NEW YORK, Feb 29, 2008 — SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) announced today that it will offer listeners nationwide unprecedented access when His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI embarks on his first pastoral visit to the United States from April 15-20, 2008.

SIRIUS’ The Catholic Channel (channel 159) will be the flagship for coverage of the first visit to the U.S. by a Pope since 1999, providing hourly updates with the latest news and information on the Pope’s activities during his visit, live coverage of all the major events, and more. SIRIUS, in addition to The Catholic Channel coverage, will dedicate multiple channels to the Pope’s visit, to provide listeners with simultaneous access to Papal events, commentary, and rare archival recordings of Masses and speeches from historic Papal visits — which will include, among others, Pope John Paul II’s 1995 address to the United Nations General Assembly.

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WASHINGTON and NEW YORK, Feb 29, 2008 — XM Satellite Radio and SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that the companies have agreed not to exercise their rights to terminate the Merger Agreement until May 1, 2008.

The closing of the pending merger remains subject to satisfaction of all applicable conditions, including approval from the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. For more information on the SIRIUS-XM merger, please visit www.XMmerger.com or www.SIRIUSmerger.com.

Road Dog’s Salute to the Professional Driver!

* SIRIUS Road Dog Trucking Radio has announced the first ever Road Dog Awards and is looking for photos of drivers in the fun categories below.

* Deadline for entries is March 3, photo entries should be emailed to RoadDogAwards@sirius-radio.com.

* Finalists will be posted on SIRIUS.com – all are welcome to vote on the winner!

* The winners of The Road Dog Awards will be announced at the SIRIUS booth at MATS, The Mid-America Trucking Show, live on March 29th on a special edition of Freewheelin’ with Meredith Ochs and Chris T.

Get in gear with Road Dog Trucking Radio, SIRIUS channel 147, the 24-hour channel just for drivers who keep America moving. Road Dog Trucking Radio features news, information and entertainment designed to lighten the load. Share your ride with fellow drivers and never lose the signal, whether you’re hauling cross-country or cross-town!

ROAD DOG TRUCKING AWARDS - CATEGORIES:

Rust Never Sleeps
Think your truck is the rustiest, dustiest, cruddiest rig on the road? If so, we want to see it!

Arkansas Chrome Got Me Home
Send us a picture of your duct tape handiwork and we’ll judge it on difficulty of repair, stability of design and amount of duct tape used.

Twisted Team
If you and your co-driver are an odder couple than Oscar and Felix, send us your picture: You could be the twisted teammates we seek!

Wicked Whiskers
If you’ve got some radical facial hair, we want to see it! Entries will be judged on the ability of the supplied photo to scare a small child.

Family Tradition
Did you learn to drive sitting on your Pap’s knee? As a tyke, did your grandfather let you take the tractor out on the North 40? If trucking is in your family’s DNA, send us a picture of yourself with your rig-rockin’ relatives. Nominees must have more than one trucker in the family.

Just Call Me Fido
Does your pet look like you? Entrants must be photographed with their pet and will be judged on facial similarities, body type similarities and unique physical traits.

Exclusive radio special will debut February 29 and run through March 4

To celebrate the release of his 17th album, Good Time, superstar Alan Jackson will take over SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s Prime Country channel for five days. The exclusive channel will be hosted by Jackson and feature a preview of the 17 songs on his new album.

In addition, Jackson will share songs and stories from his illustrious career. Alan Jackson Good Time Radio will premiere on SIRIUS channel 61, this Friday, February 29th at 5 pm ET and run through Tuesday, March 4th.

A GRAMMY®-winning, three-time CMA Entertainer of the Year, Jackson has built a remarkable career, generating an amazing string of hit records since the 1990 release of his debut album, Here in the Real World. Over 18 years, Jackson has amassed an astonishing 31 number one singles, with an additional 15 top five hits, including his current smash, “Small Town Southern Man.” Good Time, due out in stores on March 4th, marks the first album written entirely by Jackson. For additional information on Good Time and Alan Jackson, please visit www.alanjackson.com.

Prime Country is SIRIUS’ home for country music from the ’80s and ’90s. Artists that can be heard on the channel include Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Clint Black, Alabama, George Strait and many more.

For more information on Alan Jackson Good Time Radio, please visit www.sirius.com/primecountry.

SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO HONORS JOEL AND ETHAN COEN’S MULTIPLE ACADEMY AWARDS® BY DEDICATING CHANNEL TO BROTHERS’ ORIGINAL SOUND PLAYS

Airing now through Friday on SIRIUS 119, “Theater of the New Ear” produced by Coen Brothers.

“Sawbones” written and directed by the Coen brothers, “Hope Leaves the Theater,” written and directed by Charlie Kaufman.

Performances feature Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Marcia Gay Harden, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Peter Dinklage, and Hope Davis and others.

Award-winning, critically acclaimed writers and directors Joel and Ethan Coen, along with Charlie Kaufman, reinvent radio drama with Theater of the New Ear, a recording of two original sound plays initially performed in New York at the St. Ann’s Warehouse and in London at the Royal Festival Hall.

The Coen brothers’ Sawbones stars Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Marcia Gay Harden, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Slattery, and Brooke Smith. Sawbones was conducted by longtime Coen collaborator Carter Burwell, who also composed the score.

Hope Leaves the Theater was written and directed by Charlie Kaufman and stars Meryl Streep, Hope Davis, and Peter Dinklage.

Airing now through Friday, February 29, Exclusively on SIRIUS channel 119.

In what might be a sign of things to come, “connected-car” company, USTelematics announced this morning that they will be making Sirius programming available through their Voyager product line.  Voyager provides live and downloaded wireless mobile internet protocol TV (IPTV) and audio programming for rear-seat passenger vehicle infotainment, and integrates a broad suite of features and functions, including the creation of a mobile Wi-Fi internet hotspot to enable online computer usage in the car and on the road, as well as DVD, movies, TV, Xbox and other computer games, and more.

