Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio (SDARS) and online 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 customers. The music stream in Sirius carries a variety of genres, broadcasting 24 hours daily, ad-free, and uncensored. One part of the Sirius music channel is included as part of the Dish Network satellite television service. The Sirius channel is identified by Nielsen Audio with the label "SR" (eg "SR120", "SR9", "SR17").
The business model is to provide pay-for-service radio, analogous to the business model for premium cable television. Music channels are presented without ads, while their lecture channels, such as Howard Stern Howard 100 and Howard 101 & amp; Jim Norton & amp; Sam Roberts The talking fraction 103, carrying an advertisement. Since all channels are free from regulation of FCC content, the song is played unedited for the language; speech programs can also display explicit content if they want to. Prepaid subscriptions and price range from US $ 14.99 per month (US $ 9.99 per additional recipient) up to US $ 699.99 for lifetime (receiving equipment) There is a activation fee of US $ 15 for each radio enabled. Sirius announced it had achieved its first positive cashflow for the period ending in December 2006.
Sirius launched its radio service in four states on February 14, 2002, extending service to other parts of the US in July of that year. On October 16, 2006, Sirius announced that it would launch Sirius Internet Radio, with 78 of its 135 channels available worldwide on the internet for every customer with a valid username and password.
On July 29, 2008, Sirius officially completed the merger with former competitor XM Satellite Radio. The combined company started operating under the name Sirius XM Radio. On November 12, 2008, Sirius and XM began broadcasting with their new combined channel lineup. On January 13, 2011, Sirius Satellite Radio was dissolved as a separate entity and merged into Sirius XM Radio, Inc.
Video Sirius Satellite Radio
Hari-hari awal Sirius
Sirius was founded by Martine Rothblatt, David Margolese, and Robert Briskman. In 1990, Martine Rothblatt founded Satellite CD Radio, Inc. in Washington, DC. The company was the first to file a petition to the FCC to establish unused frequencies for satellite radio broadcasts, which "provoked outrage among land and terrestrial radio station owners." Rothblatt has previously helped create the international satellite television system PanAmSat, and helps launch and serve as CEO of Geostar satellite navigation systems. In April 1992, he resigned as chairman and CEO of Sirius to start a medical research foundation, focusing on drug discovery for his daughter's illness. Former NASA engineer Robert Briskman, who designed the company's satellite technology, was later named Chairman and CEO.
Six months later, in November 1992, Rogers Wireless Founder founder David Margolese, who had provided financial support for the venture, gained control of the company and replaced Briskman. Margolese renamed the company's Radio CD, and spent the next five years lobbying the FCC to allow satellite radio to be deployed, and the next five years raised $ 1.6 billion, used to build and launch three satellites into an elliptical orbit from Kazakhstan in July 2000 The company managed to bid $ 83.3 million to buy their satellite radio license. In 1997, after Margolese obtained regulatory permission and "effectively created the industry," the FCC also sold the license to XM Satellite Radio, which follows Sirius's example.
In November 1999, Head of Marketing Ira Bahr convinced Margolese to re-alter the company name, this time to Sirius Satellite Radio, to avoid any ties to the outdated CD technology. After getting an installation offer with cars including Chrysler, Ford and BMW, Sirius launched its initial service stages in four cities, with the first receiver sold at Cowboy Maloney in Jackson, MS on February 14, 2002, extending to other contiguous parts. United States on July 1, 2002. In 2001 Margolese resigned as CEO, remaining chairman until November 2003, with Sirius expressing her gratitude to him "for her extraordinary vision, leadership and dedication in creating Sirius and the satellite radio industry."
Joe Clayton, former CEO of Global Crossing, was followed as CEO from November 2001 to November 2004. He remained chairman until July 2008. Mel Karmazin, former president of Viacom, became CEO in November 2004 and remained in that position through a merger in December 2012.
Maps Sirius Satellite Radio
Incorporation of XM satellite
On February 19, 2007, Sirius announced a merger deal with XM Satellite Radio. If a pending merger receives government approval, which is required due to antitrust considerations, it will merge two services into one satellite radio network in the United States and will be named Sirius/XM Radio.
On March 24, 2008, the US Department of Justice approved the merger of Sirius and XM. Approval of the FCC was removed on July 25, 2008. The merger conditions include allowing third party companies to create satellite radio devices; producing a new radio that can receive XM and Sirius channels within a year; allows consumers to choose which channels they want to have; subscription freezing rate for three years; set aside 8% of its channels for non-commercial programmers; and paid a fine of $ 19.7 million for violations of the rules of the past.
