SIRIUS Canada Marks 100,000th Subscriber, Increases Lineup to 110 Channels

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(CCNMatthews - May 10, 2006) -

With 110 full-time channels, SIRIUS Canada offers the most commercial-free music, dedicated sports, news and exclusive entertainment programming in Canada

SIRIUS Canada Inc. announced today that it has achieved a key milestone in its performance to-date having surpassed 100,000 subscribers nationwide. With the best content and programming, SIRIUS Canada is the country’s leading satellite radio service and is the number one choice among Canadian satellite radio subscribers.

“In just over five months we have reached 100,000 subscribers exceeding all of our expectations, and our growth continues to climb,” said Mark Redmond, President and CEO, SIRIUS Canada Inc. “SIRIUS fans are loving the wide range of commercial-free music, leading news and sports programming, and exclusive content from Howard Stern, Lance Armstrong, Martha Stewart Living Radio, the CFL and the NFL.”

“I would also like to thank all of our customers, our many distribution partners and the entire SIRIUS Canada team for this amazing achievement. We look forward to introducing more Canadians to the SIRIUS Satellite Radio phenomenon as we continue to add new content, hardware and distribution agreements in the near future.”

SIRIUS Canada Adds More Exclusive “A-List” Programming

In celebration of reaching this important milestone, the company also announced that it will take its premium satellite radio offering to 110 channels with the addition of 10 new full-time channels to its lineup. SIRIUS Canada will add three commercial-free music and seven news and entertainment channels including the tremendously popular Howard 101, Lime, CNN Headline News, FOX News Talk, and from Canada’s leading weather information provider, The Weather Network Satellite Radio Service. Now with 65 commercial-free music channels, SIRIUS Canada offers the most commercial-free music choice among satellite radio providers in Canada. The additional channels will be available within the next four weeks.

Press Release

The Archdiocese of New York and SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) will create and collaborate on The Catholic Channel. The lifestyle radio channel will air nationally seven days a week, 24 hours a day and will feature contemporary talk, music programming and live daily masses from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

Launching this fall exclusively on SIRIUS, The Catholic Channel will feature a modern format with an open dialogue focused on Catholicism in the 21st Century, especially as it is lived in today’s world. Listeners will be encouraged to call in to talk about the issues that are on their mind and in the news - everything from what’s happening in the Church today, to the headline stories of current events and politics, and the latest in the world of entertainment, the arts and sports. They will interact with hosts who will bring a Catholic perspective to the world around us. Daily program hosts and guests will include members of the clergy and distinguished laity from across the land. Regular and previously unavailable content from The Vatican will also be a part of the channel, including programming from Vatican Radio.

The Catholic Channel programming will also include human interest stories and inspirational themes, shows offering counseling and guidance, educational programs, musical content, and daily Mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. A detailed schedule with specific programs and hosts will be announced prior to launch.

A prominent contributor to The Catholic Channel will be His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, who will periodically appear exclusively on the channel.

Cardinal Egan said, “The Catholic Channel represents a splendid opportunity for the Church in the United States. By using this modern medium, we will be able to communicate directly with the Catholic faithful as well as anyone of any religious faith who might be interested in what the Catholic Church is saying and doing here in New York and around the country. SIRIUS Satellite Radio has my sincere thanks for making this channel become a reality.”

“This partnership with the Archdiocese is a significant step forward in our development and mission to provide our listeners with the finest and most distinctive Christian programming in radio,” said Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS. “The talented and diverse personalities who will guide this channel and the special contributions of His Eminence Cardinal Egan will make The Catholic Channel an extraordinary experience for our audience.”

NEW YORK – May 9, 2006 – SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) today announced the newest generation of its popular “Plug & Play” radios, the Sportster4.

At just 4.5” x 2.5” x .6” and weighing 4.2 ounces, the Sportster4 is 40 percent smaller than the Sportster Replay, while still maintaining a large, easy-to-read 6-line scrolling display and rotary tuning knob.

With an MSRP of $169.99, the Sportster4 is scheduled to be available later this month.

“The new Sportster4 includes all of the key features that helped make the Sportster series the best selling Plug & Play in satellite radio, only now in a smaller, sleeker package,” said Bob Law, Senior Vice President and General Manager Consumer Electronics Division for SIRIUS.