COSMO Radio, Maxim Radio, Martha Stewart Living Radio and Candace Bushnell to devote shows to the most romantic day of the year.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that it will broadcast extensive, steamy, and seductive Valentine’s Day programming, including an entire week devoted to love, sex, relationships and dating on SIRIUS’ COSMO Radio channel 111 as well as a “Valentine’s Day Crisis Line” on Maxim Radio channel 108.

Other sexy Valentine’s Day programming spanning multiple channels and days includes: SIRIUS Stars’ Candace Bushnell talks with love experts about the importance of loving yourself and Martha Stewart Living Radio’s tips for everything from romantic dinner ideas to special Valentine’s Day baked goods.

For complete programming details about SIRIUS’ Valentine’s Day lineup, visit www.sirius.com/valentinesday.

COSMO RADIO channel 111

Wake Up! with CosmoRadio, Weekdays 7:00 – 11:00 am ET

Cocktails with Patrick, Weekdays 5:00 – 8:00 pm ET

Get In Bed with COSMO, Weekdays 8:00 – 11:00 pm ET

Interview with Laura Bell Bundy and Candace Bushnell February 14 at 4:00 pm ET

All week long the hosts of COSMO Radio will be breaking down Valentine’s Day for both single and attached listeners with tips on making the day extra special, decoding a guy’s gift, and giving (and getting) the hottest kisses.

On Valentine’s Day, COSMO Radio host Victoria Keelan will sit down with fun, fearless, female Laura Bell Bundy, the star of Broadway’s hit show Legally Blonde and special guest Candace Bushnell.

MAXIM RADIO channel 108

Maxim Radio’s Valentine’s Day Crisis Line, February 14 10:00 am – 11:00 pm ET

Sex Files, Wednesdays 2:00 pm ET

Maxim Radio’s “Valentine’s Day Crisis Line” will offer listeners 13 hours of free, expert advice for men who are stressing about the most romantic day of the year. Special guests include Carmen Electra, Christine Lakin, from the new movie “The Hottie & The Nottie,” and Maxim magazine’s sex columnist Gillian Telling. Maxim Radio will also air a special Valentine’s Day edition of Sex Files, the weekly call-in show dedicated to love and sex issues hosted by Amy Spencer and Yvonne Fulbright.

MARTHA STEWART LIVING RADIO channel 112

Morning Living, 7:00 – 11:00 am ET

Everyday Food The Radio Show, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm ET

Living Today, 1:00 – 5:00 pm ET

All week long Martha Stewart Living Radio hosts offer romantic dinner ideas, creative ideas and tips for Valentine’s Day baked goods and gifts, as well as special guest interviews.

SIRIUS STARS channel 102

Candace Bushnell’s Sex, Success and Sensibility, February 14 at 6:00 pm ET

Candace will devote her special Valentine’s Day show helping listeners learn to love themselves by finding their inner beauty. Candace and her love experts won’t let listeners cry, mope, or whine about not having a date this Valentine’s Day; instead they will give listeners tips on how to love themselves before loving someone else.

SIRIUS Stars will also air ‘love messages’ from listeners all day on Valentine’s Day. Listeners are encouraged to call 866-99-38-BOP and choose option #9 to leave a message or send an email to VALENTINE@SIRIUS-RADIO.COM.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio and Chrysler today have extended SIRIUS’ exclusive relationship with Chrysler through September
2017. All Chrysler brands, including Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, are covered by the deal.

The deal targets a penetration rate for SIRIUS factory-installed radios in greater than 70% of vehicles built for the U.S. by Chrysler. Chrysler also installs SIRIUS Backseat TV and Sirius Traffic products in certain vehicles.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will be providing comprehensive coverage of the Daytona 500 on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio channel 128, which will include the live race broadcast and like last year, multiple channels carrying in-car audio.

Channel 128 will be providing full coverage of the Gatorade Duels on Thursday, Feb. 14 (1:15 pm ET), the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday, Feb. 15 (7:30 pm ET) and the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday, Feb. 16 (12:45 pm ET).

On the big day, Sunday, February 17, SIRIUS is giving listeners 15 hours of live coverage of the 50th running of the Daytona 500 starting at 8:00 am ET. (Oh my god, set your alarms!) SIRIUS NASCAR Radio channel 128 will carry the race broadcast live nationwide (2:30 pm ET) and additional Driver2Crew Chatter™ channels will carry the in-car audio of NASCAR’s top drivers. The Driver2Crew Chatter™ combines the race broadcast with the driver-to-crew chatter, allowing fans to follow the overall race call and the in-car audio of a driver on a single channel.
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Just announced: Indie Talk, a “groundbreaking talk radio channel” to “serve as an uncensored, unfiltered forum for independent thought and opinion.”

Indie Talk touts talk talent Ron Silver, who’s enjoyed an acting career since 1974. More recently, Silver has become politically active, serving as a member on the Council of Foreign Relations. He transitioned from Democratic to Independent party affiliation, praising the efforts of President Bush.

“Radio needs a change as much as the country,” said Silver. “Indie Talk will give voice to all individuals for an amazing national debate.”

According to the Press Release, Indie Talk promises to “give an equal voice to individuals from any affiliation or background […] and be a platform for listeners across the country to react to breaking news, issues[.]”.

The channel launches February 6, 2008 with the premiere of Silver’s call-in show, airing weekdays 9-11AM EST.

Will this new format appeal the current listeners of Sirius Left/Patriot? Will it draw in new listeners of political talk? Could a national “open-forum” news channel even affect the merger?

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network, Wikipedia