be removed from its fleet in the following months.

In 2006, the service "XM for Business" was launched on the DirecTV

DirecTV

DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite service based in El Segundo, California, California, which transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America....
platform to provide 15 channels of interruption-free background music. This service replaces the Music Choice

Music Choice

Music Choice is a United States company that programs music and produces music-related content for digital cable, cell phones, and cable modem subscribers in the US....
business audio service formerly offered by DirecTV. The XM for Business channels are in the upper 500s as of August 2006 and include an exclusive "Taste of Italy" channel. The channels are programmed separately from the consumer service, but share the same names, themes, and playlists. More importantly for the background music needs of business audio these channels do not feature any kind of interruption and do not feature radio hosts, imaging

Imaging

Imaging is the formation of an .Imaging may also refer to:* Digital imaging, creating digital images, generally by scanning, or through digital photography...
, or sounders.

Effective October 1, 2006, the 15 channels of interruption-free background music, formerly part of "XM for Business", were moved from satellite 101 to satellite 119 (DirecTV-7S at 119°W). Reception now requires a single 18" dish aimed at 119°W or a Phase3 oval dish with three LNBFs and a multi-satellite-capable receiver. Older, single LNB receivers may not be able to receive these stations.

In 2007, Air Canada

Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest airline and flag carrier. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transportation for passengers and cargo to 160 destinations worldwide....
began replacing its current generation of EnRoute radio with XM. As with United, this is prerecorded content.

