NBCUniversal News Group and SiriusXM Broaden Relationship with New Long-Term Agreement

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SiriusXM announced today a new long-term agreement with the NBCUniversal News Group under which the simulcasts of MSNBC and CNBC will continue to air on SiriusXM, as will the powerhouse TODAY Show Radio channel. TODAY Show Radio is a 24/7 channel dedicated to TODAY and is home to exclusive radio programs hosted by some of the morning show's stars. Under the new agreement, SiriusXM also becomes the exclusive advertising representative and end-to-end ad tech platform for a broad slate of NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC podcasts.

TODAY Show Radio premiered on SiriusXM in 2014, providing listeners across the country with live audio feeds of TODAY from both coasts, offering people the news-making interviews and uplifting stories that help shape our national dialog. Over the years the channel has continued to grow, now featuring exclusive weekly programs including The Hoda Show hosted by Hoda Kotb (Mondays from 1-2pm ET) and Off The Rails (Tuesdays from 1-2pm ET) with co-hosts Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer, and Sheinelle Jones. In addition to live airings of TODAY, which recently announced its 63^rd consecutive month as the #1 morning show in the key demo of adults 25-54, the channel also airs a simulcast of NBC Nightly News anchored by Lester Holt, the most trusted television news personality in America.

"We're exceedingly proud to continue our relationship with the NBCUniversal News Group, whose shows and hosts are among the best in the industry," said Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM's President and Chief Content Officer. "Over the years we've seen that relationship grow, with TODAY hosts creating their own SiriusXM programs and providing additional content exclusively for our listeners. And beyond TODAY, with breaking news on MSNBC and financial updates on CNBC, SiriusXM subscribers can take the trusted programming of NBCUniversal wherever they go."

As part of the new agreement, NBCUniversal has appointed SiriusXM as the exclusive advertising representative for NBC News and MSNBC podcasts with additional sales rights to CNBC podcasts. In addition, AdsWizz, a subsidiary of SiriusXM, will provide the end-to-end ad tech platform. This deal furthers SiriusXM's vision to build a streamlined ad ecosystem that allows brands to access the largest pool of inventory from top publishers across all categories of digital audio – music, sports, talk, and podcasts. SiriusXM and its premium audio properties such as Pandora, SoundCloud, and Stitcher, reaches more than 150 million people monthly. 

"Audio and podcasts have become a significant way for audiences, and in particular younger audiences, to engage with our trusted journalism," said Elisabeth Sami, NBCUniversal News Group's Executive VP of Global Strategy and Business Development. "We're committed to growing our audio storytelling and reach, providing unique opportunities for advertisers across our news brands. This is a natural progression of our relationship with SiriusXM."

"This agreement is a fantastic match between SiriusXM and Pandora's industry-leading ability to monetize digital audio and NBCUniversal's broad audience of passionate podcast listeners," said John Trimble, Chief Advertising Revenue Officer of SiriusXM. "Investments we've been making, including the acquisitions of Stitcher, Simplecast, and AdsWizz, solidify SiriusXM as a dominant player in the rapidly-growing podcast ad market and further position us to help solve some of the critical monetization and ad tech challenges publishers and advertisers are facing through a cohesive and premium audio marketplace." 

The NBCUniversal News Group has released several chart-topping and award-winning original podcasts into their portfolio of hits including Rachel Maddow's Bag Man; The Oath with Chuck Rosenberg; Dateline's The Thing About Pam and Motive for Murder; Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes; The Chuck Toddcast; Into America; Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer; Squawk Pod; and more. The NBCUniversal News Group is a top 10 podcast publisher in the Podtrac monthly rankings.

TODAY Show Radio is available on channel 108, while simulcasts of MSNBC and CNBC air on channels 118 and 112, respectively. 

