This is topic Satellite Radio - anyone try it? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 06-28-2003, 11:00 PM:
 
I guess it costs about $10 a month. There seems to be only two companies; "XM" and Sirius. For your car, it seems like you have to mount a special antenna.. which I dislike since you usually have to make a hole.

I hate regular FM radio around here so much, I drive in silence. It's all violent rap or shock-jock shit. So I thought I'd give satellite radio a try.
 

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Posted by Kyle Watkins (Member # 986) on 06-28-2003, 11:15 PM:
 
I no a few peole with it. they all love it. alway some thing to listin too. they even have a few chanels of peole that have not made it "big" just starting out. you always have something to listin too.
once i get my new car here in a few weeks i puting it in. as with the antenna they have ones so u dont have to make a hole.
Kyle
 

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Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 06-29-2003, 01:16 AM:
 
If you are an audiophile, I imagine this is not the system for you. The sound quality I have heard I was not impressed with, highly compressed. But I guess that is the price you have to pay for so many choices.

Funny, I find myself saying that about a lot of things lately.....

Josh
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-29-2003, 01:20 AM:
 
I have it, and I also sell it at my day job. (We sell XM.)

If you have a lot of radio stations where you live, I could see where you could probably be happy without satellite radio, but out here in the sticks it's a godsend. Very few commercials -- in fact most of the best stations are commercial free. (Sirius is completely commercial free, but costs $3 more per month.)

As to the antennas -- they are getting smaller. The newest one we have is only about the size of a medium sized cookie. They are magnetic - there is no need for a hole in the car roof.

The two best things about it are,

1. Since the stations are not "programmed" by Madison Avenue or some huge conglomerate, the jocks are free to play just about anything they want within their format. As a result, you'll hear music you haven't heard in years and never expected to hear on the radio....even occasional stuff that's never been released on CD.

2. You will develop at least half a dozen or more "favorite" stations, so you can ALWAYS find something you want to hear.

Add to this the fact you can email your favorite stations' program director, AND THEY WILL WRITE BACK and listen to your suggestions. I tell ya, it's righteous.
 

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Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 06-29-2003, 01:31 AM:
 
When I did have a car, I had it & loved it.

I used XM and paid the $9.95 a month. I used mainly because I love stand up comedy and they had four sations to choose from. Ten bucks a month isn't a whole lot for something always good to listen to.

They did have to drill a hole in the top of my truck, but the Best Buy guys did a great job with the whole installation!


 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-29-2003, 02:24 PM:
 
I, too, would be interested in hearing about others' experiences with satellite radio. I would be happy to pay the $10/month or so if there really is a wide variety of programming, if there are few commercials, and if the sound quality is good enough to be listenable, at least in the car. If it sounds like 128k MP3 files, though, I'll pass. Hopefully they at least allocate more bandwidth to the music stations than to the talk stations and don't compress everything to hell like most commercial FM stations, all of which are trying to be the loudest station on the dial.

Commercial radio is sucking more and more by the minute and some recent FCC decisions are likely to cause it to suck even more in the forseeable future. Thank you, Clear Channel...
 

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-29-2003, 04:56 PM:
 
I'll tell you what....We have our feed of country formats and rock-and-roll formats which orginate in Texas via ABC. It comes in on GE-8, with the Starguide III receivers. Works nice. Except for one small minor insignificant detail. Sunspots kick us off the air.

For home entertainment, you can expect the same thing.

Scott, you are right. Radio sucks. Many radio stations know that the "talk format" is really taking hold. When Josh and I was with Brad earlier this month, we listened to a "talk format" and it was hilarious!

The broadcasting industry found that if they want to keep their ratings up, the solution is to put more assholes on the air.
 

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Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 06-29-2003, 05:51 PM:
 
"Is there a way out? Yes, piracy, radio piracy..."
An intersting quote I once found in a book.

