In November, 2004, a partnership between Sirius, Standard Broadcasting and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to introduce Sirius in Canada. Sirius’ spacecraft Sirius 1 through Sirius 4 were manufactured by Space Systems/Loral. The dog in the Sirius logo is unofficially named Mongo, a name garnished from the debut of Sirius Satellite Radio’s sponsorship on Casey Atwood’s and later Jimmy Spencer’s NASCAR entry.

Digital satellite systems are largely unregulated, allowing them a much freer hand in deciding what content they will carry. Sirius currently lags behind competitor XM Satellite Radio in terms of subscribers with just over 2.1 million, well less than XM's current audience of more than five million subscribers. Sirius currently lags behind competitor XM Satellite Radio in terms of subscribers with just over 2.1 million, well less than XM's current audience of more than five million subscribers.

On November 29, 2005, XM launched its service in Canada. On November 15, 2005, DirecTV began carrying 72 channels of XM programming. These include music channels, but not news or sports channels. XM Canada said it will have shipped 100,000 receivers to Canadian retailers before Christmas.

XM Satellite Radio has 2 satellites in space that beam down over one hundred channels of content. To use a brand-specific car satellite radio tuner, you need to have a name-brand, satellite radio-ready in-dash stereo. Satellite radio gives consumers access anytime, anywhere in North America, to between 80 and 100 commercial-free stations.

If you plan on listening to satellite radio exclusively in your car, consider going with a dedicated car satellite radio tuner. A single cable connects the satellite radio to your stereo exactly the same way that it would a same-brand CD changer. The idea behind satellite radio is quite basic. Galaxie and MaxTrax are licensed satellite-delivered music streams distributed by direct broadcast satellite and digital cable services, requiring satellite dishes or coaxial cable lines not required by the XM or Sirius systems.