Content
Channels
- List of Sirius XM Radio channels
According to the 2007 Spring Arbitron Report, the five most-listened channels on Sirius based on Average Average Hours (AQH) Share them are Howard 100, Howard 101, The Highway (60), Sirius Hits 1, and Octane (37).
Howard Stern
On October 6, 2004, Sirius announced that it had signed a five-year, $ 100 million-a-year agreement with Howard Stern to move its radio show, The Howard Stern Show, to Sirius starting on January 9, 2006. [32] Stern said the move was forced by strict FCC regulations that intensified its enforcement following the controversy of the Super Bowl XXXVIII part-time event. After the delayed announcement of his departure, Stern complained that Infinity Broadcasting made his departure more fierce than necessary. The deal, which gave Sirius exclusive rights to the Stern radio show, also gave Stern the right to build three full-time programming channels. Its audience increased almost tenfold by the end of its second year in Sirius, from less than 700,000 subscribers to 6 million (see graph on the right). Stern now has two channels operating in Sirius, but still retains the rights to all three.
Programming content
The main component of Sirius's business strategy is to execute exclusive deals with entertainers and prominent figures to create and build broadcast streams from the ground up. In addition to Stern, Sirius has reached an agreement with the domestic diva Martha Stewart, E Street Band members, Steven Van Zandt (aka Little Steven), Jimmy Buffett, and Eminem to the executive production stream or the entire channel at Sirius. Van Zandt was the first major musician recruited by Sirius or XM to create a branded music channel, and he has created two different stations for Sirius: Underground Garage dedicated to garage rock and the Offensive Country with its focus on alternative country music.
The Sirius/XM channel carries a variety of programs that cover a wide range of genres. Categories include Music, News/Talk, Sports, and Entertainment. In each category there are several channels that present various subgenres. For example, the Music category includes streams for Rock, Pop, Country, Hip-Hop/R & amp; B, and Jazz/Blues - Examples of the various music offerings available are 22 channels that offer different rock subgenres.
Most of the Company's programs are self-produced exclusively for Sirius. However, there are some events - especially in the Talk ---- genre originally made for terrestrial radio, but now broadcast on conventional radio and Sirius/XM simultaneously; one example is the Eternal Word Television Network .
Among the hosts with Sirius/XM show many high profile personalities:
- Sports figures like Lance Armstrong (who was once recognized as a seven-time Tour de France champion - a title later revoked for using performance-enhancing drugs), NBA Hall of Fame Bill Walton , sports presenter Scott Ferrall, fantasy football expert John Hansen and Adam Caplan from FantasyGuru.com, skateboarder Tony Hawk, skateboarder/personality MTV Bam Margera, and skateboarder Jason Ellis.
- Musicians such as Joan Jett, Keith Morris from Black Flag, B-52 singer Fred Schneider, Marky Ramone from The Ramones, and New York Dolls singer David Johansen.
- The veteran DJs include DJ New York City, Bruce Morrow, free-form radio pioneer, Vin Scelsa, Richard Blade, Joe Causi, and Kid Leo.
- Original MTV veejays, Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn.
- Eminem Hip Hop Superstar and 50 Cent, along with veterans like Flash Grandmaster, Kool DJ Red Alert, Kurtis Blow, and Premier DJ.
- Popular music artists and DJs such as Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, Liquid Todd, Pete Tong, The Riddler, and DJ Icey.
- Political commentators include Bill Press, Andrew Wilkow, Mike Church, Rusty Humphries, Mike Malloy, Lynn Samuels, Glenn Beck, Michael Smerconish, and Sean Hannity.
- Comedians and satirists include Harry Shearer, Duane Cahill, Mojo Nixon, and Jim Breuer.
- Entertainment like Cosmo and Maxim Radio show Covino and Rich.
On November 18, 2004, former President and CEO of Viacom, Mel Karmazin, was appointed CEO of Sirius. Howard Stern had worked under the auspices of Karmazin on Infinity Radio, and both seemed to hold each other in mutual respect. It was Karmazin who defended Stern after the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show (produced by MTV and aired by CBS, both owned by Infinity - now CBS Radio - until CBS Corporation split in 2006) and woke up from the FCC's Treatment of surprise athletes and obscenity in general.