Company timeline

Year	Event(s)
1988	American Mobile Satellite Corp. is founded.
1991	American Mobile Radio/ XM founder Lon Levin joins American Mobile Satellite Corp.
1992	December 15: after CD Radio (later becoming Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente... ) successfully petitioned the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission is an Independent agencies of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by United States Congress statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President of the United States.... and Congress United States Congress The United States Congress is the Bicameralism legislature of the Federal government of the United States of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.... to look into creating Digital Audio Radio Service Digital Audio Radio Service Digital Audio Radio Service or DARS refers to any type of digital radio service. In the United States it is the official Federal Communications Commission term for digital radio services.... (DARS) in the United States, American Mobile Satellite Corp. spins off a new division known as American Mobile Radio Corp. who would go on and join three other applicants as potential licensees. Later that year, American Mobile brings in WorldSpace WorldSpace 1worldspace is a satellite radio network that provides service to over 170,000 subscribers in East Africa and southern Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia with 96% coming from India.... as a 20% investor into the new venture with the intention of using their technology.
1996	Gary Parsons Gary Parsons Gary Parsons is the chairman of the board for Sirius XM Radio. Mr. Parsons was formerly on the board of WorldSpace.Gary M. Parsons has served as XM Satellite Radio Chairman of the Board of Directors since May 1997.... leaves MCI Communications MCI Communications MCI Communications Corp. was an United States telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and ushered in the competitive long distance telephone industry.... to join American Mobile as its CEO and President.
1997	May 16: American Mobile Satellite and WorldSpace officially change the name of American Mobile Radio to XM Satellite Radio. Later that month, Lon Levin, who was politically instrumental in the early years of establishing American Mobile Radio, becomes its President until 1998; he would remain on until 2005 in an influential VP role in charge of Government Regulatory. October: XM Satellite Radio obtains one of only two satellite digital audio radio service licenses offered by the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission is an Independent agencies of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by United States Congress statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President of the United States.... . Together with CD Radio (SIRIUS), the two successfully beat out Primosphere Limited Partnership Primosphere Limited Partnership Primosphere Limited Partnership was one of four companies bidding for Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, or SDARS, licenses in the United States.... and Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation was one of four companies bidding for Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, or SDARS, licenses in the United States.... as licensees.
1998	Hugh Panero Hugh Panero Hugh Panero was the CEO of XM Satellite Radio from June 1998 to August 2007. He has been involved in the entertainment industry for over 16 years.... leaves Request TV Request TV Request TV is a defunct pay-per-view service which was owned by Liberty Media and Twentieth Century Fox that was launched in 1985. One of their logos while they operated consisted of the letter "q" in Request as a film reel with a film strip coming out.... as its President and CEO, to join XM Satellite Radio in the same role.
1999	June: Clear Channel Communications Clear Channel Communications Clear Channel Communications is a Mass media list of conglomerates company based in the United States. Clear Channel, founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, wields considerable influence in radio broadcasting, concert promotion and hosting, and fixed advertising in the United States through its subsidiaries.... , DirecTV DirecTV DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite service based in El Segundo, California, California, which transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America.... , General Motors, and a private investment group invest US$250 million in XM Satellite Radio convertible debt Convertible bond In finance, a convertible bond is a type of bond that can be converted into shares of stock in the issuing types of companies, usually at some pre-announced ratio.... . Both Clear Channel and DirecTV agree to develop services for XM. June 7: with GM's investment in XM, they enter into a 12-year "Distribution Agreement" between XM and GM subsdiary, OnStar OnStar OnStar Corporation is a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation that provides subscription-based telecommunication, in-vehicle security, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote diagnostics systems throughout the United States and Canada.... Corporation. The agreement calls for exclusive installation of XM Satellite Radio into GM vehicles from November 12, 2001 until November 2013. OnStar must meet specific escalating installation rates each year, while XM must make extensive payments to OnStar for the installation and sale of XM in their vehicles, while sharing revenue earned from these radios with OnStar – as well as payments on the exclusivity agreement. July 7, American Mobile Satellite, still XM's parent company, uses approximately US$75 million of the proceeds from the private investment to reacquire the 20% interest WorldSpace holds. In October, XM Satellite Radio issues 10,241,000 shares of Class A common stock at an IPO Initial public offering Initial public offering , also referred to simply as a "public offering" or "flotation," is when a company issues common stock or Share to the public for the first time.... price of US$12.00 per share. American Mobile Satellite remains the majority holder of the public company.
2000	April: American Mobile Satellite Corp. changes its name to Motient. In July, American Honda Honda is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan.The company manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, scooter , robots, jet aircrafts and jet engines, all-terrain vehicle, water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies.... join several private investors in a US$235 million preferred stock Preferred stock Preferred stock, also called preferred shares or preference shares, is typically a 'higher ranking' stock than voting shares, and its terms are negotiated between the corporation and the investor.... investment in the company.
2001	September 25: XM Satellite Radio service launches, first in San Diego San Diego, California San Diego is the second largest city in California and the List of United States cities by population, located along the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast of the United States of the Western United States.... and Dallas/Fort Worth Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex The Dallas, Texas?Fort Worth, Texas?Arlington, Texas metropolitan area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S.... , and spreads across the United States. The initial lineup includes 71 music channels and 29 other channels consisting of sports, talk, children's programming, entertainment and news. The original launch date of September 12 is pushed back after the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks. October: with Motient heading into bankruptcy, they spin off their non-XM satellite division into a joint operation with TMI Communications and Company, L.P., a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE Inc. of Canada Canada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean.... ; the new venture is known as the Mobile Satellite Ventures. November: with Motient in bankruptcy, they sell off their controlling interest in XM to Hughes Electronics, Singapore Telecommunications Singapore Telecommunications Singapore Telecommunications Limited , commonly abbreviated as SingTel, is Asia's leading telecommunications company, with a combined mobile subscriber base of 216.7 million customers from its own operations and regional associates at the end of September 2008 .... and Baron Capital Partners. This ends Motient's interest in XM and begins XM's history as a stand-alone company. Hughes Electronics would go on to combine this new interest in with the interest already held by their subsidiary, DirecTV. November 12: XM Satellite Radio marks the official launch of full nationwide service. December 31: XM Satellite Radio ends the year with 27,733 subscribers.
2002	September 3: XM Satellite Radio adds Playboy Radio, an adult entertainment premium channel, available for an additional $2.99 per month. December 31: XM Satellite Radio ends the year with 347,159 subscribers.
2003	January: with the launch and rollout taking longer and more costly than expected, the company undergoes a large and complicated re-capitalization plan. The plan involves XM exchanging US$300 million in old debt for new debt, while deferring interest for 3-years on the notes; as well as restructuring the payment obligations on the General Motors installation agreement, issuing a convertible bond to GM, issuing a warrant Warrant (finance) In finance, a warrant is a security that entitles the holder to buy stock of the company that issued it at a specified price, which is usually higher than the stock price at time of issue.... for shares to GM, and establishing a revolving credit facility with GM; and finally the plan included new funding coming from a placement of over US$300 million in 10% convertible bond Convertible bond In finance, a convertible bond is a type of bond that can be converted into shares of stock in the issuing types of companies, usually at some pre-announced ratio.... s to a group of private investors. June: Veteran award-winning radio producer Joe Bevilacqua Joe Bevilacqua Joe Bevilacqua is an award-winning voice actor, radio producer, dramatist, humorist, and Documentary film film producer.... 's radio theater extravaganza, The Comedy-O-Rama Hour, premieres on XM163 Sonic Theater Channel. Celebrity guests include Al Franken Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken is an United States politician, comedian, writer and Modern liberalism in the United States political commentator. He first became famous as a writer and a performer for the television show Saturday Night Live, then moved into writing several films.... , Lewis Black Lewis Black Lewis Niles Black is a Grammy Award-winning United States stand-up comedy, author, playwright and actor. He is known for his comedy style which often includes simulating a mental breakdown or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena.... , Shelley Berman Shelley Berman Sheldon Leonard "Shelley" Berman is an US comedian, writer, teacher, and actor.... , Bob Edwards Bob Edwards Robert Alan Edwards is an award-winning United States of America public radio Presenter. He was the first broadcaster with a large national following to join the field of satellite radio.... , Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actor, comedienne and Voice acting. Noted for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, she also voices other characters for the show, including Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Flanders family#Todd, List of recurring characters in The Sim... and June Foray. July: the company has nearly 700,000 subscribers. December 31: XM Satellite Radio ends the year with 1,360,228 subscribers.