Josh
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-30-2003, 12:37 AM:
 
Radio signals are free. Hard to pirate them. Unless you can make them even more free. That would rock. For every 10 minutes I listen to the radio, $100 is added to my bank account.
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 06-30-2003, 12:41 AM:
 
XM satalite radio is beamed to cars through two satalites, "Rock" and "Roll". Together they cover the USA and parts of Canada with a 70 megawatt signal. In urban areas, where high-rise buildings block the signal, XM ground repeaters are used. They only operate thier 100 chanel network on 12.5MHz, so they only have 125kHz of bandwidth for each channel. they have not made public the information about what compression they use to fit music into this small a pipeline. (interesting to note that every XM reciever has a chip for EPAC decoding ) As for voice, it is known that they use the AMBE algorithm for talk channels.

By my listening tests, XM sounds a lot better than FM, an impressive feat since most Fm stations have 75% more bandwidth. However, it's nowhere near cd quality as XM advertise it to be.

[ 06-30-2003, 02:10 AM: Message edited by: Mike Olpin ]
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 06-30-2003, 09:42 AM:
 
I have XM and enjoy it a lot. I'm a Fox News junkie, and it's nice to be able to listen to my favorite shows in the car while I drive. It's true that the audio is compressed A LOT and the sound quality is bad if you listen carefully. Kinda sounds like a low bit rate MP3. For the most part, it seems "good enough" for what I use it for - in the car, and around the house.

The Special X channel is cool. I've heard probably a hundred songs on that channel, and the only one I was familiar with is Day-O. Then you have the Comedy channels, and the old time radio channels, Nascar, etc. Lots of stuff to listen to. If you spend a lot of time in the car, and are tired of over the air radio, I recommend it highly. It's very entertaining.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-30-2003, 02:54 PM:
 

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However, it's nowhere near cd quality as XM advertise it to be.

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Actually they say it's "remarkably close to CD quality" in the latest brochure. It says here they use "aacPlus audio encoding by Coding Technologies, and Neural Audio optimization."

XM and Sirius' major target market is drivers. I would bet that 90% or more of drivers wouldn't be able to tell the difference between XM and CD, given the quality of 99.9% of car audio systems combined with road noise.
 

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Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 06-30-2003, 03:41 PM:
 
I remember we had the snipes for "Radio XM" a few years ago, never saw or head anything about Radio XM after they ran their run.

Mike, What kind of display unit do you have to intall in your car. how big is it and is it bolted or glued to the dash?
thanks.

Scott, my friend is a country radio dj and she worked for Clear Channel, no longer she quit. The stories she told me about them would explained why they suck.
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 06-30-2003, 04:14 PM:
 
I do not know about Alaska but Hawaii has pretty much everything the original 48 states have except satellite radio. Because of the way a satellie is set up, Hawaii is out of the range to receive a signal from the orbiter. This was the same problem with satellite direct TV. Now that another satellite in a better position in orbit, local subscribers can finally buy the dish system and watch TV programming. The same thing will happen if satellite radio becomes popular. I wish I had it in my car now because our only local classical music station in Honolulu do not play the kind of music I enjoy. The music in the morning always seem to be devoted to modern music when I am more partial to music from the Renaissance up to the Romantic period. Yes, I do enjoy Copeland, Mahler Stravinsky, Shostakovich and others but I prefer Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Handel and music that preceded them and I think satellite radio will give me that choice if the service was available here.

-Claude
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-30-2003, 06:11 PM:
 
Sirius is clearly the underdog on the digital satellite radio service market with XM attracting more subscribers. However, if I were to buy XM or Sirius I would strongly consider the latter.

One of my female friends had a Sirius setup installed in her Honda Accord Special Edition. I forget the brand of receiver (I think it might have been a Panasonic) but the thing was pretty slick. One plus over XM, you don't have to get holes drilled in your vehicle. Her little domed satellite receiver thingie has an adhesive back and the wiring coming from it has a protective covering (the wires run into the trunk through the seam separating the trunk panel from the rear window). Overall it looked like a neat installation. OTOH, I have seen XM installations with a regular looking antennae and exposed wire. That's kind of ghetto looking and an invitation to vandals.