Sports
Another cornerstone of Sirius's business strategy is the pursuit of exclusive sports content. It now has exclusive satellite radio broadcasting rights for all NFL, CFL and NBA games. In December 2005, Sirius announced a multi-year deal with the NBA, which makes satellite radio companies become broadcasters of the NBA game more lively than other radio outlets. Sirius broadcasts Full Court Press, working days from 12:00 to 15:00 ET; FCP is the only all-NBA event on Sirius/XM. The agreement also created a 24-hour NBA Radio Channel, located on channel 127. However, on November 12, 2008, the NBA game has switched to XM and therefore is now part of Sirius as part of the "Best of XM" package, 24 hours NBA is no longer on air. It was replaced by Sporting News Radio. NHL games were shared with XM for the 2005-2006 season, and Sirius/XM now holds exclusive rights. The company also has full NASCAR coverage, including a two-hour weekly event hosted by retired Tony Stewart's driver. In 2009, Sirius/XM was the first to bring live coverage of the 24-hour road race from Le Mans.
Sirius/XM also has rights to a number of college sports teams, including teams in Big East, Big Ten, and Southeastern Conference, as well as The University of Notre Dame. Beginning in 2005 Sirius also has the exclusive radio rights to close the Division I NCAA Basketball Tournament. In August 2004, Sirius launched Sirius NFL Radio , a 24-hour radio stream dedicated exclusively to cover the NFL. Sirius is also aggressive in creating homemade studio sports radio content.
Sirius also has the only national horse talk show, In Races , hosted by the famous racing handicapper, Steve Byk. Events that air on weekdays between 4 and 7, are unique in the world of horse racing.
The Hardcore Poker Show , Wednesday night at 8 pm. (East), hosted by Rob Pizzo and Chris Tessaro, is the only syndicated poker talk show in North America.
Sirius also broadcast Premier League matches that are usually broadcast on Saturday and Sunday Morning during the season, but there are occasional games on weekday afternoons. Continuing the expansion of their football coverage, Sirius announced an agreement to add UEFA Champions League football to their lineup on September 27, 2006. As recently as Sirius also has the exclusive radio rights to broadcast ESPN's television feed from the Euro 2008 championships. Complementing their coverage, Sirius also aired a two-hour soccer talk show on Wednesday night on channel 125 called "The Football Show" with former Metrostars GM Charlie Stillitano and former Italian international star Giorgio Chinaglia. The event also airs on Tuesday night after UEFA Champions League matches. On Saturdays and Sundays during the major league season, Sirius aired Radio 606 , a classic British radio calling event that covered all the top matches of the day.
On September 15th, 2008, Chris Russo launched his own show titled Mad Dog Unleashed .
Even after the merger between Sirius and XM was completed, the Major League Baseball game remained exclusive to XM Radio as a result of a regulatory dispute between MLB and Sirius XM, which prevented Sirius customers from listening to the game. However, on August 19, 2013, Sirius XM reached an agreement with MLB that allows all customers with Sirius and XM receivers to listen to games with premium subscriptions.
SiriusXM for Business
In August 2003, Sirius partnered with Clearwater, Florida-based Applied Media Technologies Corporation, a "retained" phone service provider. AMTC provides Sirius services in branded packages such as Sirius Music for Business . At a price of US $ 29.95 per month, AMTC provides all of Sirius's free commercial music stream, and pays all performance royalties to ASCAP, Broadcast Music Incorporated and SESAC, so business owners can legally play Sirius music in their company.
Unlike Muzak/DMX Music or Music Choice services, SiriusXM for Business service uses the same channel and SDARS delivery platform as Sirius consumer service. The SDARS delivery platform, on the other hand, is more reliable than any other service that is not exposed to satellite rainbow dishes. The highly elliptical orbit of the constellation of Sirius satellites can cause difficulties for sending reliable signals 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 SiriusXM for Business. The service is also accessible online using Sirius's online streaming technology, enabling any business with a broadband Internet connection to address any potential revenue issues. In addition, Sirius is applying for repeaters in Hawaii and Alaska and has been granted authority to 20 repeaters that include the island of Puerto Rico by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Sirius Backseat TV
In March 2007, Sirius announced the availability of the first video service called "Backseat TV". In August 2007, the company revealed the details of the first recipient, SVC1, initially offered exclusively through the Chrysler OEM factory unit. This service includes streaming video from three "family" television channels: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network Mobile. There will be one screen (or dual screen option at Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan) for rear seat passengers to watch while front passenger passengers have the option of listening to normal Sirius radio channels simultaneously. Services reportedly cost an additional US $ 6.99 per month above the standard Sirius subscription price. The factory installed MSRP is US $ 470 and the aftermarket unit has a MSRP of US $ 299.99. Both are available in the fourth quarter of 2007. Since 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 re-broadcast the station to an American audience. In August 2011 Sirius suddenly dropped BBC Radio 1 causing thousands of angry customers, as evidenced by the soon-to-appear groups of facebooks.