2004	January through March: With the sale of Hughes Electronics from General Motors to Rupert Murdoch Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch, Order of Australia, Order of St. Gregory the Great , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born International Mass media business magnate.... 's News Corp., DirecTV's interest in XM Satellite Radio is sold off on the market. February 2: XM Radio announces 100% commercial free music lineup. March 1: XM Radio launched Instant Traffic and Weather Channels for major metropolitan Metropolitan area A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central city and their zone of influence.... markets in the United States United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U... . August 11: XM Radio subscriber base breaks the 2.5 million mark. The company partners with automakers General Motors, Honda Honda is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan.The company manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, scooter , robots, jet aircrafts and jet engines, all-terrain vehicle, water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies.... , Isuzu Isuzu , is a Japanese car, commercial vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. In 2005, Isuzu became the world's largest manufacturer of medium to heavy duty trucks.... , Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen Volkswagen Volkswagen Passenger Cars, also known as VW, is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany and is the original as well as the largest brand by sales volume within the Volkswagen Group.... , and SAAB Saab Automobile Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab, is a Swedish automaker and currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors. It is the exclusive automobile royal warrant holder as appointed by Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.... ) to offer in-dash XM receivers on an OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer".An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM is typically a company that uses a component made by a second company in its own product, or sells the product of the second company under its own brand.... basis. The Acura TL is the first luxury automobile to offer XM radio as "standard" in every vehicle. October 4: "Shock" jocks Opie and Anthony Opie and Anthony Opie and Anthony are the hosts of *The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in The United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.... begin broadcasting on a premium ($1.99/month extra) XM Satellite Radio station. Also, former National Public Radio National Public Radio National Public Radio* is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national Radio syndication to 797 public radio List of NPR stations in the United States.... host Bob Edwards Bob Edwards Robert Alan Edwards is an award-winning United States of America public radio Presenter. He was the first broadcaster with a large national following to join the field of satellite radio.... broadcasts the first Bob Edwards Show on XM Public Radio, channel 133. October 20: XM announces an 11-year, US$650 million deal with Major League Baseball Major League Baseball Major League Baseball is the highest level of play in American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between them since 1903 .... to broadcast games live nationwide and become the Official Satellite Radio provider of Major League Baseball. The agreement grants XM the rights to use the MLB silhouetted batter logo and the collective marks of all major league clubs. As part of the deal, XM creates a 24/7 MLB channel called "Home Plate MLB Home Plate MLB Home Plate is a popular destination on the XM Satellite Radio dial for fans of Major League Baseball, as it features around the clock MLB related talk shows, as well as archives and live reports.... ". The deal starts with the 2005 season and runs through the 2012, with a 3-year option that MLB can pick up. October 26: XM presents its first XM2go XM2go XM2go is XM Satellite Radio's line of portable "walkman-like" receivers.All first generation XM2go models have identical internal components designed by XM Satellite Radio and are manufactured by Flextronics.... portable XM receiver: The Delphi MyFi. December 31: XM Satellite Radio ends the year with 3,229,124 subscribers.
2005	January 5: XM introduces two new XM2go models: Pioneer's AirWare and the Tao from Giant International. February 28: XM's third satellite, Rhythm, is launched successfully. April 1: XM announces that it has added 540,000 subscribers in Q1 2005, pushing their total subscriber base to 3.77 million. April 11: XM announces that a deal has been reached to be the official satellite radio network of Air America Radio Air America Radio Air America Media is an radio in the United States radio network specializing in Liberalism talk radio. The network started programming on March 31, 2004 and features discussion and information programs with hosts reflecting Progressivism points of view.... . May 16: XM announces that subscribership has topped 4 million. This indicates exponential growth for the company. In five weeks time, they added 230,000 subscribers — almost 50% of the subscribers added during the previous quarter. May 28: the Wall Street Journal reports that XM has awarded the contract for the XM 5 spacecraft to Space Systems/Loral Space Systems/Loral Space Systems/Loral , of Palo Alto, California, is the wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. It was acquired in 1990 for $715 million by Loral Corp.... . June 7: XM partners with Audible.com Audible.com Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.Audible sells audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers.... to offer downloadable audio show archives of The Opie and Anthony Show, as well as The Bob Edwards Bob Edwards Robert Alan Edwards is an award-winning United States of America public radio Presenter. He was the first broadcaster with a large national following to join the field of satellite radio.... Show. July 1: XM announces it has added more than 640,000 subscribers in Q2 2005, pushing their total subscriber base over 4.4 million. August 1: XM announces the addition of popular radio hosts Ron and Fez Ron and Fez *The Ron and Fez Show* is a Talk radio hosted by Ron Bennington and Fez Whatley.After long popular runs in Tampa, Florida, New York City, and Washington DC, Ron and Fez are now heard on Sirius XM Radio's The Virus , located on XM channel 202, Sirius Satellite Radio channel 197, and DirecTV channel 879.... . August 1: XM announces a three-year partnership with the United States Tennis Association United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association is the national Sport governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. The USTA was previously known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association and was established in 1881 by a small group of tennis club members in New York City.... to broadcast the US Open tournament through 2007, as well as weekly reports from other US Open Series events. September 12: Ron and Fez join Opie and Anthony Opie and Anthony Opie and Anthony are the hosts of *The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in The United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.... on High Voltage High Voltage (XM) the ViRUS* is a hot talk channel on XM Satellite Radio. It is one of only two talk-based XM channels in Stereophonic sound, the other being XM Public Radio.... XM 202. September 13: XM announces a 10-year US$100 million deal to carry National Hockey League National Hockey League The National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league composed of 30 teams in North America. It is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the North American Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada.... broadcasts beginning with the 2005-06 season, initially sharing the coverage with SIRIUS but gaining satellite-radio exclusivity from 2007 onward. September 27: XM announces it has surpassed 5 million subscribers. October 3: XM announces that they have added more than 617,000 new net subscribers during Q3 2005. October 3: XM Satellite Radio launches channel "Take 5" (XM 155). The channel is geared toward Women's Programming and features replays of The Ellen DeGeneres Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning United States Stand-up comedy, television hostess and actress. She hosts the award winning Television syndication talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.... Show, The Tyra Banks Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks is an American Model , television host, actress, singer and businessperson. She first became famous as a model in Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo and New York, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough.... Show, syndicated and original programming, as well as programming from the Food Network Food Network Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs specials and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns roughly two thirds of the network, and Tribune Company owns the rest.... and HGTV. Additionally, XM Radio drops two of its Talk and Entertainment channels: MTV and VH1. XM adds 617,000 subscribers in Q3 2005, pushing the total subscriber base to over 5.03 million. October 18: XM announces it will begin carrying Fox News Talk Fox News Talk Fox News Talk is a satellite radio channel that showcases talk shows and news reports from Fox News Channel personalities, along with other Fox News and talk programming.... in January 2006. November 15: DirecTV DirecTV DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite service based in El Segundo, California, California, which transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America.... begins broadcasting 72 channels as part of their audio programming. This includes music channels, "Home Plate" (XM 175), and "High Voltage High Voltage (XM) the ViRUS is a hot talk channel on XM Satellite Radio. It is one of only two talk-based XM channels in Stereophonic sound, the other being XM Public Radio.... " (XM 202) but no news or sports channels. November 17:, XM launches their new Fall lineup of channels: "unSigned", "Air Musique", "Sur La Route", "Laugh Attack", "Canada 360", "Quoi de Neuf", "Franc Parler", and "Home Ice". November 29: XM launches service in Canada. December 29: XM and VoiceBox Technologies VoiceBox Technologies VoiceBox is a company focused on conversational speech recognition, search and information management. The company licenses its technology to makers of telematics, digital home, mobile phone and VoIP solutions, including: InfoSpace, Johnson Controls, XM Satellite Radio, Intel Corporation, and IBM... join forces to provide conversational voice-driven XM experience to auto market. December 31: XM Satellite Radio ends the year with 5,932,957 subscribers.
2006	January 2: XM begins broadcasting Fox News Talk as the channel launches. The channel includes commentators Bill O'Reilly Bill O'Reilly (commentator) William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an United States presenter/radio personality, author, syndicated columnist and self-described "traditionalist" political commentator.... , Tony Snow Tony Snow Robert Anthony "Tony" Snow was an United States Pundit , television news news presenter, syndicated columnist, radio personality, and the third White House Press Secretary under President of the United States George W.... , John Gibson John Gibson (media host) John David Gibson is an United States radio talk show host. As of September 2008, he hosts the syndicated radio program The John Gibson Show on Fox News Radio.... , and Alan Colmes Alan Colmes Alan Samuel Colmes is an United States radio personality/television host and Modern liberalism in the United States political commentator. He is best known as the former co-host on Fox News Channel political debate program Hannity & Colmes.... . January 4: XM announces it has surpassed 6 million subscribers. January 9: XM wins top honors at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Consumer Electronics Show The International Consumer Electronics Show is a trade show held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nevada, and is sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association.... in Las Vegas for their two new portable units that offer live programming on-the-go. The new radios are the XM Pioneer Pioneer Corporation is a multinational corporation that specializes in digital entertainment products, based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and Loudspeaker repair shop.... Inno and Samsung Helix. They expect to be released during the end of March or beginning of April. February 9: XM announces they have signed a US$55 million three-year deal with Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey is an United Statesn television presenter, Media proprietor and philanthropist. Her television syndication talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, has earned her multiple Emmy Awards and is the highest-rated talk show in the history of television.... 