I agree with Josh Jones on the audio quality. Both XM and Sirius leave a bit to be desired on the quality end. A lot of it seems brassy, metallic, thin and somewhat harsh. Sure, you can get some decent bottom end response on the music, perhaps better than FM radio. However, different frequenc sub bands feel cancelled out, which makes the character of the audio less "full" sounding than a good FM broadcast.

The main "plus" about these services is the variety, uncensored content, commercial free programming and the really really nice thing of having the receiver spell out the artist and title of the freaking song. I hate radio discjockies that yammer on about useless crap and then don't say the name of the new tune they just played.

One thing to keep in mind between FM broadcasts and the satellite services, many FM stations now use computerized servers to play back much of their programming. So, in many cases, you're still listening to data compressed audio. On the upside, most of these systems don't compress the original LPCM audio track any more than 4:1 (making that a little higher in bandwidth than a 2.0 channel MP3 encoding at 320kb/s).
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-30-2003, 08:50 PM:
 
William: You can go several ways...Delphi makes a separate display unit that sits on a "cradle" anywhere you can fit it. You can either wire this through your existing FM antenna, or you can use a cassette adaptor to play it through an existing cassette deck.

OR, you can get a new stereo (or a new car )that has XM built in.

OR, you can add an FM-modulated unit to an existing car stereo -- this type has a small 1x3" display that attaches to the dashboard. With this option (and with the "new stereo" option) you'll get a small tuner box about the size of a book that fits into the trunk or wherever.

The plus feature of the the Delphi unit is that you can add additional car hookup kits to move the tuner to more than one vehicle. You can also add-on a "home kit" that allows you to play the same tuner through a home stereo; and a "boombox kit" that turns the tuner into a boombox.

You can see pictures of all this stuff at www.xmradio.com. I'm sure Sirius has many of the same types of units, although they don't have one like the Delphi that I'm aware of.

Bobby - XM has the stick-on antennas too. Terk (and probably other companies) makes them.
 

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Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 07-01-2003, 02:52 PM:
 
Thanks Mike for the info.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-02-2003, 12:43 PM:
 

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Together they cover the USA and parts of Canada with a 70 megawatt signal

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Those satellites must have quite the nuclear reactor to generate that kind of power. Methinks the power is somewhat lower.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-02-2003, 01:55 PM:
 
Yes....10 megawatts, actually.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-02-2003, 02:00 PM:
 
Doing a web search, it's only 3 kilowatts:

http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/9600.html

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Broadcasting at 3,000 Watts

XM Roll will operate in geosynchronous orbit at 85 degrees west longitude over the United States. Like Rock, which is stationed at 115 degrees west longitude, it carries a digital audio radio payload built by Alcatel Space Industries (NYSE: ALA) that features two active transponders, each with 16 active (and 6 spare) 228-watt amplifiers generating some 3,000 watts of radio frequency (RF) signal power, making them the most powerful commercial transponders ever built, XM said.

Rock and Roll each have two wings with five panels of solar cells to generate power in space. When fully deployed, the wings span 132.5 feet. The satellites, with a 15-year expected lifespan, were manufactured by BSS, a unit of The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA). XM said its third satellite, a spare, is undergoing final testing.

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The company's XM-2 satellite, dubbed "Rock," was sent into orbit by Sea Launch on March 18.

Each of the XM satellites weighs 10,322 pounds (4,682 kilograms) and are designed to operate 15 years. When fully deployed, the satellites' electricity-generating solar arrays stretch more than 134 feet (40 meters), which is longer than the wingspan of a Boeing 757.

The satellites are equipped with two transponders and each of those are capable of broadcasting 3,000 watts of radio frequency signal power, making them the highest power commercial transponders ever built, according to Boeing. That means that on the ground the receiving antennas can be very small.

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Their commercials with performers like David Bowie and Snoop Dogg

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quote: Pravin Ratnam

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I was going car shopping and I was amazed at how bad the sound quality is for both Sirius and XM.