Sirius also has exclusive satellite radio rights for National Public Radio, carrying two separate streams (whereas XM's XM Public Radio channel only carries programming that is not manufactured by NPR, as by PRI). The deal with NPR is the first high-profile deal made by Sirius. The NPR Sirius NOW (now available in XM) programming does not include the popular All Things Considered and Morning Edition programs.
With the launch of Sirius Canada in December 2005, American listeners obtained five Canadian production stations including CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Three and Iceberg Radio, and PremiÃÆ'ère Plus, ÃÆ' â ⬠° nergie2, and > Bande ÃÆ' section for French listeners. Iceberg Radio is programmed by Standard Broadcasting, which also provides additional channels for Canada; the other four are from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After delays and criticism from Canadian customers, Sirius Canada added Channel 100 Howard Stern to their lineup in early 2006. Channel 101, another Stern channel (featuring Bubba the Love Sponge, Scott Ferrall, and other personalities), was made available at the end of June 2006.
Speaking of radio content recently added to Sirius Satellite Radio includes ABC News and Channel 143 channels (since after stopping operations), including live pass Sean Hannity and Larry Elder syndicated radio show, channel Patriot Talk 125 (which includes Michael Reagan syndicated radio show ) and Fox News Talk channel 145 (which includes syndicated radio hosts such as Alan Colmes and John Gibson).
On March 14, 2006, Sirius added Cosmo Radio, Playboy Radio, and returned an audio broadcast from the Fox News Channel TV channel feed, which was previously removed during a contract dispute. The service also adds Fox satellite talk radio channel Fox News Talk.
In April 2003 Sirius launched Sirius OutQ, the first 24/7 speech line designed for LGBT audiences. Personality associated with the channel includes Frank DeCaro, Michelangelo Signorile, Derek Hartley, and Romaine Patterson.
In addition to audio programming, Sirius broadcast stream also brings the Data Services channel used by capable recipients and graphics display hardware. Some of the data services offered are traffic speed and flow, sea weather, and fuel prices to name a few. Examples of capable hardware are the Raymarine SR100 Satellite Receiver and the Alpine NVE-N872A Traffic Satellite navigation system.
Exclusive channels
- The Howard Stern Show aka Howard 100 and Howard 101
- Elvis Radio
- Iceberg Radio
- CBC Radio 3
- Rock Velours
- ÃÆ' â ⬠° nergie2
- Extra sports
- Hardcore Sports Radio
- Sports express
- ESPN All Access
- Korean Radio
- NPR Talk
- RCI
- CBC Radio One
- Satellite Radio Network Service
- Radio Sports News
Technology
The Sirius signal is separated into three operators, each for two satellites, and a third for terrestrial repeater networks where available. The Sirius receiver decodes all three 4 MHz carrier signals at once to achieve signal diversity. This is different from XM which uses six operators and decodes three 2 MHz operators to save power consumption and receiver complexity with the cost of changing channel speed. There is a deliberate four-second delay between two satellite carrier signals. This allows the receiver to maintain a large buffer from the audio stream, which, together with forward error correction, helps maintain audio playback if the signal is temporarily lost, such as while driving under a flyover or losing a line-of-viewing one satellite or repeater station land.
The third, separate signal uplink to the Ku-band AMC-6 satellite and received by a 36-inch (910 mm) satellite dish for ground repeater network. This third signal is broadcast on the third segment of the signal.
Initial signal and prototype architecture
The technology for Sirius Satellite Radio receivers as well as some uplink equipment, and studio encoders, came from Bell Labs in the late 1990s and subsequent years. The studio encoder is the result of Bell Labs' effort in statistical multiplexing of perceptual audio signal signals, cousins ââof the MP3 standard. The waveform design for terrestrial and satellite signals, as well as the initial prototype receiver, is implemented in FPGA logic and tested in the field to verify receiver performance. This work was contracted by Sirius to Lucent Technologies, at the time of AT & T's spin-off. The early prototypes were followed by a number of specially designed ASIC chipset generations, supplied initially by Agere Systems and later supplied by Agere Systems and their competitor ST microelectronics.
Three signals from three different sources (satellites, satellites, and terrestrial) are combined in the receiver as a radio signal, (not as an audio signal). All three signals need to be combined constructively (avoiding situations where bad signals contaminate good signals) in the receiver before being decoded. Correct error correction applied to signal. All three signals contain the same audio content on all channels acceptable to the receiver, with the exception of an audio program waveform transmitted in front of the other two for about four seconds. With this time leaning, the signal, once straightened out, needs to see an 8-second overpass obstruction fade to lose audio content. This improves signal delivery resistance in most driving conditions.