's Harpo Productions Harpo Productions Harpo Productions is an incorporation United States multimedia Film production company founded by media mogul Oprah Winfrey . It also includes Harpo Films & Harpo Radio, Inc. .... . A new channel called "Oprah and Friends" will launch in September, which will be programmed by Winfrey and originate in the Harpo Studios in Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents.... . The channel will feature programs hosted by a team of personalities who appear on her television show including Gayle King Gayle King Gayle King is editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine and is the friendship of Oprah Winfrey. She has previously worked as a television news anchor and talk show host.... , Dr. Mehmet Oz Mehmet Oz Mehmet Oz is a Turkish-American Cardiothoracic surgery and an award-winning author. He became famous for his frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as appearances on Larry King, CNN, and numerous other networks.... , Marianne Williamson Marianne Williamson Marianne Williamson is a spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation currently before Congress to establish a United States Department of Peace.... , Dr. Robin Smith, Bob Greene and Nate Berkus Nate Berkus Nate Berkus is an United States interior designer and interior decoration and a survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. He runs Chicago, Illinois interior design firm Nate Berkus Associates and has been a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, offering design advice to viewers.... . As part of the agreement, Oprah will appear in a weekly 30-minute program along with friend Gayle King. The program will air 39-weeks a year and feature taped phone conversations between Winfrey and King. March 1: XM launches channels "49 Big Tracks", "84 XM Chill", and "173 WLW" giving them 69 commercial free music channels, with the addition of WLW, a news talk channel. March 10: XM announces that the music stations programmed by Clear Channel Clear channel A clear-channel station, in the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico, and the United States, is an AM band radio station which is given extraordinary protection from interference to its nighttime signal.... ("21 Kiss XM", "22 Mix XM", "11 XM Nashville", and "24 XM Sunny") will begin airing some commercials beginning in April. This was a decision made by Clear Channel. In response, XM promises to add its own commercial-free versions of these channels in the near future. April 17: XM Launches 8 new Commercial Free Music Channels. The channels are, "XM 17 - U.S. Country" (commercial-free alternative to "Nashville"), "XM 26 - Flight 26" (commercial-free alternative to "MIX"), "XM 30 - XM Hitlist" (commercial-free alternative to "KISS"), "XM 34 - enLighten", "XM 42 - XM Liquid Metal" (brought back to the satellites after being an online-exclusive for over a year), "XM 68 - The Heat"(Formally "The Eye"), "XM 78 - Escape" (commercial-free alternative to "Sunny") and "XM 91 - Viva." On the same date, DirecTV DirecTV DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite service based in El Segundo, California, California, which transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America.... changed its channel lineup to focus in on XM's commercial-free music too, which resulted in the removal of two XM talk channels, the addition of 4 new music channels and the replacement of the four Clear Channel programmed music channels that began airing commercials. Removed from DirecTV were XM's MLB channel "Home Plate" (DTV Channel 878) and "High Voltage" (DTV Channel 879). Added were "The Heat" (Formally "The Eye") (DTV Channel 825), "enLighten" (DTV Channel 828), "The Torch" (DTV Channel 829), "Liquid Metal" (DTV Channel 841) and "Viva" (DTV Channel 876). Replaced were "Nashville" (DTV Channel 809), "Kiss" (DTV Channel 817), "Mix" (DTV Channel 818), and "Sunny" (DTV Channel 820); DirecTV replaced those channels with the aforementioned new commercial-free versions programmed directly by XM, "U.S. Country," "XM Hitlist," "Flight 26," and "Escape", respectively. Also, XM Changed Names For Some Of Its Stations, XM 68 "the Eye" Became "The Heat", XM 32 "The Fish" Became "The Message" And XM 90 "Allegra" Became "Fuego". April 22: Thanks to the fans of the Opie and Anthony show (The O&A Pests) DirectTV adds XM 202 "High Voltage" (Dtv Channel 879) back to the channel lineup April 24: XM Satellite Radio officially announces the long rumored deal that Opie and Anthony would be syndicated back to terrestrial radio through CBS Radio CBS Radio CBS Radio Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, fourth behind main rival Clear Channel Communications , Cumulus Media and Citadel Broadcasting.... . Joel Hollander, current showrunner at CBS Radio, was there for the announcement as was XM programming VP Eric Logan. April 26: Opie and Anthony's reformatted show debuts on 7 CBS Radio affiliates: New York City's WFNY-FM, Cleveland's WXRK WKRK-FM WKRK-FM is a radio station licensed to Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and serving the Cleveland, Ohio metropolitan area. The station is owned by CBS Radio, with studios in downtown Cleveland, Ohio and its transmitter located in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.... (tape delayed, 3-6 PM), Boston's WBCN WBCN WBCN 104.1 FM, is a commercial radio station based in Boston, Massachusetts. WBCN is a modern rock/active rock station that mixes music that is popular in the modern rock, alternative rock and Classic rock genres.... , West Palm Beach's WPBZ WPBZ WPBZ is located in the West Palm Beach, Florida area and broadcasts at 103.1 FM radio. Known as "103.1 The Buzz", it is a modern rock music station with the slogan "Florida's New Rock Alternative".... , Philadelphia's WYSP WYSP WYSP is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Referred to on-air as "94 WYSP", the station broadcasts on the 94.1 FM broadcasting frequency in the Philadelphia area.... , Dallas' KLLI (now KRLD-FM), and Pittsburgh's WRKZ. Their show has been segmented so that 6 AM - 9 AM is broadcast on both XM and CBS, and 9 AM - 11 AM is XM exclusive. July 24: Nate Davis was made the president and chief operating officer. August 15: XM begins playing chronologically every song to ever make the pop charts. This is expected to last well over a month. This playback is called "IT IT (XM) "IT: The History of Pop Music" is the name of a special program that XM Satellite Radio aired annually from 2002 to 2007, in which a majority of charted pop songs from the 1930s to the 2000s were aired in chronological order on seven of the platform's channels .... " The music is played on each decade channel. The music from the 1940s is played on the 40's on 4, then starting with music from January 1950 the music is played on the 50's on 5, and so on. Around August 26: XM Flight 26 is pulled from AOL Radio on the Mac platform. No explanation as to why this occurred, yet AOL Radio's homepage lists it in the Top 11 (despite the stream not appearing in the AOL program, which lists ten streams under "Top 11" instead of eleven). September 3: MSNBC - XM 130 is dropped from the XM news channel lineup. No explanation is given by XM, who made the decision to discontinue the news channel's feed. September 6: XM announces a of the Pioneer Inno, available exclusively at Circuit City (at first). US$30 from each unit sold goes to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's fight against breast cancer. September 25: "Oprah and Friends" radio officially launched on XM channel 156. October 30: The XM-4 "Blues" satellite was launched atop a Zenit 3SL rocket. December 18: XM announces they began broadcasting through XM-4 "Blues" on Friday, bringing the active satellites to XM-3 "Rhythm" and XM-4 "Blues" with original satellites XM-1 "Rock" and XM-2 "Roll" as in-orbit spares for the near-term.
2007	January 18: The Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission is an Independent agencies of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by United States Congress statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President of the United States.... rules that licensing regulations would prohibit a possible merger of XM and rival Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente... . Recent remarks by top officials within both companies have hinted at a possible move to join forces to stave off billion-dollar losses associated with increased competition between the two services. February 13: XM sells the transponders on XM-4 to Wells Fargo Bank in a leaseback agreement. This amounts to taking out a mortgage on the transponders; while the bank will own them, XM actually uses them and has the right to buy them back at any time. At the end of the lease period, XM will also have the option to buy them back. February 19: XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente... announce they will merge, creating a satellite radio giant. See XM/Sirius merger. April 26: XM announces 1Q07 results, as well as surpassing eight million subscribers. The company also claims that they have an additional US$319 million in positive cashflow, giving them total available liquidity of US$719 million. May 15: XM suspends talk show hosts Opie & Anthony for 30 days over comments made on their program by a homeless man called "Homeless Charlie" on the previous day. May 21-May 22: XM experiences an outage that deprives many subscribers of service for almost twenty-four hours. The outage affected the satellite XM-3 ("Rhythm", or "SAT1" on receivers) along with terrestrial repeaters. XM blames the situation on a "software glitch". July 24: XM announces that CEO Hugh Panero will leave the company in August, with current President and COO Nate Davis stepping in to serve as President and interim CEO. August 1: XM launches XM-X, featuring rebroadcasts of many XM-exclusive shows, on XM 2. The first day's programming consists of episodes of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour Theme Time Radio Hour *Theme Time Radio Hour* is a one-hour long radio show hosted by Bob Dylan. Each episode is an eclectic, freeform brew of blues, folk music, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, soul music, bebop, rock-and-roll, country and pop music music, centered around a "theme," with songs from artists as diverse as Patti Page and LL Cool J.... . August 5: XM upgrades its Neural Audio processing mechanism to improve sound quality across its music channel selection. November 8: XM launches XM59 - XM LED XM LED Led Zeppelin Radio , was a commercial-free, satellite radio station on the XM Satellite Radio platform. The channel lineup consisted of Led Zeppelin music every hour, every day.... - The Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal music bands.... Channel. .
2008	March 7: XM Discontinues the XM LED channel. (According to the channel's website, it is taking a break for the summer) March 24: The United States Department of Justice United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice is a United States Cabinet department in the United States government of the United States designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans .... declines to block the merger of XM and Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente... after thirteen months of review. July 25: The FCC approves the XM-Sirius merger. August 16: Xm channel 51 "Mandatory Metallica" launches. The channel will be available from August 16 through September 30. The channel will play music from the entire Metallica catalog, including rare live recordings from the band's personal concert archives, extensive interviews with the band and more. October 13 & 14: Layoffs of XM on-air personnel are leaked on the internet. The initial names released include DJ's from all DJ'd decades channels, along with Deep Tracks, XMU, Ethel and Lucy. October 20: News that National Basketball Association National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association is North America's premier professional men's basketball league, composed of thirty teams: twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada.... broadcasts have been switched from Sirius to XM leaks on the internet. NBA broadcasts will now be heard on XM Channels 213-220, and are also said to be available to Sirius subscribers through the 'Best of XM' package, for Sirius receivers capable of receiving XM programming. October 27: According to the MySpace blog of "Beyond Jazz" host Michelle Sammartino, "Beyond Jazz", the modern jazz channel, will leave the air on November 14. "Beyond Jazz" personality Michelle Sammartino, host of "Jammin Jazz" was laid off on October 5. Russ Davis, program director of "Beyond Jazz" will be laid off on November 14. November 12: XM implements new channel lineup consisting of converged XM and Sirius programming.
2009	February 11: XM prepares to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. SIRI has a $1 Billion debt obligation in 2009 and $175 Million immediate obligation due in February 17 2009.