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Both XM and Sirius run all of their satellite radio channels at bit rates of merely a puny 96 kilobits per second. Pretty bad.

HD Digital Radio is even worse. The "HD" in the brand name is an extreme insult to anyone with any level of intelligence at all. At best, a HD Digital Radio station will be broadcast at 96kb/s. But very often the bitrate is dumped down to a mere 64kb/s. On top of that, thanks to some nice greedy, typical corporate politics, HD Digital Radio uses an inferior "PAC" codec that is not as efficent as the codecs used by XM and Sirius.

Sit back and relax in the swirling, metallic, brazzy and harsh quality of ultra-compressed digital radio! Yay!


I am very confident in my predictions the Internet will eventually lay waste to standard paradigms of television broadcasting. When Internet bandwidths achieve average connection speeds of 30Mb/s to 100Mb/s (which will happen in just a few years) you will see the state of over the air broadcasts, cable and satellite all change very radically.

The same is now going to happen to radio. That's because standard over the air radio and satellite radio cannot step up to the demand of improving. The guys currently running the business all subscribe to the bankrupt "lets do as little as possible" ethic when delivering the product to the customer. Those very very low bit rates are going to end up costing them dearly.

Lots of different radio stations already make it possible to listen to them via an Internet connection. When high bandwidth broadband Internet is common, what is it going to hurt to allow people to listen to the music in full LPCM quality or a great deal better (like 5.1 24/96)?

Technologies like WiMax will soon be rolled out and start covering the entire nation (and much of the rest of the world) with very fast broadband capability. Currently our telecoms are in a lethargic state of comfort, not quick to do anything to make American customers benefit from much higher quality service. They won't be able to do that much longer.

In the long run, your car, your phone, your notebook and perhaps some other digital devices will be able to get online anywhere anytime at very high data rates. That will make any form of video or radio possible. And the low bit rate stuff is just not going to last.
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 02-07-2007, 08:30 PM:
 
I have listened to more baseball games in the last two years of having XM than in the rest of my life combined. I use a modulator in my truck and my wife's car is hard wired, but for baseball games it really doesn't matter much. Although I do not follow it, I think it is also crazy popular with NASCAR fans.

I think people that want that exceptional sound will have their song of choice on hand anyway and won't need it to randomly be played on satellite, or traditional, radio.
 

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Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 02-07-2007, 11:23 PM:
 
Yep, every single baseball game played is on there, and there is nothing better than a ball game on the radio, whether sitting around at the cottage or driving across the country and NEVER losing the signal. I've driven across the country a few times now, and XM has kept me sane. XM is the way to go if you love baseball, I believe hockey is on there and alot of college sports. Nascar I think is moving to Sirius and football is there. Comedy or any kind of music you can think of, no commercials. No going back to "terrestrial" radio as they call it. Didn't have to drill any holes either. I think they're pretty similar from what I've heard.
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 02-07-2007, 11:30 PM:
 
This might have been discussed earlier, but I didn't see it... there's rumors going around that XM and Sirius might end up merging... I dont know if that would be a good or bad thing?
 

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Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 02-07-2007, 11:46 PM:
 
Nope, didn't try Satellite Radio, even though my Kenwood In-Dash CD Player is Sirius Ready. I just like to enjoy my CD's which is good enough for me.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-08-2007, 01:34 AM:
 
I don't think it'll happen. The anti-trust people would be all over that like a cheap suit.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-08-2007, 09:36 AM:
 
I don't know about that. There's hardly been any activity on anti-trust matters over the past several years. Considering some of the giant mergers that have happened in the oil industry, telecommunications and others, I hardly think its out of the question for XM and Sirius to merge.

