Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM To Broadcast Fourth Consecutive Season Live From The Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM To Broadcast Fourth Consecutive Season Live From The Metropolitan Opera

SIRIUS XM's Metropolitan Opera Radio to broadcast the Met's Opening Night Gala live

NEW YORK, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SIRIUS XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced today that its Metropolitan Opera Radio channel will broadcast its fourth season live from the Metropolitan Opera beginning with Opening Night on Monday, September 21 and will include over 100 live performances during the Met's 2009-2010 season.

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SIRIUS XM's Metropolitan Opera Radio, SIRIUS channel 78 and XM channel 79, will celebrate the launch of the 2009-2010 season with a live broadcast of the Met's Opening Night Gala, a new production premiere of Puccini's Tosca, starring soprano Karita Mattila. The live broadcast will begin at 6:00 pm ET with a special pre-show that will feature backstage interviews and updates from the red carpet, and a preview of the upcoming season.

During its fourth season on SIRIUS XM, Metropolitan Opera Radio will also air rare archival broadcasts from the Met's 78-year broadcast history. Host Margaret Juntwait returns as announcer for the channel which, in addition to the three live performances each week, will air notable performances from recent seasons, and will include several title premieres including Giordano's Fedora and Janacek's The Makropulos Case.

In addition to the season opening of Tosca, the SIRIUS XM broadcast schedule features live, opening night premiere broadcasts of six more productions in 2009-10: Janacek's From the House of the Dead on Thursday, November 12, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, making his Met debut, and starring Peter Mattei; Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann on Thursday, December 3, conducted by Maestro Levine and starring Joseph Calleja and Anna Netrebko; Bizet's Carmen on December 31 conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin and starring Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna; Shostakovich's The Nose on Friday, March 5, conducted by Valery Gergiev and starring Paulo Szot. On March 16 Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet makes its broadcast premiere with celebrated singing actors Simon Keenlyside and Natalie Dessay bringing their acclaimed portrayals of the title role and Ophelie, respectively. Louis Langree conducts. The final SIRIUS XM broadcast premiere of the season is Rossini's Armida on April 12, starring Renee Fleming in the virtuosic role of the alluring sorceress. Riccardo Frizza conducts.

Lastly, SIRIUS XM's Metropolitan Opera Radio will broadcast a special debut encore broadcast of the Met's 125th Anniversary Gala from March 15, 2009 on Saturday, September 19 at 9:00 pm ET.

A schedule of this season's Metropolitan Opera Radio broadcasts on SIRIUS XM is available at www.sirius.com/metropolitanoperaradio or www.xmradio.com/metopera.

For more information about the Metropolitan Opera, please visit www.metopera.org.

About SIRIUS XM Radio

SIRIUS XM Radio is America's satellite radio company delivering to subscribers commercial-free music channels, premier sports, news, talk, entertainment, and traffic and weather.

SIRIUS XM Radio has content relationships with an array of personalities and artists, including Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Buffett, Jamie Foxx, Barbara Walters, Opie & Anthony, Bubba the Love Sponge , The Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Bob Edwards. SIRIUS XM Radio is the leader in sports programming as the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL, Major League Baseball , NASCAR , NBA, NHL , and PGA TOUR , and broadcasts major college sports.

SIRIUS XM Radio has arrangements with every major automaker. SIRIUS XM Radio products are available at shop.sirius.com and shop.xmradio.com, and at retail locations nationwide, including Best Buy, RadioShack, Wal-Mart and independent retailers.

SIRIUS XM Radio also offers SIRIUS Backseat TV, the first ever live in-vehicle rear seat entertainment featuring Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network; XM NavTraffic service for GPS navigation systems delivers real-time traffic information, including accidents and road construction, for more than 80 North American markets.

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the business combination transaction involving SIRIUS and XM, including potential synergies and cost savings and the timing thereof, future financial and operating results, the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified by words such as "will likely result," " are expected to," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "intend," "will," "should," "may," or words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of SIRIUS' and XM's management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of SIRIUS and XM. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statement: our substantial indebtedness; the businesses of SIRIUS and XM may not be combined successfully, or such combination may take longer, be more difficult, time-consuming or costly to accomplish than expected; the useful life of our satellites; our dependence upon automakers and other third parties; our competitive position versus other forms of audio and video entertainment; and general economic conditions. Additional factors that could cause SIRIUS' and XM's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in SIRIUS' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and XM's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov/). The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and SIRIUS and XM disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.

   P-SIRI     Contact for SIRIUS XM Radio:   Samantha Bowman   SIRIUS XM Radio   212 901 6644   Samantha.bowman@siriusxm.com  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: Samantha.Bowman@siriusxm.com

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Source: SIRIUS XM Radio

CONTACT: Samantha Bowman, SIRIUS XM Radio, +1-212-901-6644,
Samantha.bowman@siriusxm.com

Web Site: http://www.sirius.com/metropolitanoperaradio

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Profile: International Entertainment