Technology

XM provides digital programming directly from two high-powered satellites in geostationary orbit

Geostationary orbit

A geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero....
above the equator: XM Rhythm at 115° west longitude

Longitude

Longitude , symbolized by the Greek character lambda , is the geographic coordinate most commonly used in cartography and global navigation for east-west measurement....
and XM Blues at 85° west longitude in addition to a network of ground-based repeaters. The combination of two satellites and a ground-based repeater network is designed to provide gap-free coverage anywhere within the contiguous U.S., the southern tip of Alaska, and in the southern part of Canada. The signal can also be received in the Caribbean Islands and most of Mexico (reports have stated that areas north of Acapulco

Acapulco

Acapulco is a city and major port in the Political divisions of Mexico of Guerrero on the Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City....
are able to receive a steady signal), however XM is not yet licensed for reception by paid subscribers living in these areas.

The original satellites, XM-1 ("Rock") and XM-2 ("Roll") suffer from a generic design fault on the Boeing 702

Boeing 702

Boeing 702 is a communications satellite design. The Boeing Satellite Development Center tailors the payload of each Boeing 702 to meet customer specifications based on a modular design but with usually more than seventy transponders....
series of satellites (fogging of the solar panels), which means that their lifetimes will be shortened to approximately six years instead of the design goal of 15 years. To compensate for this flaw, XM-3 ("Rhythm") was launched ahead of its planned schedule on February 28, 2005 and moved into XM-1's previous location of 85° WL. XM-1 was then moved to be co-located with XM-2 at 115° WL, where each satellite operated only one transponder (thus broadcasting half the bandwidth each) to conserve energy and cut the power consumption in half while XM-4 ("Blues") was readied for launch. Subsequently, XM launched ground-spare XM-4 ("Blues") ahead of schedule on October 30, 2006 into the 115° WL location to complete the satellite replacement program. On December 15, 2006 XM-1 was then powered down and drifted back to its original location at 85° WL, where it will remain as a backup to XM-3. XM-2 as well was powered down and remains as a backup to XM-4. This makes the current active satellites as XM-3 "Rhythm" and XM-4 "Blues" with two in-orbit spares.

