XM Launches Radio's First Advanced Instant Traffic & Weather Service for Tampa/St. Petersburg and Other Major Markets Nationwide

      New Service is Superior to Existing Terrestrial and Satellite
                          Radio Traffic Services

XM Satellite Radio , the country's first satellite radio service, today introduced radio's first advanced instant traffic and weather service for Tampa/St. Petersburg and other major markets nationwide. The XM Instant Traffic and Weather service exclusively provides:

  
 

  -- 21 channels of traffic and weather information for the nation's most
     traffic-congested metropolitan areas

  -- 24/7 continuously updated reporting for each market

  -- A dedicated channel for each major metro market

  -- Travel times for major roadways, provided by Traffic Pulse(R)
     technology on the ground in the local markets

  -- Average speeds for major roadways, provided by Traffic Pulse(R)
     technology on the ground in the local markets

  -- Amber Alerts and other important public safety and homeland security
     notifications on air and printed on the radio display

  -- Dedicated staff of more than 40 traffic and weather experts supported
     by a nationwide network of traffic data collection professionals

  -- Most comprehensive traffic information available utilizing advanced in-
     road sensors, aircraft, traffic and local eyewitness reports.

"XM is providing drivers nationwide with the most comprehensive traffic information service ever available on the radio. XM Instant Traffic & Weather service delivers detailed and reliable route information for drivers when they need it and where they need it," said Hugh Panero, XM President and Chief Executive Officer. "XM is using new technologies to provide more advanced and more frequent traffic information, and we are the only national radio service that offers a single, dedicated channel for each market. With XM, a listener does not have to wait while the channel switches back and forth between other cities' traffic problems or local news broadcasts."

In the first phase of a national rollout of 21 new Instant Traffic & Weather channels, XM launched its Washington, DC channel on February 28th and is launching 14 additional channels today with dedicated traffic and weather information for the following metro areas: New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas- Ft. Worth, Chicago, Houston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tampa, Orlando, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Channels for the 6 remaining markets (Boston, Atlanta, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Seattle and San Diego) will be introduced later in 2004. XM's Instant Traffic and Weather channels are broadcast nationally and available to all XM subscribers at no additional cost.

XM's Instant Traffic & Weather channels provide drivers with travel times for major roadways, average speeds on these roads and delays attributable to accidents, lane closures and construction. In addition, the traffic reports cover a broader set of roads and geography than traditionally reported on traffic radio.

"Getting our customers safely to their destinations is of paramount concern to Avis, and we cannot think of a better new safety feature to add to our fleet than XM's new traffic and weather service," said Scott Deaver, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Cendant Car Rental Group, parent of Avis. "XM's new traffic and weather service will provide easy-to-access and much needed information to travelers whether or not they are familiar with local radio in the cities they visit."

XM Instant Traffic & Weather is provided by XM in cooperation with Mobility Technologies, a leader in high tech, innovative traffic data gathering solutions and The Weather Channel, a long-time programming partner of XM. Mobility's Digital Traffic Pulse(R) collects key traffic information from local markets coast-to-coast, including drive times, vehicle speeds, counts (volume), and roadway density and transmits the data over a wireless network every 60 seconds to a data center. There, data is warehoused, mined in an advanced, proprietary process and aggregated for transmission to XM's Instant Traffic & Weather Center.

XM has recently completed the establishment of a brand new, state-of-the- art XM Instant Traffic & Weather Center at its broadcast headquarters in Washington, DC, the largest digital radio facility of its kind in the country. The Instant Traffic & Weather Center is the largest addition to XM's 150,000 square foot headquarters since completion of its XM Live Performance Theater in 2002.

About XM

XM is America's #1 satellite radio service with more than 1.5 million subscribers today. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, DC, New York City and Nashville, Tennessee at the Country Music Hall of Fame, XM's 2004 lineup includes more than 120 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: 68 commercial-free music channels, featuring hip hop to opera, classical to country, bluegrass to blues; 32 channels of premier sports, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and beginning March 1, the first 15 of 21 channels of the most advanced traffic and weather information for major metropolitan areas nationwide.

Affordable, compact and stylish XM satellite radio receivers for the home, the car, the computer and boom boxes for "on the go" are available from retailers nationwide. In addition, XM is available in more than 80 different 2004 car models. XM is a popular factory-installed option on more than 40 new General Motors models, as well as a standard feature on several top-selling Honda and Acura models.

Avis customers can enjoy XM as a standard feature in the company's premium and luxury vehicles, and JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways passengers will be able to listen to XM's programming in-flight later in 2004.

For more information about XM, visit http://www.xmradio.com/.