To recover meaningful signals and error-free audio from signals interrupted by interference and fading, recipients use encoded Reed-Solomon block codes and encoding and decoding Forward Error Correction (codec). This technique was evident in the early days of satellite modems in the late 1970s. Linkabit, then run by Irwin Jacobs prior to his involvement with Qualcomm, offered the codec for mounting shelves on satellite ground stations. Sirius signals use stronger error correction on the control channel rather than audio content, exchanging different error correction and bandwidth for separate categories of bits in the form of signal waves.
Terrestrial carriers are QPSK OFDM signals, cousins ââto WiMax and LTE, with special features that more than one transmitter operates at the same frequency, forming a single frequency network. A number of transmitters can be placed around the city to make the coverage less subject to fading than if a single transmitter is used. The satellite signal is QPSK. Both satellite and terrestrial signals have hierarchical modulation placed on the original signal, a measure that is made to increase bandwidth at a small cost in the satellite link budget to decode the core audio content.
This architecture has worked really well in avoiding falling audio signals when driving under highway overpasses, and when scintillating (very deep and often losses in signal strength caused by radio faded from trees) the conditions exist. Because Sirius and XM separately enter the market with unsuitable waveforms on satellites, one would logically conclude that the joining company would eventually develop another signal format to take advantage of their size, but this is a speculative statement. The use of satellite and terrestrial combined services has been adopted by DVB-SH standards, and companies such as ICO communications in collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent on system design and field trials. ONDAS, a company based in Madrid, also adopted the architecture of this pioneering system.
Receiver technology
The receiver is designed to reduce and maintain signal quality in unfriendly signal conditions and relatively weak signal levels from distant satellites. Because the satellites are not all geostationary they appear and disappear on the horizon. Terrestrial signals exist only in big cities to add satellite signals.
About five versions of chipsets were built by Agere and about 4 versions were built by STMicroelectronics after the initial prototype, although all early receivers included the Agere chipset known as Northstar. The platform enjoys the highest volume of chipsets to date, representing most of the total production from 2002 to 2010. In 2010, most chipsets were manufactured by STMicroelectronics.
At the heart of the receiver Sirius is a special integrated circuit chip (ASIC) special application called Baseband Integrated Circuit currently STA240, manufactured by STMicroelectronics. This chip contains ARM7TDMI and ARM946E-S embedded microprocessors that are synthesized from the IP core. Each baseband has a unique Electronic Serial Number (or Sirius ID). Another major part of Sirius's receiver is the tuner. This tuner is also a special ASIC, STA210. Tuners are connected to the antenna, and receive satellite and terrestrial signals that come in at 2,315 GHz and downconverts them to intermediate frequency signals at around 75 MHz. The signal strength is around -50dBm in clear sky conditions. The IF signal is fed to the STA240, which is digitized, demodulated, corrected error, inserted, and decrypted using a special circuit on the chip. The baseband processor utilizes a 16 MB SDRAM memory to hold four seconds of one of the satellite signals to bring it into coincidence with another to combine the Maximal-ratio. In a new "pause" receiver, the dual-port PSRAM is used to store up to 60 minutes of selected channels. The baseband processor emits digital audio through the Serial Peripheral Interface, which is fed to the D/A converter to produce an analog audio signal. The front of the Sirius receiver is called the head unit , which is required to display descriptive text (such as categories, channels, artists, and song names) and provide control to the user. This is implemented by third-party designers of Sirius recipients, using their preferred microprocessors.
Sirius offers car radio and home entertainment systems, as well as cars and home appliances for portable use. Sirius receiver includes antenna module and receiver module. The antenna module picks up signals from the land or satellite repeater, amplifies the signal and filters out any disturbances. The signal is then forwarded to the receiver module. Inside the receiver module is a chipset consisting of eight chips. The chipset converts the signal from 2.3 gigahertz (GHz) to a lower center frequency. Sirius also offers an adapter that allows conventional car radios to receive satellite signals.
Sirius broadcasts using 12.5 MHz of S band between 2320 and 2332.5 MHz. Audio channels are compressed digitally using a proprietary variant of cender audio compression algorithm Lucent perception and encrypted with an exclusive conditional access system. Sirius has announced that it intends to apply hierarchical modulation technology to save up to 25% bandwidth.
Each receiver must be connected to an external antenna, supplied with the receiver. Placement of the antenna is very important to receive a clear signal. In some locations, users have difficulty receiving Sirius programming because the signal is not consistently strong. For the best reception, the antenna should be placed so that they have an unobstructed view of the sky (preferably on the roof without jutting into the roof or tree). If this is not an option, the antenna should be placed on the exterior wall. When placing on the exterior wall, the antenna must be mounted to a wall facing the center of the United States continent to minimize the possibility of building itself blocking the signal.
