Online Satellite Radio is SIRIUS Business
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With the possibility of a merger of the two satellite radio super-entities, it seems the industry is making major headlines daily. However, there is an
important component of SIRIUS Satellite Radio that has failed to make it into cover stories - SIRIUSBusiness and its online capabilities.
As of fourth quarter 2006, SIRIUS announced that it has more than six million Receivers nationwide, and that number is increasing daily due to the sales
of SIRIUSBusiness subscriptions through Applied Media Technologies Corporation (AMTC), the national provider of SIRIUS' business subscriptions.
SIRIUSBusiness is a music-only package designed especially with the unique needs of business entities in mind.
In order for a business to play music for its customers and employees, performance royalties must be paid per song, and stiff fines await those who neglect
the payment of these fees. Businesses also face the challenge of finding suitable music to play in their establishment. CDs are repetitive, and terrestrial
radio comes fraught with aggravating commercials, and worse, advertising for competitors.
SIRIUSBusiness subscriptions eliminate these hassles by including all music royalties for their 69 commercial-free music-only channels, 44 of which are
screened for offensive material.
Another important component of the SIRIUSBusiness subscription is the inclusion of access to SIRIUS' online streaming audio. Why would a business need
access to both, you ask?
SIRIUS currently has three satellites in orbit over the United States, with the construction of a fourth to be completed by the end of 2008. However, the
placement of the satellites' orbit makes SIRIUS available only to residents of the Continental U.S. Online delivery has made this dilemma obsolete, allowing
access to SIRIUS for businesses in Alaska and Hawaii as well.
This online access is also useful to businesses in the Continental U.S. because they occasionally face building and landlord constraints. For offices
located in high rises, or those surrounded by high rises, some have difficulty placing a SIRIUS antenna where it can receive adequate reception from a
satellite. Some businesses are unable to mount the 10.5-inch antenna due to lease restrictions from their property management. However, accessing the
streaming audio online requires no antenna at all.
“According to a February 26 article posted on AudioGraphics.com, there are 72 million online radio listeners per month and only 13 million satellite
radio listeners,” said AMTC's Vice President of Sales and Marketing Clayton Burton. “SIRIUS and AMTC are really making strides to bring
those two groups together, while making our service more accessible and business-friendly.”
A business or personal computer can simply be hooked up to commercial sound equipment, allowing the sound coming from a streaming audio source to
play over the system's speakers. This means that a Hawaiian franchise location of a major U.S. brand can log on to SIRIUS' site and play the very same
music their Continental counterparts are playing in their stores at that moment.
In the business arena, SIRIUSBusiness is the first true competitor to Muzak and DMX due to its online and satellite delivery systems, as well as a strict
no-contract policy for its customers. Unlike its competitors, SIRIUS' satellites are in an elliptical orbit directly above the U.S., allowing a strong signal to be
received regardless of time of day or weather. By comparison, Muzak and DMX's satellites are positioned in geosynchronous orbits, meaning the satellites
hover over the equator in the very same position at all times. Reception from these satellites is greatly affected by weather and the time of day.
Publisher's Note: This article's author, Amy L. Clark, is a Public Relations / Sales Support Specialist for Applied Media Technologies Corporation. Reach her at aclark@amtc.com. For more information regarding AMTC and SIRIUSBusiness, please contact AMTC's Public Relations and Sales Support Lead, Matt Holden, at (800) 741-2682 or mholden@amtc.com.
From: Harry H.
I realize Amy Clark is a PR person employed by Sirius, and so her
story would inevitably have a Sirius slant, but does she realize
that XM offers, and has offered for some time, internet streaming
of its channels? In fact, one of XM's promotional tactics is to
offer some of their content free via stream (like this Friday's
re-creation of WKBW-Buffalo in their Top 40 days on their "sixties
on six" channel) and urge listeners to tell their friends.
BTW, I have both XM and Sirius (the latter just for Howard Stern)
and have no dog in this fight. And I think both, merger or no merger,
will eventually reach more listeners via internet streaming than
satellite----when mobile broadband becomes widely available,
satellite delivery will die the slow but inevitable death now
overtaking VHS video.
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