Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio (DARS) service in the United States that provides 65 streams (channels) of music and 55 streams of sports, news and entertainment. Music streams on Sirius contain almost every type of music genre imaginable, broadcasting 24 hours a day, commercial free. With any Sirius-enabled radio, the user can see the artist and song information on display while listening to the stream. The streams are broadcast from three satellites in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit above North America.
Sirius is based in New York City. Its business model is to provide pay-for-service radio, free of commercials, analogous to the business model for cable television. Sirius competes with XM Satellite Radio. Subscription costs for Sirius range from $12.95/mo. to $499.99 for a lifetime subscription (of the receiver, not the subscriber). A $10 activation fee is also required.
Sirius' spacecraft Sirius 1 through Sirius 4 were manufactured by Space Systems/Loral. The first three of the series were orbited in 2000 by Proton-K Block-DM3 launch vehicles. Sirius 4 is a ground spare, in storage at SS/Loral's facility in Palo Alto, California.
Sirius was previously known as CD Radio. The dog in the Sirius logo is unofficially named "Mongo," a name garnished from the debut of Sirius Satellite Radio's sponsorship on Jimmy Spencer's NASCAR entry, when the announcing cast voted on names.
Sirius recently announced a partnership with Standard Broadcasting and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation with the intent of introducing satellite radio service to Canada.
On October 6, 2004 Sirius announced that it signed a five-year, $500-million agreement with shock jock Howard Stern to move his radio show to Sirius starting on January 1, 2006, much to the chagrin of his current employer Infinity Broadcasting. Stern complained repeatedly on his show that he was very dissatisfied with the excessive FCC regulation of terrestrial radio, especially when it became more intense in the wake of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl controversy.
On November 18, 2004 the former COO and President of Viacom, Mel Karmazin, was named the CEO of Sirius.
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