Satellite Technology
The Sirius satellite is named Radiosat because there is already a satellite fleet called Sirius, launched by Swedish NSAB (Nordiska Satellitaktiebolaget, or Nordic Satellite AB, now known as SES Sirius) and used for public telecommunications and satellite television throughout Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
The current major uplink facility for Sirius, previously used as an uplink site for Westar West West communications satellites from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, is located in Glenwood, New Jersey. The original facility is located on the roof of the Sirius studio housing building at Rockefeller Center in New York City but has since closed.
The Sirius land vehicle, Radiosat 1 through Radiosat 4 was created by Space Systems/Loral. The first three series were orbited in 2000 by Proton-K Block-DM3 launch vehicle, with the last three constellation satellites completed on November 30, 2000. Radiosat 4, built as a land reserve, was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in October 2012. It's on display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The satellites are based on the Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform. The three satellites are broadcasted directly to the recipients, but because of its very elliptical orbit, only two are broadcasted at any given time.
The Radiosat 1 satellite through Radiosat 3 flies in geosynchronous (not geostationary) Tundra orbits. Like geostationary orbit, the tundra orbit has a period of 23 hours, 56 minutes (one day sidereal). Unlike geostationary orbits, the tundra orbit is elliptical, non-circular, and tends toward the equator rather than orbiting directly above it. The eccentric orbit ensures that each satellite spends about 16 hours each day high above the continent of the United States. At least one satellite is always visible, with others often seen too. The high slope of the orbit places apogee just west of Hudson Bay in Canada, providing a much higher elevation angle for most of the country than is possible from geostationary orbit. This reduces the clogging of tall buildings in urban areas, enabling a much smaller terrestrial repeater network than the XM sister network, which uses geostationary orbit.
On June 8, 2006, Space Systems/Loral announced that it was awarded a contract for the fifth Sirius spacecraft. The new spacecraft has a nine meter reflector reflector. The first four Sirius spacecraft use a more traditional parabolic reflector. New satellites have been designed for geostationary orbit, unlike other satellites in the constellation; different orbits have a stated purpose of allowing more consistent reception for fixed location users (many customers have reported having to regularly position their antennas for optimal reception). Radiosat 5 (FM-5) is in geostationary orbit at 96 degrees westward. Launched June 30, 2009, and announced to be operating on September 9, 2009.
On October 14, 2010, the XM-5 satellite was launched on top of Proton's International Launching (ILS) vehicle. It is placed into geostationary orbit at 85.2 degrees west to serve the eastern part of the United States. The satellite was produced by Space Systems/Loral and fully operational on December 3, 2010.
On February 29, 2008, the launch service provider International Launch Services announced a contract that includes the launch of SIRIUS FM-6 satellite on the Proton Breeze M. rocket. The launch planned for March 6, 2012, was canceled due to concerns with design flaws in the deployment of solar panels. The Radiosat 6 (FM-6) satellite was launched on October 25, 2013, and incorporated into a geostationary orbit at 116.15 degrees west serving the western part of the United States.
Recipient
In 2005, the Sirius receiver was available for a variety of 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 service plans to increase availability for portable use. Subaru offers Sirius in Forester and Impreza. Starting in 2006, all Rolls-Royce vehicles sold in the United States come with Sirius radio and lifetime subscriptions as standard equipment. Sirius has exclusive contracts for VW and Audi vehicles from 2007 to 2012, and with Kia Motors from 2008 to 2014, with an optional extension for 2017. Starting in the 2007 model year, Bentley vehicles have Sirius as an option, and it becomes standard equipment in some models began in 2008. Porsche switched to XM Satellite Radio on their vehicles starting with the 2007 model. Currently, only Toyota (including its Lexus and Scion divisions) and Subaru offer Sirius and XM contracts (but both companies usually equip vehicles with XM).
Sirius also made several receivers for aftermarket installations such as Sportster4, Starmate Replay, Sirius S50 with 1 GB MP3 player, and Sirius One. Radio from Sirius includes:
- Sportster 5 Ã, - turn on and play the radio with the color screen and one hour of storage
- Sirius Stiletto 100 Ã, - the first portable Sirius radio that allows customers to listen to Sirius direct programming. Stiletto has 2 gigabytes of memory, which is roughly equivalent to 100 hours of recording time. Battery units give users about 30 hours of life. The unit also features Wi-Fi technology, which is used as backup to stream music from the Internet when clear signal strength is not available from the internal antenna. Sirius's partnership with Napster and Yahoo Music provides additional content for Stiletto users.
