Sirius sets four-city launch

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Sirius Satellite Radio will launch next month in four markets-Denver,
Houston, Phoenix and Jackson, Miss.-the company said Monday at a news
conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Sirius added Jackson, Miss., to the rollout schedule because new CEO Joseph
Clayton successfully launched DirecTV's direct-broadcast-satellite service there
in 1994, according to Sirius.

In April and May, Sirius plans to launch service in Dallas/Ft. Worth; Tulsa,
Okla.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Little Rock, Ark.

The service moves to the central and southern U.S. in the summer, with plans
to offer Sirius in Miami, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Indianapolis and Nashville. Sirius
expects to offer service to the entire country by July.

Sirius also has hired Guy Johnson as its new executive vice president of
sales and marketing. Also on Monday, Sirius relaunched its Web site, where it is
streaming its 60 original channels for free.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.