Satellite radio

Overview
The satellite radio industry comprises two companies, Washington, DC-based XM Satellite Radio, Inc., and New York, NY-based SIRIUS. These companies broadcast to consumers audio content from dedicated satellites orbiting over the United States, in the form of “channels” that offer a wide variety of digital-quality music, sports, traffic, weather, and talk radio programming. Combined, these two companies provide satellite radio service to more than 11 million subscribers in the United States.

To listen to these broadcasts, a customer pays a monthly subscription fee to the company and uses a satellite radio receiver &mdash; a special audio device manufactured by various consumer electronics companies. Satellite radio receivers are available in different configurations for various listening environments (e.g., car, home stereo, and portable hand-held device).