- Sirius Stiletto 10 -The "feature" -lite version to Stiletto 100. Stiletto 10 offers everything Stiletto 100 has to offer but it does not offer Wi-Fi, MP3/WMA playback and only offers 256 megabytes of space storage (about 10 hours of Sirius programming). Stiletto 10 offers Artist and Song SeekÃ, - Not displayed on Stiletto 100 or Stiletto 2. This search function will keep an eye on your favorite artists and songs that you want to hear and will notify you when they play at any other station./li>
- Sirius Stiletto 2 Ã, - the latest portable Sirius radio. The Stilleto 100 version is slimmer and better. It has a microSD slot on the back of the battery to store MP3/WMA files and playlists (not Sirius content). Wi-Fi support is extended to handle WPA and WPA2 (non-Enterprise) with a passcode.
- Sportster 3 is the first radio to use a new universal dock station.
- Sirius S50 Ã, - the first portable Sirius radio - which is not a portable LIVE, must be plugged into the home dock or car where content can be downloaded for later listening. The RIAA through its efforts to amend the House Audio Record Act and its lawsuit against XM Radio has crippled S50 for trying to limit the number and quality of downloads available to consumers.
- Sirius Starmate ST1 (note: ST1C is the Canadian version)
- Sirius Starmate Replay ST2
- Sirius Sportster Exec. Docking Station Package
- Sirius Sportster Radio with Boombox Packages
- Tivoli Sirius Table Radio
- Kenwood H2EV Radio with Cars and Home Equipments
- Clarion Calypso Sirius radio with Car Kit
- XACT XTR1 Radio with Car Kit
- SiriusConnect for Pioneer SIR-PNR1 which can be modified to provide Serial or Serial USB interface for radio control.
On-line media stream options
For an additional fee, Sirius's customers can also access all exclusive music channels and most talk stations via streaming media via Sirius.com. Available 64 64 kbit/s standard and "Premium" 128 kbit/s.
Alternatives to browser-based players available such as Yahoo! Widgets (designed to look like miniature Sportster model receivers), and SIRIUS Internet Radio Player (based on Windows Media Player and available as plug-in or standalone apps). Both of these alternatives are gaining popularity with streaming listeners, and offer real-time updated artist and song name information, which is an improvement from Sirius online players.
Recently, SiriusXMStream has been available in place of Usirius. It offers server capability to stream Sirius and XM programming to game consoles and mobile as an alternative to iPhone and Blackberry apps.
NiceMac LLC, the creator of StarPlayr and StarLightXM product lines has created clients for Mac, PC, Windows Mobile and iPhone. The company recently merged with Jason Millard of Millard Software and plans to release uSirius StarPlayr, iPhone Sirius XM client in 2009. [1]
CatPig Studios Inc. also released Radium for Mac, a general-purpose Internet radio player that supports XM and Sirius. In early 2010, Rogue Amoeba software released Pulsar, a stand-alone Sirius-XM player for Mac OSX. [2]
In addition to available through Sirius.com, the Howard Stern website offers a Java app that streams two Stern themed channels. The site also states that a special Stern video and audio clip will be available at a later date.
Apple iOS app
Sirius XM has developed software applications for use on Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices that allow customers and users of those devices to listen to their programs. This app was released and available for download on the night of June 17, 2009. The Sirius XM app is available on the iTunes App Store. Also integrated into the app is a "click to buy" function where if a user clicks any song title played on Sirius XM, they are given the option to be taken to the iTunes Music Store where they can buy a song or album. Due to the terms of the new contract, Howard Stern channel was added on Tuesday, December 21.
Android app
Sirius XM has developed a streaming application for the Android Smartphone platform. This app is available for free on the market, and requires an additional US $ 3.49/mo to subscribe. This app has all the content available on standard Sirius recipients.
BlackBerry app
Sirius XM has also developed an application for use on certain iPhone 3G that supports BlackBerry. Similar to its Apple counterpart, it features a limited 120 channel channel featuring most of the selected music channels and speech programming. As with any Apple app, certain programs, including MLB Play-by-Play, Play-by-Play NFL, SIRIUS NASCAR Radio are not available on Blackberry. Shortly after signing a new contract, Howard Stern began promoting the mobile app, and its content was added to mobile bidding.
