SIRIUS Satellite Radio to Broadcast Comprehensive Live Coverage of Democratic
and Republican National Conventions
Every minute of DNC, RNC to air on 'SIRIUS Convention Radio' channel
NEW YORK, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI)
announced that it will offer comprehensive live coverage from the 2008
Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991118/NYTH125 )
SIRIUS Convention Radio will offer listeners a unique opportunity to
"live" the convention experience. The channels will present live,
uninterrupted "gavel to gavel" coverage of every speech from the convention
podium, and replays of each day's highlights, as well as information on
convention agendas, schedules, events, and meetings.
SIRIUS Convention Radio will also revisit key moments of convention
history with insight and reflections by members of both the Democratic and
Republican Convention committees, and SIRIUS hosts and former convention
participants Senator Bill Bradley and Ron Silver. In addition SIRIUS will give
voice to voters across the country with the People's Podium -- listeners will
record their own brief political speeches to be broadcast on the channel.
SIRIUS Convention Radio En Espanol will provide real-time Spanish-language
translation of every speech, plus replays of each day's events. The
Spanish-language broadcast from the Democratic National Convention will be
provided by Comcast.
"This marks a tremendous step forward to ensure all Americans can fully
participate in this year's historic Democratic National Convention and in our
democratic process," said 2008 Democratic National Convention Co-Chair and
Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte. "We applaud what SIRIUS is doing to
bring listeners across the country in to the Convention experience and in
particular its efforts to offer a bilingual simulcast for the more than 35
million Americans who speak Spanish."
Maria Cino, President and CEO of the 2008 Republican National Convention,
said, "We look forward to welcoming to St. Paul SIRIUS and the hundreds of
other media outlets that will help bring the 2008 Republican National
Convention into millions of homes across America and around the world. It will
be an historic event as Sen. John McCain accepts our party's nomination and
springboards into the general election."
"SIRIUS will cover the Democratic and Republican National Conventions like
radio has never done before, with hosts from many perspectives, and dedicated
channels in both English and Spanish. We will use our technology and extensive
programming to give listeners unprecedented coverage of these historic
events," said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SIRIUS XM
Radio.
In addition to the SIRIUS Convention Radio channels, SIRIUS will present a
wide variety of political perspectives with live broadcasts from the
conventions on its exclusive talk channels. The broadcasts will include
commentary and interviews with politicians, experts and celebrities, and
listener call-ins. SIRIUS channels broadcasting from the conventions will
include:
-- SIRIUS Indie Talk (the Nation's only talk for independent voters)
-- SIRIUS Left (progressive talk)
-- SIRIUS OutQ (the Nation's only gay and lesbian talk radio)
-- SIRIUS Patriot (conservative talk)
SIRIUS hosts Ron Silver, Michelangelo Signorile, Mark Thompson and Andrew
Wilkow will broadcast their shows live from the conventions while hosts Alex
Bennett, Lynn Samuels, and Mike Church will be on air with special convention
programming from the SIRIUS studios.
SIRIUS will kick-off SIRIUS Convention Radio, SIRIUS Convention Radio En
Espanol and special coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver
on August 25th followed by coverage of the Republican National Convention in
Minneapolis-St. Paul on September 1st.
For more information on SIRIUS' political channels and SIRIUS Convention
Radio, please visit www.sirius.com/politicaltalk .
About SIRIUS XM Radio
SIRIUS XM Radio is America's satellite radio company delivering the "The
Best Radio on Radio" to more than 18 million subscribers, including 100%
commercial free music, and premier sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic
and weather.
SIRIUS XM Radio has exclusive content relationships with an array of
personalities and artists, including Howard Stern, Oprah, Martha Stewart,
Jimmy Buffett, Elvis, Jamie Foxx, Barbara Walters, Frank Sinatra, Opie &
Anthony, The Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tom
Petty, and Bob Edwards. SIRIUS XM Radio is the leader in sports programming as
the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL, Major League Baseball,
NASCAR, NHL, and PGA Tour, and broadcasts major college sports.
SIRIUS XM Radio has exclusive arrangements with every major automaker.
SIRIUS XM Radio products are available at shop.sirius.com and
shop.xmradio.com, and at retail locations nationwide, including Best Buy,
Circuit City, RadioShack, Target, Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart.
SIRIUS XM Radio also offers SIRIUS Backseat TV, the first ever live
in-vehicle rear seat entertainment featuring Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and
Cartoon Network; XM NavTraffic service for GPS navigation systems delivers
real-time traffic information, including accidents and road construction, for
more than 80 North American markets.
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of
the business combination transaction involving Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and
XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., including potential synergies and cost
savings and the timing thereof, future financial and operating results, the
combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect
to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified
by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect,"
"intend," "will," "should," "may," or words of similar meaning. Such
forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations
of SIRIUS' and XM's management and are inherently subject to significant
business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of
which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of SIRIUS and
XM. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in
these forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ
materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the
forward-looking statement: general business and economic conditions; the
performance of financial markets and interest rates; the ability to obtain
governmental approvals of the transaction on a timely basis; the failure to
realize synergies and cost-savings from the transaction or delay in
realization thereof; the businesses of SIRIUS and XM may not be combined
successfully, or such combination may take longer, be more difficult,
time-consuming or costly to accomplish than expected; and operating costs and
business disruption following the merger, including adverse effects on
employee retention and on our business relationships with third parties,
including manufacturers of radios, retailers, automakers and programming
providers. Additional factors that could cause SIRIUS' and XM's results to
differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can
be found in SIRIUS' and XM's Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2007, which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov).
The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and SIRIUS
and XM disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking
statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this
communication.
P - SIRI
Contacts for SIRIUS XM Radio:
Neel Khairzada
SIRIUS
212-584-5243
nkhairzada@siriusradio.com
SOURCE SIRIUS XM Radio
Neel Khairzada of SIRIUS, +1-212-584-5243, nkhairzada@siriusradio.com
