Receivers Only

XM Satellite Radio Holdings (XM) NASDAQ: XMSR is a satellite radio (DARS) service in the United States and Canada. XM provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to premium cable television. more...

Its service includes 69 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional traffic and weather channels and 23 play-by-play sports channels. XM channels are identified by Arbitron with the label "XM" (e.g. "XM175", "XM4", "XM32"). Meanwhile, AOL Radio, a division of America Online's media sector, offers select XM Satellite Radio channels streamed live through Winamp, AOL Instant Messenger Triton, and AOL Radio, free of charge.

XM was founded in 1992 as American Mobile Radio Corporation.

Services

XM-capable receivers cost US$30 – US$300. If opting for the month-to-month plan, service fees are US$12.95 for the first receiver, and US$6.99 each for up to four additional receivers on the same account. Subscribers may opt to purchase one-, two-, three-, four-, or five-year packages, in which the average monthly cost would be under US$10.00 per month. XM Satellite Radio produces the majority of its channels, as well as a few others that are not available via satellite, available on the Internet. The Internet-only subscription fee is US$7.99 per month; those with an active satellite subscription do not need to pay an additional charge. XM is currently the only satellite radio service to offer true mobile services, utilizing the built in antenna in its MyFi to transmit a live satellite signal to iPod-sized battery operated devices.

XM also provides data services such as weather information for pilots and weather spotters through its XM WX Satellite Weather datacasting service, in addition to real-time weather and traffic updates aired every two minutes for major metropolitan areas on some of XM's audio channels.

DirecTV now gives listeners as part of its service the music and talk channels of XM, but not the news or traffic channels.

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