Blackberry smartphones are currently compatible with Sirius apps:
- BlackBerry Bold (not including 9900 and 9930)
- BlackBerry Curve 8330 1
- BlackBerry Curve 8500
- BlackBerry Curve 8900
- BlackBerry Storm
- BlackBerry Storm 2
- BlackBerry Tour
1 If the 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 application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to introduce Sirius in Canada. The application was approved on 16 June 2005. The decision was submitted to the Canadian federal cabinet by a number of broadcasting organizations, labor and art and culture, including Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, CHUM Limited, and the National Campus and Community Radio Association. The groups object to Sirius's approach and reduce the level of Canadian content and French programming, along with Canada's non-commercial broadcasting exclusions. After a long debate, the cabinet rejected the request on 9 September 2005. Sirius Canada was officially launched December 1, 2005.
In 2006 he offered a lifetime plan to customers that at a cost of $ 549 it would unlock top-level channels for unlimited use on every Sirius device, including Internet and phone. However, currently the company only offers a maximum, three-year subscription.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has reported poor reception in northern Canada.
In Puerto Rico
In September 2009, the Federal Communications Commission approved Sirius XM's request for a special interim authority to operate 20 terrestrial repeaters for satellite radio services in Puerto Rico.
The Commission did so on the objections of the Association of Radio Associates of Puerto Rico (Asociación de Radiodifusores de Rico), who said approval essentially expands Sirius XM's site beyond the official coverage area and that the satcaster will compete with terrestrial broadcasters for listeners..
After receiving communications by public officials in opposition to the broadcaster, such as Puerto Rico's Foreign Minister Kenneth McClintock, in rejecting the argument, the commission said that Sirius XM's trail had covered the island but the signal was weak and blocked by tall buildings and leaves. As for the impact on the competition, the FCC said it had considered this argument before and "refused to find that" satellite radio would harm local broadcasters.
The full terrestrial coverage of Sirius is available on select sites in the cities of San Juan, Carolina, BayamÃÆ'ón, CataÃÆ' à ± o, Caguas and Ponce. Across Puerto Rico, coverage is provided by the Sirius satellite constellation.
Sirius Internet Radio
In October 2006, Sirius announced that it launched a new service called Sirius Internet Radio (SIR) that offers about 75 of 135 Sirius channels worldwide to people other than its satellite radio service subscribers. Prior to this, Sirius subscribers who have satellite radio can also access many Sirius channels over the Internet, using a special password, but the service is operated at 32 kbit/s and is only available to those who purchase satellite radio receivers. Sirius Internet Radio is an Internet subscription only, allowing listeners around the world to listen to content without having to purchase a satellite radio receiver, an internet subscription can also be heard on Internet Wi-Fi radio enabled for consumer and business purposes as designed by Grace Digital. The service also expands the number of channels available to Sirius Stiletto 100 users over Wi-Fi.
Investment Liberty Media Corporation
On February 11, 2009, Sirius XM had $ 3.25 billion in total debt and had until February 17, 2009, to pay $ 175 million in bonds held by EchoStar. EchoStar has bought Sirius XM's debt since its failed December 2008 takeover bid. Sirius XM's shares have been traded for less than $ 1 from September 10, 2008, to February 2010. The company announced in early February 2009 that they can file for bankruptcy "as early as Tuesday" February 17, 2009. On February 17, 2009, Sirius signed an investment agreement with Liberty Media Corporation. Sirius received $ 550 million to pay off debts maturing in exchange for 40% of his convertible preferred stock.
Classroom action demands
SirusXM has been involved in several high-class lawsuits.
Radio Hooker Vs Sirius XM was completed with a $ 35million settlement set in response to claims that SiriusXM denies that the company is using robocalling techniques targeting non-subscribers who have received calls from SiriusXM after renting or buying a car.
Blessing v. Sirius XM Class Action Suit - On August 25, 2011, the Court that led the lawsuit, Blessing v. Sirius XM Radio Inc., approved the completion of the class action. A federal judge approved the settlement of a $ 180 million class action lawsuit with SiriusXM Satellite Radio accusing SiriusXM of violating the law by raising the subscription rate after the 2008 merger. The settlement provides a number of benefits to current and previous SiriusXM customers, including one month's free service.
Turtles v. Sirius XM - SiriusXM will pay up to $ 99 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by The Turtles after satellite radio companies for years broadcast songs recorded before 1972 without a label or substitute artist.
See also
- Applied Media Technologies Corporation - Major distribution partner for SIRIUS commercial account
- Commercialization of space
- Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation, an auctioneer of SDARS license
- Dish Network
- Primosphere Limited Partnership, auction participant of SDARS license
- WorldSpace
References
External links
- Sirius Satellite Radio Official website (United States)
- The official website of Sirius Satellite Radio (Canada)
- Sirius Satellite Radio All channel access guides
- Sirius Satellite Radio Printable channel guide
- FCC Spectrum Award [3]
Source of the article : Wikipedia