The Sportster4, conveniently transportable between home and car, is very easy to use and comes with a smaller dock for attractive installation. Special features include:

* A replay feature that allows users to pause, rewind and replay up to 44 minutes of live SIRIUS programming, and play back individual selections from the buffer
* SIRIUS Game Zone™ that lets users select favorite teams from each of the sports leagues, including NFL, NBA and NHL, and view scores on one screen
* SIRIUS Game Alert™ that advises users when their favorite teams begin playing and when scores change
* MEMO with S-Seek Alert stores names of favorite artists, songs and programs, and alerts users when playing on any channel
* Program alert that allows users to program the Sportster4 to switch to a selected channel at a specific time
* One-touch Jump™ that takes users to and from their local SIRIUS traffic and weather broadcast or any favorite SIRIUS music, sports or talk channel with the touch of a button
* A new vehicle dock with an auxiliary input for MP3 players

Sportster4 also boasts 30 presets, parental controls, a real-time satellite updated clock with 7 times zones, auto shutdown and sleep timer. Sportster4 includes the receiver, remote control, vehicle docking station, suction cup and vent clip mounting options featuring a standard AMPS bolt pattern and auxiliary input for MP3 players, vehicle power adapter and magnetic ultra low profile antenna. A boombox and other new accessories will be available this summer.

As part of its 125 channels of programming, including commercial free music, news, talk and entertainment, SIRIUS broadcasts play-by-play action from more than 350 professional and college teams including coverage of the NFL, NBA, NHL, AFL, Barclays English Premier League soccer, the Wimbledon Championships and live coverage of several of the year’s top thoroughbred horse races.

SIRIUS is the only radio service that provides listeners with every NFL game, and airs over 1000 NBA games per season, plus up to 40 NHL games per week. SIRIUS also features programming from ESPN Radio and ESPNews. And, starting in January 2007, SIRIUS becomes the exclusive satellite radio home of all NASCAR races and a 24-7 dedicated NASCAR talk channel.

Yesterday (May 5th) Sirius Backstage hit the 20,000 member mark. The 20,000th member was The Toilet. Thank you to all of our members for making Sirius Backstage the largest and greatest Sirius community out there. And on behalf of all of the moderators I’d like to thank TulaneJeff for founding and putting so many man hours behind Sirius Backstage.

For you history lovers out there here is some history about Backstage:

On February 14, 2002, SIRIUS Satellite Radio debuted a completely revolutionary new nationwide radio service. SIRIUS Backstage was originally sparked as a weblog to cover news and host photos of the SIRIUS service launch.

On September 20, 2002, SIRIUS Backstage launched their online forums, and soon afterward began an initiative to become the PREMIER online satellite radio community and fan site.

Press Release Source: SIRIUS Satellite Radio

Deepak Chopra, World Renowned Mind and Body Expert and Author, to Host Weekly Show on SIRIUS Satellite RadioThursday May 4, 8:00 am ET
‘Deepak Chopra’s Wellness Radio’ will take calls on health, spirituality, relationships and success
Saturday mornings on SIRIUS Stars, channel 102.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio ( announced today that Deepak Chopra, best-selling author and leader in the field of mind and body medicine, will host a live, weekly three hour health and wellness call-in talk show, Saturday mornings on SIRIUS.

Deepak Chopra’s Wellness Radio will debut in Summer 2006 exclusively on SIRIUS. Each week Chopra will discuss the areas of health, spirituality, relationships and success. Often putting today’s news in the context of mind and body wellness, Chopra will teach, explain, inform, nurture and advise his listeners nationwide. Listeners will be able to call in for personal one-on- one conversations. Deepak Chopra’s Wellness Radio will air every Saturday morning on SIRIUS Stars, channel 102.

“With SIRIUS I hope to reach a critical mass of people with a message of self development and personal and social transformation,” said Chopra. “I will be focusing on four areas — success; love, sexuality and relationships; well being; and spirituality. My hope is to develop a more personal relationship with a back and forth communication, something that I haven’t been able to do with my books.”

“Deepak Chopra’s exceptional success as a doctor, author and teacher has touched the lives of millions of people. Deepak is leading the field of mind and body medicine and is changing the way we look at our health,” said Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS’ President, Entertainment and Sports. “We are excited to add Deepak Chopra’s Wellness Radio to our already strong line-up of lifestyle programming.”

Deepak Chopra has written over 42 books and released more than 100 audio, video and CD-ROM titles. They have been translated into 35 languages with over 20 million copies sold worldwide. In 1999 Time magazine selected Dr. Chopra as one of the Top 100 Icons and Heroes of the Century, describing him as “the poet prophet of alternative medicine.”

His latest book, Peace Is the Way (Harmony Books) won the Quill Awards and The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of your Life was awarded the Nautilus Award. Some of his NY Times best-sellers include Ageless Body, Timeless Mind; The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success; Grow Younger, Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reverse Aging; and The Path to Love.