Even in the area of radio, look how big the government has allowed ClearChannel to grow. Over 70% of pre-recorded music distributed and sold is coming from just 4 multi-national corporations.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-08-2007, 12:36 PM:
 
True, but an XM/Sirius merger would create a monopoly since they are the only two sat radio providers.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-08-2007, 12:44 PM:
 
I've heard similar rumblings about a DirecTV and Echostar (Dish Network) merger. But that would seem to have even less of a chance of going through. If it does happen, a XM-Sirius merger would seem even more likely.
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 02-08-2007, 02:57 PM:
 
It would kind of surprise me if they merged. XM still has almost twice the subscribers and the NFL and NASCAR packages Sirius bought were very expensive. Reportedly, the NFL deal was 7 years, $230 mil and NASCAR was 5 years, $107 mil. Add that to Howard Stern costing $700 mil over 5 years and Martha Stewart adding a comparitively small $29 mil over 4 years, and they have a lot of money going out. True, XM did crank out $650 mil of their own for baseball, but the studies have shown that many more fans have bought XM for baseball than Sirius for football.
 

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Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 02-08-2007, 08:44 PM:
 
A lot of Nascar fans were upset after buy XM equipment a few years ago only to have it go over to Sirius this year. Apparently, Sirius paid far more than XM was willing to spend. I guess the real people to blame are the folks at Nascar.

By the way, I have XM. I've been satisfied for 3 1/2 years now. Commercials are terrible!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-09-2007, 12:55 PM:
 
So far, I haven't had any complaints from customers about the loss of NASCAR. Personally I can't see much of the appeal in listening to cars drive around in a circle on the radio.
 

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Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 02-09-2007, 01:00 PM:
 
As opposed to a bunch of baseball players running around in a circle?
 

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Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 02-19-2007, 09:57 PM:
 
Forget rumor the rumors, they are merging! I just caught this press release while browsing the XM website. To all those interested, there will be a webcast tomorrow (2/20) morning at 8:30 am ET. Click here for more information on the webcast. Below is the press release from Sirius' News Releases.

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SIRIUS and XM to Combine in $13 Billion Merger of Equals
Provides Consumers with Enhanced Content, Greater Choices and Accelerated Technological Innovation
Enables Satellite Radio to Better Compete in Rapidly Evolving Audio Entertainment Industry
Extraordinary Value Creation for Shareholders
Mel Karmazin to Serve as Chief Executive Officer and Gary Parsons to Serve as Chairman of Combined Company

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR - News) and SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI - News) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement, under which the companies will be combined in a tax-free, all-stock merger of equals with a combined enterprise value of approximately $13 billion, which includes net debt of approximately $1.6 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, XM shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 4.6 shares of SIRIUS common stock for each share of XM they own. XM and SIRIUS shareholders will each own approximately 50 percent of the combined company.

Mel Karmazin, currently Chief Executive Officer of SIRIUS, will become Chief Executive Officer of the combined company and Gary Parsons, currently Chairman of XM, will become Chairman of the combined company. The new company's board of directors will consist of 12 directors, including Messrs. Karmazin and Parsons, four independent members designated by each company, as well as one representative from each of General Motors and American Honda. Hugh Panero, the Chief Executive Officer of XM, will continue in his current role until the anticipated close of the merger.

The combined company will benefit from a highly experienced management team from both companies with extensive industry knowledge in radio, media, consumer electronics, OEM engineering and technology. Further management appointments will be announced prior to closing. The companies will continue to operate independently until the transaction is completed and will work together to determine the combined company's corporate name and headquarters location prior to closing.

The combination creates a nationwide audio entertainment provider with combined 2006 revenues of approximately $1.5 billion based on analysts' consensus estimates. Today the companies have approximately 14 million combined subscribers. Together, SIRIUS and XM will create a stronger platform for future innovation within the audio entertainment industry and will provide significant benefits to all constituencies, including:

* Greater Programming and Content Choices -- The combined company is
committed to consumer choice, including offering consumers the ability
to pick and choose the channels and content they want on a more a la
carte basis. The combined company will also provide consumers with a
broader selection of content, including a wide range of commercial-free
music channels, exclusive and non-exclusive sports coverage, news,
talk, and entertainment programming. Together, XM and SIRIUS will be
able to improve on products such as real-time traffic and rear-seat
video and introduce new ones such as advanced data services including
enhanced traffic, weather and infotainment offerings.