On June 7, 2005, Space Systems/Loral

Space Systems/Loral

Space Systems/Loral , of Palo Alto, California, is the wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. It was acquired in 1990 for $715 million by Loral Corp....
announced that it had been awarded a contract for XM-5. XM-5 will feature two large unfurlable antennas. Sirius' Radiosat 5, also to be built by Loral, will have a similar single large antenna.

In American and Canadian metropolitan areas, XM and its Canadian Licensee known as Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR), own and operate a network of approximately 900 terrestrial repeater

Repeater

A repeater is an Electronics device that receives asignal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation....
stations, meant to compensate for satellite signal blockage by buildings, tunnels, and bridges. In the United States

United States

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
CSR is installing approximately 80 to 100 repeaters that will be owned and operated by CSR in the 16 largest Canadian cities. The actual number of repeater sites varies as the signal is regularly tested and monitored for optimal performance. The actual number of sites in the United States has dropped from the original 1,000 installed when the service first launched in 2001. The repeaters transmit in the same frequency band as the satellites. A typical city contains 20 or more terrestrial stations. Typically the receiver owner is unaware when a terrestrial station is being used, unless he or she checks antenna information from the receiver being used. Due to a FCC filing in October 2006, the latest list of XM's US terrestrial repeater network was made available to the public.

The XM signal uses 12.5 MHz of the S band

S band

The S band ranges from 2 to 4 GHz, crossing the boundary between Ultra high frequency and Super high frequency at 3.0 GHz. It is part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum....
: 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz. XM provides 128 kilobits per second of its bandwidth to OnStar

OnStar

OnStar Corporation is a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation that provides subscription-based telecommunication, in-vehicle security, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote diagnostics systems throughout the United States and Canada....
Corporation for use with XM-enabled GM vehicles, regardless of whether their owners are XM subscribers. American Honda also retains the right to some of the company's bandwidth to transmit messages to Acura

Acura

Acura is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company. It primarily competes with Buick, Lexus and Infiniti among others in the luxury vehicle segment....
vehicles via a service known as AcuraLink.

XM NavTraffic, an optional service, transmits coded traffic information directly to vehicle navigation systems using TMC

Traffic Message Channel

Traffic Message Channel is a technology for delivering traffic and travel information to drivers. It is typically digitally coded using the Radio Data System system on conventional FM radio Broadcastings....
technology.

Audio channels on XM are digitally compressed using the aacPlus (HE-AAC)

HE-AAC

High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding is a lossy data compression scheme for digital audio. It is an extension of Low Complexity Advanced Audio Coding optimized for low-bitrate applications such as streaming audio....
codec from Coding Technologies for most channels, and the AMBE

Advanced Multi-Band Excitation

Advanced Multi-Band Excitation is a proprietary speech coding standard developed by Digital Voice Systems, Inc....
codec from Digital Voice Systems for some voice channels, including all of the Traffic and Weather channels.

The XM radio signal is broadcast on 6 separate radio carriers within the 12.5 MHz allocation. The entire content of the radio service, including both data and audio content, is represented by only two carriers. The other 4 carriers carry duplicates of the same content to achieve redundancy through signal diversity

Diversity combining

Diversity combining is the technique applied to combine the multiple received signals of a diversity scheme reception device into a single improved signal....
. The data on each carrier is encoded using time-delayed and error-correction schemes to enhance availability. Effectively the total radio spectrum used for content is a little over 4 MHz.

Each two-carrier group broadcasts 100 8-kilobit-per-second streams in approximately 4 MHz of radio spectrum. These streams are combined using a patented process to form a variable number of channels using a variety of bitrates. Bandwidth is separated into segments of 4-kilobit-per-second virtual "streams" which are combined to form audio and data "channels" of varying bitrates from 4 to 64 kilobits-per-second.

XM preprocesses audio content using Neural Audio processors that are optimized for the AACplus codec, including spectral band replication

Spectral band replication

Spectral band replication is a technology to enhance audio or speech codecs, especially at low bit rates and is based on harmonic redundancy in the frequency domain....
(SBR). Audio is stored digitally in Dalet audio library systems using an industry-standard MPEG-1 Layer II at 384 kbit/s, sometimes known as Musicam. The audio is further processed by the Neural Audio processors on the way to broadcast.

Sirius XM Pops a classical music

Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
station is broadcast in 5.1 surround sound

Surround sound

Surround sound, using multichannel audio, encompasses a range of techniques for enriching the Sound recording and reproduction quality, of an audio source, with additional audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers....
audio quality. The technology, titled XM HD Surround

XM HD Surround

On December 28 2005, XM Satellite Radio announced that it had teamed up with Neural Audio Corporation to introduce XM HD Surround, XM HD Surround broadcasts XM channels in 5.1 digital surround sound....
, is the result of a partnership between XM and Neural Audio Corporation

Neural Audio Corporation

Neural Audio Corporation is an audio research company based in Kirkland, WA ....
which provides content with six discrete channels of digital audio. XM Live

XM Live

Specials is a part-time satellite radio channel which plays select special events and shows for Sirius and XM. When the channel was XM Live, some special events were broadcast in XM HD Surround, which was a 5.1 surround sound audio/CD quality stereo feed....
also broadcasts in this format for certain concerts and studio performances. XM manufacturing partners such as Denon

Denon

is a Japanese electronics company that originated digital audio technology, while specializing in manufacturing of high-fidelity professional and consumer audio equipment....
, Onkyo

Onkyo

is a Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer, specializing in home cinema and audio equipment including receivers, audio computer network equipment and surround sound speakers....
, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., and Yamaha

Yamaha (manufacturer)

The is a multinational corporation and Conglomerate based in Japan with a wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments, motorcycles and powersports equipment, and electronics....
have introduced home audio systems capable of playing XM HD Surround.

Controlling interest

The company's May 2004 proxy statement notes that four directors are subject to director designation agreements with GM, American Honda, the chairman, and the CEO. Four additional directors are investors, and two are not affiliated with any significant stockholders.

At that time, GM owned 8.6% of the Class A common stock

Common stock

Common stock is a form of corporation equity ownership represented in the Security . It is a stock whose dividends are based on market fluctuations....
(a voting percentage of less than 1%) and Honda owned 13% (with a voting percentage of 3.6%).

Unless they unanimously agree otherwise, control of the company remains with the preferred shareholder and noteholders of the company, including Hughes Electronics, GM, Honda, and several private investment groups.

