SIRIUS' Satellites won't be in operation as long as previously thought. Originally the satellites were to have a 15 year lifespan, but Sirius says they'll likely make it only 13 years. One of the factors for this is because Sirius is planning on modifying their satellite constellation.
Sirius says "our satellites have experienced circuit failures on their solar arrays" but so far they’re all still operational. Media Network Weblog associates the sunspot cycle for the failures on the solar arrays.
You know those sunspots... it's not like they go in an 11-year-cycle or anything...
Thats cool with me.. by then xm will be long gone, and Sirius will have all the xm birds too, only now the old xm sat's will be providing worthwhile Sirius entertainment, and great sound quality.
That just shows how SIRIUS's early days where extremely unproffessional