* Accelerated Technological Innovation -- The merger will enable the
combined company to develop and introduce a wider range of lower cost,
easy-to-use, and multi-functional devices through efficiencies in chip
set and radio design and procurement. Such innovation is essential to
remaining competitive in the consumer electronics-driven world of audio
entertainment.

* Benefits to OEM and Retail Partners -- The combined company will offer
automakers and retailers the opportunity to provide a broader content
offering to their customers. Consumer electronics retailers, including
Best Buy, Circuit City, RadioShack, Wal-Mart and others, will benefit
from enhanced product offerings that should allow satellite radio to
compete more effectively.

* Enhanced Financial Performance -- This transaction will enhance the
long-term financial success of satellite radio by allowing the combined
company to better manage its costs through sales and marketing and
subscriber acquisition efficiencies, satellite fleet synergies, combined
R&D and other benefits from economies of scale. Wall Street equity
analysts have published estimates of the present value of cost synergies
ranging from $3 billion to $7 billion.

* More Competitive Audio Entertainment Provider -- The combination of an
enhanced programming lineup with improved technology, distribution and
financials will better position satellite radio to compete for
consumers' attention and entertainment dollars against a host of
products and services in the highly competitive and rapidly evolving
audio entertainment marketplace. In addition to existing competition
from free "over-the-air" AM and FM radio as well as iPods and mobile
phone streaming, satellite radio will face new challenges from the rapid
growth of HD Radio, Internet radio and next generation wireless
technologies.

"We are excited for the many opportunities that an XM and SIRIUS combination will provide consumers," said Gary Parsons, Chairman of XM Satellite Radio and Hugh Panero, CEO of XM Satellite Radio, in a joint statement. "The combined company will be better positioned to compete effectively with the continually expanding array of entertainment alternatives that consumers have embraced since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first granted our satellite radio licenses a decade ago."

"This combination is the next logical step in the evolution of audio entertainment," said Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS Satellite Radio. "Together, our best-in-class management team and programming content will create unprecedented choice for consumers, while creating long-term value for shareholders of both companies. The combined company will be positioned to capitalize on SIRIUS and XM's complementary distribution and licensing agreements to enhance availability of satellite radios, offer expanded content to subscribers, drive increased advertising revenue and reduce expenses. Each of our companies has a strong commitment to providing listeners the broadest range of music, news, sports and entertainment and the best customer service possible. We look forward to sharing the benefits of the exciting new growth opportunities this combination will provide with all of our stakeholders."

The transaction is subject to approval by both companies' shareholders, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory review and approvals, including antitrust agencies and the FCC. Pending regulatory approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed by the end of 2007.

SIRIUS's financial advisor on the transaction is Morgan Stanley and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Wiley Rein LLP are acting as legal counsel. XM's financial advisor on the transaction is J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; Jones Day; and Latham & Watkins LLP are acting as legal counsel.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

The companies will hold a joint conference call and webcast on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 8:30 AM ET to discuss this announcement. The conference call can be monitored by dialing 800-573-4840 within the U.S. and 617-224-4326 for all other locations, passcode 29490052. The webcast can be accessed at http://www.sirius.com and http://www.xmradio.com as well as on their satellite radio services by tuning to SIRIUS channel 122 and XM channel 200. The webcast will be archived at http://www.sirius.com and http://www.xmradio.com.

About SIRIUS

SIRIUS, "The Best Radio on Radio," delivers more than 130 channels of the best programming in all of radio. SIRIUS is the original and only home of 100% commercial free music channels in satellite radio, offering 69 music channels. SIRIUS also delivers 65 channels of sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather and data. SIRIUS is the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL, NASCAR, NBA and NHL, and broadcasts live play-by-play games of the NFL, NBA and NHL, as well as live NASCAR races. All SIRIUS programming is available for a monthly subscription fee of only $12.95.

SIRIUS Internet Radio (SIR) is a CD-quality, Internet-only version of the SIRIUS radio service, without the use of a radio, for the monthly subscription fee of $12.95. SIR delivers more than 75 channels of talk, entertainment, sports, and 100% commercial free music.