Clear Channel programming agreement

As part of terrestrial radio giant Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications is a Mass media list of conglomerates company based in the United States. Clear Channel, founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, wields considerable influence in radio broadcasting, concert promotion and hosting, and fixed advertising in the United States through its subsidiaries....
' early investment into XM in 1998, the companies entered into agreements which provided for certain programming and director designation arrangements as long as Clear Channel retained the full amount of its original investment in XM. One positive consequence of this was that XM had (and still has) exclusive programming rights to all Clear Channel content, including popular national shows like Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is an United States radio personality and television host, Conservatism in the United States political commentator, author, and entrepreneur....
and Coast to Coast AM

Coast to Coast AM

Coast to Coast AM is a North American late-night syndicated radio talk show which deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate either to the paranormal, or to alleged conspiracy theory....
. In June 2003, Clear Channel entered into a forward sales agreement

Forward contract

A forward contract is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified point of time in the future. The price of the underlying instrument, in whatever form, is paid before control of the instrument changes....
relating to its ownership of XM. During the third quarter of 2005, Clear Channel and XM arbitrated the impact of this agreement on the and the . The Arbitration

Arbitration

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a law technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound....
Panel decided that the Operational Assistance Agreement would remain in effect, including Clear Channel's right to receive a revenue share of commercial

Commerce

Commerce is a division of trade or production, costs, and pricing which deals with the Trade of goods and service from production, costs, and pricing to final consumer....
advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to Purchasing or to consume more of a particular brand of Product or Service ....
on programming it provides to XM, but declined to enforce the Director Designation Agreement. Per the original agreement, Clear Channel has the right to program 409.6 kbit/s of XM bandwidth, including forcing XM to include commercial advertising. The plans for this bandwidth included the existing four music channels (XM11 Nashville!

Nashville!

Nashville! is a commercial radio channel on XM Satellite Radio. It is located on XM11 and plays a wide range of country music hits from the early 90s through today....
, XM21 KISS

KISS-XM

KISS is a commercial radio channel on XM Satellite Radio. It is located on XM channel 21 and plays a mix of Rhythmic Top 40 songs, CHR Dance, and an occasional CHR hit....
, XM22 Mix

Mix (XM)

MIX, often branded on-air as MIX 22, is a channel on XM Satellite Radio playing the Hot Adult Contemporary format. It is located on XM22 and plays a mix of hit songs from 1980-present day, except for urban contemporary....
, XM24 Sunny

Sunny (XM)

The Pink Channel is a channel on XM Satellite Radio located on channel 24. The channel is programmed out of Sherman Oaks, California, produced and sold by Premiere Radio Networks....
) existing talk channel programming (XM142 Fox Sports Radio

Fox Sports Radio

Fox Sports Radio, abbreviated FSR, is an international radio network consisting of sports talk programming all day, every day. The network is a service of Premiere Radio Networks ....
, XM152 Extreme XM, XM165 Talk Radio

Talk Radio (XM)

Talk Radio, often branded on-air as Talk Radio 165, is a talk channel on XM Satellite Radio featuring terrestrial radio show simulcasts from around the country, most of which come from Premiere Radio Networks....
), and the eventual launch of XM173 WLW

WLW

WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM broadcasting....
, re-launch of XM161 WSIX-FM

WSIX-FM

WSIX-FM is an FM radio station broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee on a frequency of 97.9 MHz. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications....
, XM154 National Lampoon Comedy Radio

National Lampoon Comedy Radio

National Lampoon Comedy Radio is a partnership with National Lampoon Inc. NLR is launching the first Multi-Platform 24/7 all comedy radio network that will be made available to XM Satellite Radio, AM broadcasting-FM broadcasting, HD Radio, Cable radio and Podcasting....
, XM233 ReachMD

ReachMD

Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, ReachMD is a multi-outlet programming source offering communication, information, and continuing medical education for credit....
, and XM158 America's Talk

America's Talk

America's Talk is a news and talk radio channel on XM Satellite Radio, launched on 2007-11-19 on channel 158. Much like its sister talk channel Talk Radio 165, it is a general news/talk focused channel....
. Clear Channel also controlled XM166 America Right

America Right

America Right is a USA talk channel on XM Satellite Radio that plays terrestrial radio show simulcasts, which feature a conservative point of view....
, but through a series of show swaps, managed to rid themselves of most non-Clear Channel content and returned the channel to XM Radio. Plans to introduce new regional based talk channels, which would have featured a local 2-3 minute newscast for each area of the country, were canceled. The amount of advertising on the music channels amounts up to 4 minutes per hour, similar to the amount of advertising XM included before going commercial free. Clear Channel advertising on XM is handled by its subsidiary, Premiere Radio Networks

Premiere Radio Networks

Premiere Radio Networks is an radio in the United States radio network. It is the largest Broadcast syndication company in the United States of America based on popularity of programming....
.

Seen as a blow to XM's 100% commercial-free music channel status, XM Executive Vice President of Programming Eric Logan released a to XM subscribers on the company's website that reiterated XM's commitment to commercial-free music while noting that XM still had the most commercial-free music and that more commercial-free music channels will be added in the near future to ensure that XM will still have more commercial-free music than competitor Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente...
. On April 17, 2006, XM launched US Country (XM17), Flight 26 (XM26), XM Hitlist (XM30) and Escape (XM78) to provide commercial free music in the formats of the Clear Channel programmed music channels which were going to begin airing commercials. In response, Sirius

Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente...
has advertised that they are the only satellite radio provider that has 100% commercial-free music channels. Both XM and Sirius

Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente...
air commercials on their news, talk, and sports channels.

The Clear Channel forward sales agreement with Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc

Bear Stearns

The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. based in New York City, was one of the largest global investment banks and security trading and stock broker firms prior to its sudden collapse and distress sale to JPMorgan Chase in March 2008....
was terminated on August 2, 2006. The termination resulted in Clear Channel Investments, Inc. paying Bear Stearns a total of $83.1 million, which was the value of Clear Channel's stake in XM. The accreted value of the debt was $92.9 million, and the fair value of the collar was an asset of $6.0 million, which resulted in a net gain of $3.8 million for Clear Channel.