About SiriusXM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the leading audio entertainment company in the U.S., and the premier programmer and platform for subscription and digital advertising-supported audio products. Pandora, a subsidiary of SiriusXM, is the largest ad-supported audio entertainment streaming service in the U.S. SiriusXM and Pandora's properties reach more than 150 million listeners, the largest addressable audience in the U.S., across all categories of digital audio – music, sports, talk, and podcasts. SiriusXM's acquisitions of Stitcher and Simplecast, alongside industry-leading ad tech company AdsWizz, make it a leader in podcast hosting, production, distribution, analytics and monetization. SiriusXM, through Sirius XM Canada Holdings, Inc., also offers satellite radio and audio entertainment in Canada. In addition to its audio entertainment businesses, SiriusXM offers connected vehicle services to automakers. For more about SiriusXM, please go to: www.siriusxm.com.

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 future financial and operating results, our 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," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimated," "believe," "intend," "plan," "projection," "outlook" or words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond our control. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results and the timing of events to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements:  the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is adversely impacting our business; our substantial competition that is likely to increase over time; our efforts to attract and retain subscribers and listeners, or convert listeners into subscribers, which may not be successful, and may adversely affect our business; our Pandora ad-supported business has suffered a loss of monthly active users, which may adversely affect our Pandora business; privacy and data security laws and regulations may hinder our ability to market our services, sell advertising and impose legal liabilities; we engage in extensive marketing efforts and the continued effectiveness of those efforts are an important part of our business; consumer protection laws and our failure to comply with them could damage our business; a substantial number of our Sirius XM subscribers periodically cancel their subscriptions and we cannot predict how successful we will be at retaining customers; our ability to profitably attract and retain subscribers to our Sirius XM service as our marketing efforts reach more price-sensitive consumers is uncertain; our failure to convince advertisers of the benefits of our Pandora ad-supported service could harm our business; if we are unable to maintain revenue growth from our advertising products, particularly in mobile advertising, our results of operations will be adversely affected; if we fail to accurately predict and play music, comedy or other content that our Pandora listeners enjoy, we may fail to retain existing and attract new listeners; if we fail to protect the security of personal information about our customers, we could be subject to costly government enforcement actions and private litigation and our reputation could suffer; interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems could impair the delivery of our service and harm our business; we rely on third parties for the operation of our business, and the failure of third parties to perform could adversely affect our business; our business depends in part upon the auto industry; our Pandora business depends in part upon consumer electronics manufacturers; the market for music rights is changing and is subject to significant uncertainties; our ability to offer interactive features in our Pandora services depends upon maintaining licenses with copyright owners; the rates we must pay for "mechanical rights" to use musical works on our Pandora service have increased substantially and these new rates may adversely affect our business; failure of our satellites would significantly damage our business; our Sirius XM service may experience harmful interference from wireless operations; failure to comply with FCC requirements could damage our business; economic conditions, including advertising budgets and discretionary spending, may adversely affect our business and operating results; if we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, our business could be harmed; we may not realize the benefits of acquisitions or other strategic investments and initiatives, including the acquisition of Pandora; our use of pre-1972 sound recordings on our Pandora service could result in additional costs; we may from time to time modify our business plan, and these changes could adversely affect us and our financial condition; we have a significant amount of indebtedness, and our debt contains certain covenants that restrict our operations; our facilities could be damaged by natural catastrophes or terrorist activities; the unfavorable outcome of pending or future litigation could have an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition; failure to protect our intellectual property or actions by third parties to enforce their intellectual property rights could substantially harm our business and operating results; some of our services and technologies may use "open source" software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our services or require that we release the source code subject to those licenses; rapid technological and industry changes and new entrants could adversely impact our services; existing or future laws and regulations could harm our business; we may be exposed to liabilities that other entertainment service providers would not customarily be subject to; our business and prospects depend on the strength of our brands; we are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the NASDAQ listing rules and, as a result, qualify for, and rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements; while we currently pay a quarterly cash dividend to holders of our common stock, we may change our dividend policy at any time; and our principal stockholder has significant influence, including over actions requiring stockholder approval, and its interests may differ from the interests of other holders of our common stock. Additional factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 30, 2020, 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 we disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.

Source: SiriusXM

Media contact:

Danielle Lynn
[email protected] 

SOURCE Sirius XM Holdings Inc.

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