In 1995 the Chopra Center for Well Being was established in California, and has since become a leading institution for advancements in melding traditional western medicine and alternative healing practices. Deepak serves as an adjunct professor at the Kellogg School of Management, and regularly mentors corporate and political leaders through his Soul of Leadership workshops. He’s the recipient of the Einstein award through Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in collaboration with the American Journal of Psychotherapy, and the recipient of the 2006 Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. Along with Nobel Peace laureates Oscar Arias, Betty Williams, and others, Chopra is a founding director of the Alliance for the New Humanity. Chopra joined the Gallup Organization as a senior scientist in 2005.

For more information on Deepak Chopra please go to http://www.chopra.com .

SIRIUS has an extensive commitment to lifestyle programming, featuring related shows on its Martha Stewart Living Radio and LIME Radio channels.

Stay tuned to this thread for the best place to catch all of the action of Sirius’ First Quarter Conference Call. The CC will take place on Sirius’ channel 125, and online at Sirius’ corporate website. The Call starts at 8am, with the earnings report out shortly beforehand. We will keep you updated with all the news Sirius reports throughout the morning. You can discuss the Conference Call with others in the SBS Chat Room.

First with the earnings news of the morning:

Sirius’s earnings report can be viewed in full here.

Highlights:

-4,077,747 subscribers - 761,187+ net increase from December 31, 2005.
-Revenue up to $126 million
-SAC(Subscriber Acquisition Costs) was $113 per new sub for the first quarter.
-Loss (.33)/share or $452 million, but includes equity charges of (.20)/share or approx. $270 million, making the GAAP net loss $182 million, or (.12)/share.
-Guidance Raised to 6.2 million subs by year end, up from 6.0 million
-960,610 Total(gross) subscribers added in the first quarter.
-Churn 1.8%
-CPGA(Subscriber Acquisition Costs + marketing expenses) approximately $154.52
-Sirius has a 57.22% marketshare for net subscribers in the First Quarter!!
-ARPU(How much money they get from an average subscription is $10.80, up slightly from $10.72 in 1Q05.

Conference Call Highlights, updated live(the FIRST Sirius site to ever do so!)

-Conference Call started @ 8:03a
-Advertising Revenue gave $.65/month to sub revenue: almost double that of XM
-Churn number is ‘all-in’, unlike XM’s, who excludes OEM promotional periods ending.
-Stressed that Sirius will not run ads on the music stations
-First Live wearable this summer, as mentioned in the last conference call
-Howard being streamed before Father’s Day
-Sirius Canada growing faster than anticipated
-New PNPs coming in time for Father’s Day, and later in the summer
-New features and versions
-Sportster4 coming in late may!
-Universal Dock, as we have mentioned before, is happening. allow one docking station type for most PNPs
-Expanded memory, buy button, MP3 functionality, and more on the Live portable
-Ads and square foot product placement is increasing in most major retailers for satellite radio
-Sirius available on just about all DCX models, with 30% of models to get Sirius this year for Chrysler, and 50% of Mercedes cars. Many mercedes brands have the P1 premium package with Sirius standard in it. Penetration for the P1 package currently runs 90%.
-Sirius available as Port installed option on many Toyota models(Ed: many Toyota options are Port and not Factory), and more Toyotas coming shortly
-400k people have opted in to Playboy so far!
-4th quarter will be strongest quarter for sports fans joining
-Rolling Stones Radio extended to the end of 2006!
-Chinese channel still coming, but not yet available
-Attracting many blue chip advertisers, such as Verizon and Subaru.
-Unique Programing saves money on marketing
-They have $715 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities - all the money they need
-Someone on the call is as sick as I am(lots of coughs)
-Developing chipsets in cell phones, but it is aways away for researching what they can get from cell phone users.
-Nothing to say about price increases, but they are the premium priced service and they will be coming sometime in the future
-Not enough history on a solid OEM take rate(the percent of users who buy a new car, and sub to Sirius after the promo period is over) yet, but Mel says look to XM’s number(about 56-58%) for an average take rate until they say to look higher or lower.
-approximately 50% share of Toyota market for 2006, don’t know the actual data.
-Another brand says that when the customer has a choice, Sirius has skyrocketed to 60% share.
-SAC will slowly build over the first three quarters, then decline in Q4
-Mel thinks Gary Parsons, senior exec. at XM did a good job testifying during hearings for the Perform Act
-Howard might be streamed on Howardstern.com as well for Sirius subs
-1st quarter advertising: 6% of revenue. First quarter is traditionally the lowest quarter for ad revenue in the tv/radio industry
-Opie & Anthony going to FM: “Good deal for Opie & Anthony”. Feels Sirius is in the business of getting subscribers to satellite radio, not syndicating exclusive content.
-continuing to invest money in repeaters, deciding where they want the repeaters to go
-May or may not have a licensing agreement with the record companies for future wearables
-Conference over @ 9:05a