SIRIUS products for the car, truck, home, RV and boat are available in more than 25,000 retail locations, including Best Buy, Circuit City, Crutchfield, Costco, Target, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, RadioShack and at http://shop.sirius.com.

SIRIUS radios are offered in vehicles from Audi, Bentley, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep®, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercury, Maybach, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Rolls Royce, Scion, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo. Hertz also offers SIRIUS in its rental cars at major locations around the country.

Click on http://www.sirius.com to listen to SIRIUS live, or to purchase a SIRIUS radio and subscription.

About XM

XM (Nasdaq: XMSR - News) is America's number one satellite radio company with more than 7.6 million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago, the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Toronto and Montreal, XM's 2007 lineup includes more than 170 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: commercial-free music, premier sports, news, talk radio, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and the most advanced traffic and weather information.

XM, the leader in satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota is available in 140 different vehicle models for 2007. XM's industry-leading products are available at consumer electronics retailers nationwide. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, please visit http://www.xmradio.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the business combination transaction involving Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., including potential synergies and cost savings and the timing thereof, future financial and operating results, the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "may," or words of similar meaning. Such forward- looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of SIRIUS' and XM's management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of SIRIUS and XM. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statement: general business and economic conditions; the performance of financial markets and interest rates; the ability to obtain governmental approvals of the transaction on a timely basis; the failure of SIRIUS and XM shareholders to approve the transaction; the failure to realize synergies and cost-savings from the transaction or delay in realization thereof; the businesses of SIRIUS and XM may not be combined successfully, or such combination may take longer, be more difficult, time-consuming or costly to accomplish than expected; and operating costs and business disruption following the merger, including adverse effects on employee retention and on our business relationships with third parties, including manufacturers of radios, retailers, automakers and programming providers. Additional factors that could cause SIRIUS' and XM's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in SIRIUS' and XM's Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2006, June 30, 2006 and September 30, 2006 which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov). The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and Sirius and XM disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.

Important Additional Information Will be Filed with the SEC

This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination involving SIRIUS and XM. In connection with the proposed transaction, SIRIUS plans to file with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 containing a Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and each of SIRIUS and XM plan to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. The definitive Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus will be mailed to stockholders of SIRIUS and XM. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF SIRIUS AND XM ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC by SIRIUS and XM through the web site maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC can also be obtained by directing a request to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, Attention: Investor Relations or by directing a request to XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., 1500 Eckington Place, NE Washington, DC 20002, Attention: Investor Relations.

SIRIUS, XM and their respective directors and executive officers and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information regarding SIRIUS' directors and executive officers is available in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 13, 2006, and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 21, 2006, and information regarding XM's directors and executive officers is available in XM's Annual Report on Form 10-K, for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 3, 2006 and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 25, 2006. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available.

Contacts

SIRIUS
Media Relations
Patrick Reilly
212-901-6646
PReilly@siriusradio.com

Investor Relations
Paul Blalock
212-584-5174
PBlalock@siriusradio.com

Hooper Stevens
212-901-6718
HStevens@siriusradio.com

XM
Media Relations
Nathaniel Brown
212-708-6170
Nathaniel.Brown@xmradio.com

Chance Patterson
202-380-4318
Chance.Patterson@xmradio.com

Investor Relations
Joseph Wilkinson
202-380-4008
Joe.Wilkinson@xmradio.com

Richard Sloane
202-380-1439
Richard.Sloane@xmradio.com

Source: SIRIUS Satellite Radio; XM Satellite Radio

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Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 02-19-2007, 10:58 PM:
 
This is exciting.

Although I hate the quality of the audio, I mostly use Sirius for the talk show programming. I previously had XM and each company has their ups and downs. XM's reception was better, but I have found Sirius to have better programming

Hopefully they will be able to combine all programming and satellite capabilities to give better programming and reception.

Even if I'm required to purchase a new tuner, it would be a great tradeoff if it meant better content and reception.
 

