Orbitcast

UPDATES:
Key points:
- Joe brought up the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders several times in the beginning (his 'icebreaker').
- 44,000 subscribers joined SIRIUS on Christmas Day.
- "The most listened to Satellite Radio company" (referring to 10MM Dish Network subscribers)
- Joe Clayton yelled "SHUT UP!!!" to a heckler in the audience. (HAHA!!)
- "Sirius redefined radio, not just satellite radio, but radio itself."
- Zzzzz... Speaker #2 is droning on and on and on. Next please.
- Ok, so Speaker #2 (trying to catch his name) is basically covering all the new people they brought on board. Stuttering a bit too, makes it boring to follow. Please put Joe Clayton back on - he was hilarious when he got angry.
- Talk about Tsunami support. Can't criticize anyone on that because any help from any company is a good thing.
- Mary Pat Ryan is up to the microphone now. Saying "we give you want YOU want," Talking about catering to the customer.
- "Did I say Howard Stern? Let me say that one more time.... HOWARD STERN"
- "We have a 96% Customer Satisfaction level"
- 88% are likely to recommend Sirius to a friend.
- BRAND AWARENESS: "Almost at 50%" (?)
- Mary Pat Ryan: 30% of the general population will name 'SIRIUS' over any "other" satellite radio provider

- Cut to Howard Stern clips
- Cut to Tom Brady, and John Madden clips

- Speaker #4 (damnit, missed his name!). Giving a recap of the units released in the 2004 year.
- 3G Chipset: "It will no longer be the size of the chipset that will dictact the size of the unit... it will be the consumer's demand."
- Introduces the Star Mate and its benefits.
- Brought up the Brix GT unit
- Brings up "Sirius Replay" (time-shifting) feature
- Brought up the Rego and the 4-your time-shifting benefits
- Now talking about Sirius Connect (damn, this guy's going faster than I can type)
- Tying in the Pioneer unit with Sirius Connect
- (no timeframe given for 3G chipsets)
- Briefly mentions new Kenwood units.... no details tho.
- New Rotel partnership announced. Units will be released later this year.
- Now talking about Sirius' Video Plan to use Microsoft WMV 9.
- No pricing decided on for Sirius Video, but it WILL be a "Premium Service"

- Joe's back on. Sounds like he's been drinkin. hehe

- Mel's on now. Congratulates Joe Clayton for his work.
- Mel: "Sirius is the fastest growing company in the satellite radio space."
- 1.14 Million Subscribers
- "We are the #1 company in programming."
- "There was AM, FM... and now it's going to move on to Sirius satellite radio"
- 25,000 retail outlets
- The Ford announcement is just the beginning. "We're going to make HUGE progress in the OEM market"
- "We are focused on... satisfying subscribers, and also on satisfying our shareholders"
- "Our lawyer has allowed me to say 'We are going DOUBLE where we are today'"
- "We are on a very fast track to be a very profitable company... someday (giggle)"

- Opening floor up to questions. Joe's up again (woohoo!)

Q: How are you going to get more bandwidth to support Howard Stern and all these advancements?
A: Didn't really answer other than saying that technology will address that.

Q: Will Howard provide Video content?
A: Mel - Howard could, he has done a lot in the past, and he very well could in the future.

Q: Will Howard still be part of the Basic Package?
A: He WILL be part of the $12.95 package. And parental control capabilities will be available as always.

Q: About the Star Mate - does it have headphone capability? If not, then when will it?
A: It does NOT have head capability, but future products will.

(....the questions are getting boring. Zzz... we all know the history of Howard's contract - no need to bring it up again)

Q: DO you have DRM features on Sirius? How do you feel about DRM on HD Radio?
A: They're only looking to use DRM for video. We're not only looking to STREAM, but to also CACHE - and once you go into CACHING, thats where DRM gets involved.

Q: ReGo question about the MP3 recording. What is the capacity? Will you sell Sirius content as MP3s over the internet?
A: "I won't answer that last part" (chuckle) The capacity is up to the consumer. This product will NOT take SIRIUS content, convert it, and throw it into MP3. It truly IS an MP3 player, and will record SIRIUS content, but will not bridge the two.

Q: Are you going to have a Food & Wine channel for the women at home?
A: Joe- GOOD QUESTION! I want to have a Whiskey channel. A Shotgun channel, and any channels that cover that kind of stuff!! (I love this guy!)
Serious response: We're evaulating any input from the customer and will add channels as needed.

[END PRESS EVENT]
phew! I need a drink.