XM Satellite Radio's flagship women's channel, Oprah & Friends (ch 156), has entered into an agreement with American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) for the nine hosts and one announcer on the channel.

AFTRA is a performer's union that represents personalities in radio and television, similar to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

"This ground-breaking agreement is the first contract that provides union salaries, benefits, and working conditions for talent on a program only carried by satellite radio," said Eileen Willenborg, AFTRA Chicago Local Executive Director. "I commend the producers at 'Oprah & Friends' for working together with AFTRA members to create a sensible and responsible agreement."

The deal covers compensation and benefits with provisions on union security, grievance and arbitration, dues check-off, non-discrimination, late penalties, and the right to participate in pre-tax savings plans. The contract is retroactive from January 1, 2007 and runs through August 31, 2009.

[AllAccess]

On July 1st, XM will become the exclusive satellite radio home of the NHL. In September of 2005, XM announced signing a 10-year, $100 million dollar, exclusive, agreement with the NHL.

Just as Sirius is the exclusive satellite radio broadcaster of NASCAR and the NFL, XM will be the exclusive home of the MLB and NHL. The 2007-08 NHL season will mark XM's third season of NHL coverage and its first season as the exclusive satellite radio provider of the League.

XM airs over 1,100 NHL games per season to hockey fans across the U.S. and Canada. XM also offers the first and only 24-hour nationwide hockey radio channel - Home Ice (ch 204) - with news, commentary, interviews and play-by-play analysis from hockey experts like Phil Esposito, Bill Clement, Denis Potvin and Gary Green.

XM's first day as the exclusive satellite radio home of the NHL is the same day as Free Agency Day, the annual start of the free-agency period for NHL players.  Home Ice will provide round-the-clock coverage of the latest signings and negotiations.

As the exclusive satellite radio partner of the NHL, XM is officially rebranding the Home Ice channel to NHL Home Ice.

Sirius and VW have inked a deal to offer Sirius as standard equipment in all Touareg2, New Beetle, New Beetle Convertible, GTI, and GLI models starting with the 2008 model year.

Sirius Canada and Volkswagen Canada inked a similar deal earlier this year, offering making Sirius standard in the Toureg2 and the Triple White Beatle sold in Canada.

In March of last year VW selected Sirius as its sole satellite radio provider for vehicles sold in the U.S. through 2012. Volkswagen expects to equip approximately 80% of its vehicles with SIRIUS satellite radio receivers.

Volkswagen offers 3-months of complimentary service on Sirius equipped vehicles.

Sirius Canada and Bell Canada have teamed up to provide Sirius' commercial-free music channels on Bell Mobility multimedia phones.

Streamed directly to Bell Mobility phones via the Bell wireless high speed network, the Sirius programming is available immediately for $8/month (Canadian) on multimedia-capable Bell Mobility phones, (like the LG Chocolate, LG Fusic, Samsung m610 and Samsung a900). The service is powered by mSpot.

Want to know what channels are available? Sure you do, go ahead and follow the jump for the full list...

XM will now be carrying Big 12 Conference sports, starting this fall. The addition of the Big 12, now makes XM the official satellite radio network for all six BCS conferences in college sports.

XM will air select Big 12 football games each week, as well as the Big 12 football championship, starting in the fall. XM will also air select Big 12 men's and women's basketball games and full coverage of the Big 12 men's and women's basketball tournaments.

The new, multi-year agreement with ESPN Regional Television allows XM to appeal to the displaced sports fan who may not be able to Big 12 games locally.

Thanks Roland & Carlo! 

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to upgrade their ground-based air traffic control system, and three companies - Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and ITT - are bidding for the $15 billion-plus project.

Raytheon has taken an unusual approach with their bid, and actually went beyond the FAA's request, by proposing a faster, and less expensive, system using the infrastructure from partners Verizon and XM Satellite Radio.

While all three bids are using both ground stations and GPS satellite signals for air-traffic-control data, Raytheon's system offers up XM's XMWX Weather architecture to make weather data directly available. Raytheon would also utilize Verizon's 30,000 cell towers for the ground system.

The FAA said cost and speed are the deciding factors for the modernized air-traffic system, which they said needs to go online no later than 2020. Raytheon said its system could provide universal coverage from almost the first day.

According to Wall Street Journal sources, Raytheon's proposal took Lockheed by surprise as they had been considered a favorite due to participation in a pilot program in Alaska.

The winner of the contract would help set standards for air traffic control for the next 30 years. The FAA plans to pick a single contractor in August.

[Wall Street Journal] 

The Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) is teaming up with XM Satellite Radio, the National WIC Association, as well as others, to remind parents to actively supervise their children in and around cars.

Each year hundreds of children suffer injuries or death from vehicles backing out of driveways, being trapped in hot vehicles or in car trunks, being strangled by power windows, in vehicles inadvertently put in motion by children and similar types of incidents. ACTS is aware of at least 100 of these incidents in the U.S. and Canada this year alone.

Safety information about the dangers of children in and around vehicles will be shared with parents across the country through ACTS' partnerships with XM Satellite Radio, the National WIC Association, Safe Kids Worldwide and other groups nationwide.

These groups, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and others will assist in distributing millions of brochures in English and Spanish. XM will be airing public service announcements on its Instant Traffic & Weather channels (XM 210-230) and its 24-hour Emergency Alert Channel (XM 247).

[more on SafetyFeature.org]