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Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 02-19-2007, 11:02 PM:
 
I heard about this on the news today. I also heard rumblings earlier this year about the satellite radio guys scrapping the music stuff and going to a strictly data service.

JJ
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-21-2007, 01:40 AM:
 
We have nothing like that here or in Australia AFAIK, but at home on the internet I listen to Live365.com . Same theory where you can hear whatever you want to hear whenever you want to hear it...on what they claim are about 10,000 stations. There are some commercials on the free version, bu you can pay about 4 bucks a month and get it all commercial free.

I haven't listened to a 'normal' radio station at home in years...never will, I think.
 

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 02-22-2007, 07:44 PM:
 
I've had Sirius for a couple of years, and agree with Mike that it is a really nice service to have if you live in rural areas. I'm a Farmer (doesn't everyone need a day job!), and in my busy seasons I will spend 12-16 hours a day driving a tractor, sprayer, or harvester. The variety that Sirius radio provides is a godsend.

Now the down side. The sound quality really sucks. In the tractor, I listen through Bose noise reducing headphones, and the audio sounds a lot like MP3 at 32 kb/s (mono). Sirius uses variable bit rate encoding and the talk channels sound much worse than the music channels. I have a hunch that Howard Stern's two channels get a little more bandwidth than the typical music channel because sound quality there is closer to what I consider acceptable. Everyone seems to have a different tolerance for digital audio compression - I have friends who think that Satellite radio sounds just fine. Its also crossed my mind that Sirius and XM keep the audio compressed to such an extreme to protect against piracy. It would not surprise me if Record company executives would not allow mass distribution of high bandwidth digital audio. How easy it would be to copy and distribute!
I think I've rambled on enough!
Steve
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-22-2007, 07:47 PM:
 
Audio on XM is just fine except on voice only/data channels. Those who complain likely have uncool receivers. I hear some problems in the car, but they disappear on the Polk unit at home. Louis
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-22-2007, 08:40 PM:
 
Steven - if you're listening thru an FM modulator, you might consider switching to a stereo that has "aux in" jacks and then plugging your satellite radio in directly.

I've heard quite a few people say that XM has better sound quality but I've never heard Sirius, so can't say myself.
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 02-22-2007, 10:54 PM:
 
Sounds about like AM radio to me.
 

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 02-23-2007, 07:26 AM:
 
Mike, I use a small 12 volt powered headphone amp to drive my Bose headphones. This amp is connected to the line out jacks on the sirius receiver.
Steve
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-23-2007, 06:57 PM:
 
Satellite radio is the only thing that comes in out in the desert and along the Pony Express Trail. Its great!

Mark
 

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Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 02-23-2007, 10:11 PM:
 
I have XM and never have had an audio problem. I personally feel XM is far superior than Sirius.

Also, O & A pwns Howard
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 02-24-2007, 12:16 AM:
 
to Opie and Anthony...
 

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Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 02-24-2007, 07:33 AM:
 
For me, it's Don & Mike

Of course, they're only on terrestrial radio, and syndicated on the station where my husband works. Maybe I have a bias.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-24-2007, 09:20 AM:
 
I'll second that, Mike!
 

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Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 02-24-2007, 12:39 PM:
 
I don't mind Opie and Anthony. I can't stand Ron and Fez.
 

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Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 02-24-2007, 08:14 PM:
 
The announcement IS NOT that they're merging..it's that they want to merge. It's still subject to regulatory approval and while I've been wrong before, I don't think they'll get it.

As far as sound quality is concerned, at least with my receiver (one of the early Sirius ones), it sucks. Listen to the left minus right out of phase difference signal. It sounds like the sound effects they use in movies when they show a satellite orbiting in space. Now listen to the difference signal off another source, like a CD. The compression and encoding of satellite seems to destroy the stereo phase information. One of these days, I'll get a different receiver and see if it makes a difference.

Sometimes I listen to XM via AOL on my computer. With my little Harmon-Kardon computer speakers, it sounds fine.
 

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