Businessweek

Sirius XM Radio Inc. provides satellite radio services in the United States and Canada. The company broadcast its music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic, weather channels, and infotainment services. Subscribers can also receive music and other channels, plus new features, such as SiriusXM On Demand, over the Internet, including through applications for mobile devices. As of December 31, 2012, the company had 23,900,336 subscribers. Its subscribers included subscribers under its regular and discounted pricing plans; subscribers that have prepaid, including payments made or due from automakers for subscriptions included in the sale or lease price of a vehicle; certain radios activated for daily rental fleet programs; subscribers to its Internet services who do not also have satellite radio subscriptions; and certain subscribers to its weather, traffic, data and Backseat TV services. The company offers discounts for prepaid and long-term subscription plans, as well as discounts for multiple subscriptions on each platform. It also derives revenue from activation and other fees, the sale of advertising on select non-music channels, the direct sale of satellite radios and accessories, and other ancillary services, such as its weather, traffic, data and Backseat TV services. The company’s satellite radios are primarily distributed through automakers; retail locations nationwide; and through its Website. The company has agreements with every major automaker to offer satellite radios in their vehicles. Satellite radio services are also offered to customers of certain rental car companies. As of January 17, 2013, Liberty Media Corporation beneficially owned, directly and indirectly, approximately 50% of its common stock. Liberty Media Corporation owns interests in a range of media, communications and entertainment businesses, including its subsidiaries Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc. and TruePosition, Inc., its interests in Live Nation Entertainment, Barnes & Noble, and minority equity investments in Time Warner Inc. and Viacom. Programming The company offers a programming lineup of commercial-free music plus sports, entertainment, talk, news, traffic, and weather. The channel line-ups for the company’s services vary in certain respects and are available at siriusxm.com. The company’s subscription packages allow most listeners to improve its standard programming lineup. Its ‘XM Premier’ package offers subscribers the Howard Stern channels, SiriusXM NFL Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Playboy Radio, Sex Radio and play-by-play National Football League (NFL) games and college sports programming. The company’s ‘Sirius Premier’ package offers subscribers Oprah Radio, Opie and Anthony, SiriusXM Public Radio, MLB Network Radio, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and select play-by-play of National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) games and college sports programming. Subscribers with a la carte-capable radios may customize the programming they receive through its a la carte subscription packages. The company also offers family friendly, mostly music and mostly sports, news and talk packages. The company also offers an expanded channel lineup, including music, sports and comedy channels, as well as SiriusXM Latino, a suite of Latin channels, online and over certain new radios. These channels were the first phase of SiriusXM 2.0, an upgrade and evolution of its satellite and Internet delivered service that spans hardware, software, audio, and data services. Music Programming The company offers a selection of music genres, ranging from rock, pop and hip-hop to country, dance, jazz, Latin and classical. Within each genre it offers a range of formats, styles and recordings. All of the company’s original music channels are broadcast commercial free. Certain of its music channels are programmed by third parties and air commercials. The company’s channels are produced, programmed and hosted by a team of experts in their fields, and each channel is operated as an individual radio station, with a distinct format