Early Days of Sirius
Sirius was founded by satellite industry veteran Martine Rothblatt in 1990 as Satellite CD Radio, but changed its name to CD Radio in 1992, and to Sirius on November 18, 1999. Rothblatt had previously co-founded the PanAmSat international satellite television system and launched the Geostar satellite navigation system. In late 1992 she resigned as Chairman & CEO to start a medical research foundation. She selected David Margolese, a co-founder of Rogers Wireless, to succeed her. He raised and spent over US$20 million lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to allow satellite radio to be deployed. Opposition from traditional broadcasters was fierce and the process took until 1997, at which time the FCC had moved to auctions rather than awards when licensing spectrum. The company then bid $83 million to successfully purchase one of two satellite radio licenses in an auction, both of which existed within the frequency band Rothblatt proposed in her July 1990 Petition for Rulemaking to the FCC.
After Margolese had obtained regulatory clearance, the FCC also sold a license to XM Satellite Radio, which followed Sirius's example. Sirius then built and launched three satellites, constructed a coast-to-coast transmitter network for urban coverage, partnered with automakers to include satellite radios in their cars, and raised approximately $2 billion, the largest amount of financing that a pre-operational start-up has ever raised. In 2001 Margolese stepped down as CEO. Joe Clayton, former CEO of Global Crossing, took the reins until Mel Karmazin, former President of Viacom, replaced him in 2004. Sirius acquired XM in 2008 and the company was renamed Sirius XM Radio.
Initially the company was at the forefront of technical achievements and innovation. The service availability goals, satellite configuration, were new and no prior standard allowed verification of the system. Its unprecedented satellite orbits and systems were developed by Robert Briskman. Even the studio layout and acoustics were developed from new techniques, e.g. glass walled studios. There was much press about initial delays, citing the company's chipset supplier as the cause, but nevertheless by Valentine's Day 2002, Sirius had put together a functioning system.
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