XM vs RIAA

In 2006, XM Satellite Radio was sued by the RIAA over XM's new portable devices the Inno

Inno

The Pioneer Inno is a second-generation XM2go radio receiver model for use with the XM satellite radio service. The Inno improves upon the first generation units by having an improved built-in antenna for live portable reception, improved recording capabilities allowing unlimited sessions, and increased recording capacity....
and Helix. The RIAA claims these devices are equivalent to a downloading service, whereas XM contends the devices are protected under the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act

Audio Home Recording Act

The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 amended the United States copyright law by adding Chapter 10, "Digital Audio Recording Devices and Media"....
. In July, XM requested that a federal judge dismiss the case. It should be noted that XM's subscribers can save only songs they hear on the radio and cannot request a specific song to be downloaded or program their radios to record specific artists. XM's portable devices allow the consumer to record a portion of their broadcast much like a VCR, DVR

Digital video recorder

A digital video recorder or personal video recorder is a device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other memory medium within a device....
, or cassette player would allow. The content a subscriber records is available only while the subscriber still has an active account with XM Satellite Radio. Once the account is terminated, the recorded content will become inaccessible. Also, If a subscriber fails to listen to a total of 8 hours of programming a month, the recorded content will not be accessible. Recorded content can be accessed only on the portable device; it cannot be transferred to a home computer or separate digital music player.

The idea is not new: TimeTrax

TimeTrax

TimeTrax is a software program, as well as the parent company, which allows audio recording from satellite radio.The original software was created by Scott MacLean to time shift XM Satellite Radio programming using the $50 XM PCR PC-connected satellite radio - doing so by Radio music ripping the audio to MP3 format, and saving songs as indi...
Technologies Corporation developed an application to record songs to MP3 and tag them with the artist and title information directly from the XM network. In 2005 XM attempted to thwart this practice by discontinuing the required XM PCR radio. TimeTrax responded by quickly rolling out adaptive interfaces to allow almost any XM subscriber to use their tuner to build music libraries directly from XM broadcasts. There is speculation that these fumbles by XM and its attitude towards the Time Trax technology may have been the warning shot of major troubles between the RIAA and XM.

On January 19, 2007, a district judge ruled that the RIAA could proceed with the lawsuit, rejecting XM's defense that the conduct alleged in the complaint--if proved by the RIAA--would be immune under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992.

PCR and DirectPCR

At the heart of the TimeTrax controversy was the XM PCR

XM PCR

The XM PCR is a satellite receiver sold by XM Radio and discontinued in 2004, amidst piracy concerns. Programs such as TimeTrax allowed users to record every song played on an XM channel, quickly and cheaply building an MP3 library....
: a computer-controlled XM Receiver. Unlike the other receivers, which could be used in the car or home stereo, the XM PCR required a computer to run. A software application on the computer acted as the radio's controls and display, which led to a flurry of third party developers, who wanted to make a PCR replacement. Many of them from the XM company. Once the PCR was discontinued, for the reasons listed above, people found that the XM Direct, a receiver intended to be used in satellite-ready car stereos, can be connected to a computer with a very simple adapter cable. Some people have dubbed the entire kit, with receiver, cable, and software, the Direct PCR. While the original PCR software does not control the XM Direct receiver, several community developers have continued to develop PCR replacement software.

Merger with Sirius Satellite Radio

On February 19, 2007, XM announced a merger deal with Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in the United States and Canada, owned by Sirius XM Radio. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and ente...
. The merger combined the two radio services and created a single Satellite Radio network in the United States and Canada.

The United States Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice is a United States Cabinet department in the United States government of the United States designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans ....
announced on March 24, 2008 that it had closed its investigation of the merger because it "concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius was likely to substantially lessen competition."

On June 16, 2008, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin

Kevin Martin

Kevin Martin is the name of:* Kevin Martin , NBA shooting guard* Kevin Martin , Canadian curler* Kevin Martin , former chair of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission...
told the Washington Post that he had decided to approve the XM-Sirius Merger after the companies agreed in the previous week to concessions intended to prevent the new company from raising prices or stifling competition. Martin issued an order to approve the merger, according to The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is an English language international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company in New York, New York with Asian and European editions....
- setting the stage for a final vote which could have occurred any time after his recommendation was circulated.

The XM-Sirius Merger gained its final governmental approval from the Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an Independent agencies of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by United States Congress statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President of the United States....
late July 25, 2008, with Martin and commissioners Robert M. McDowell

Robert M. McDowell

Robert Malcolm McDowell is a telecommunications lawyer....
and deciding vote Deborah Taylor Tate voting in the affirmative. As a term of the merger, the combined company will be fined almost $20 million for failing to create and market interchangeable radios capable of receiving signals from both companies prior to the merger.

XM's merger with Sirius has resulted in much controversy over the narrowing of playlists, handling of subscriber concerns, and the business conduct of CEO Mel Karmazin.

XM in Canada

In November 2004, Canadian Satellite Radio filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to bring the XM service to Canada

Canada

Sirius Canada

Sirius Canada is a Canadian partnership between Slaight Communications, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Sirius Satellite Radio, which was one of three services licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on June 16, 2005 to introduce satellite radio service to Canada....
and the consortium of CHUM Limited

CHUM Limited

CHUM Limited was a media company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1945?2007. Immediately prior to its acquisition, it held full or joint control of two Canadian television systems — Citytv and A-Channel — comprising 11 local stations, and one CBC Television affiliate, one provincial educational channel, and 20 branded spec...
and Astral Media

Astral Media

Astral Media Inc. is a Canadian mass media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium television and specialty channel television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Viewers Choice, Family , Teletoon and more....
, CSR was one of three applications for national subscription radio services submitted to the CRTC.

On June 16, 2005, the CRTC approved all three applications. The decisions were appealed to the Canadian federal cabinet by a number of broadcasting, labour, and arts and culture organizations, including the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is a Canada public interest group.The group monitors developments in the Canadian television and radio broadcasting industries, and organizes action campaigns when broadcasters engage in activities which are deemed contrary to the public interest....
, CHUM Limited

CHUM Limited

National Campus and Community Radio Association

The National Campus and Community Radio Association/L'Association nationale des radios ?tudiantes et communautaires is a non-profit organization of campus radio and community radio stations in Canada....
. The groups objected to the satellite radio applicants' approach to and reduced levels of Canadian Content

Canadian content

Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television Broadcasting must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada....
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.

XM's Canadian channels appeared on US receivers on November 17, 2005. On November 29, 2005, XM Canada officially launched.

XM Satellite Radio

Services

Satellite radio

XM Radio Online

Weather and traffic

Commercial adoption and partnerships

Company timeline

Technology

Controlling interest

Clear Channel programming agreement

XM vs RIAA

PCR and DirectPCR

Merger with Sirius Satellite Radio

XM in Canada

See also

External links