NEWS RELEASE

STARBUCKS "" CHANNEL PREMIERES ON XM RADIO

10/4/2004

NEW "HEAR MUSIC" CHANNEL ON XM 75 PROVIDES A UNIQUE AND APPROACHABLE GUIDE TO HELP XM AND HEAR MUSIC AUDIENCES DISCOVER GREAT MUSIC BEYOND TOP 40

Washington D.C., October 04, 2004 -- XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR), the nation's leading satellite radio provider, and Starbucks Coffee Company (Nasdaq: SBUX) today announced the debut of the Starbucks "Hear Music" channel featuring music programming from Hear Music, the voice of music at Starbucks.

The 24-hour Starbucks "Hear Music" channel, on XM 75, offers customers an ever-changing mix of the best new music and essential recordings from all kinds of genres. Programmed by in-house Hear Music experts, content will initially feature songs handpicked by the Hear Music editorial partners (employees) along with recommendations from the more than 70 artists who have shared their music choices with Hear Music over the years- including the Rolling Stones, Sarah McLachlan, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Additional content will consist of songs from Hear Music's extensive music catalog, including , R&B, neo-soul, rock, and singer-songwriters.

"Hear Music helps millions of Starbucks customers -- many of whom have been ignored and left behind by local AM and FM radio and major retail music stores -- discover fresh and different music, as well as their popular favorites," said Ken Lombard, president, Starbucks Entertainment. "With the Starbucks 'Hear Music' channel on XM, we are extending the music experience outside our stores and providing an innovative way for people to enjoy new and essential music anywhere and anytime they want."

"The current CD offerings in Starbucks stores, particularly the highly successful

1 CD, have demonstrated that adult music consumers are looking for a different way to discover music from all kinds of genres," said Don MacKinnon, vice president of Music and Entertainment at Starbucks. "Starbucks strategic marketing alliance with XM will serve to quench the thirst of listeners who are looking for a channel that offers new, emerging and essential music along with the favorites of legendary artists. We've created 100 percent of the programming on the Starbucks 'Hear Music' channel based on what our customers have told us they want to hear."

Starting today, the channel is available to XM Radio's more than 2.5 million subscribers. Starbucks customers will also be able to enjoy the same programming when it is launched in more than 4,100 Starbucks locations nationwide at the beginning of next year.

"We are thrilled to welcome the Starbucks 'Hear Music' channel to our critically-acclaimed 100-percent commercial- free music lineup," said Hugh Panero, President and CEO, XM Satellite Radio. "It is clear that the Hear Music team shares XM's passion for delivering a compelling music experience."

Along with the XM strategic marketing alliance, Starbucks has continued to extend its reach into music and entertainment over the last year. In March, the company opened the first Hear Music Coffeehouse in Santa Monica, CA. Starbucks Hear Music also recently collaborated with to produce, market and distribute Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company. To date, Starbucks stores have sold more of Charles' final CD than any other individual music retailer, both traditional and mass-merchant. Later this fall, Starbucks will expand the exceptional Hear Music experience to an even wider audience when it launches a CD burning service in select Starbucks Company-operated stores, giving customers the opportunity to create personalized CDs in approximately the time it takes to order a latte.

About Hear Music

Founded in 1990, and acquired by Starbucks Coffee Company in 1999, Hear Music is dedicated to helping people discover great music. Not a traditional or distributor, Hear Music, with a catalog of more than 100 CD compilations, handpicks songs from new and classic records to create CDs that help people discover music they might not hear otherwise. Hear Music creates CDs and music programming for Starbucks coffeehouses worldwide, as well as for the 24-hour Starbucks "Hear Music" channel on XM 75. Hear Music operates innovative retail stores in California including the newly-opened Hear Music Coffeehouse in Santa Monica, the first retail setting in America where customers can burn custom CD mixes in minutes. Hear Music CDs are featured at Hear Music and Starbucks retail locations, as well as at www.hearmusic.com.

About Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with more than

2 8,000 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The Company is committed to offering the highest quality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting its business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to its retail operations, the Company produces and sells bottled ® coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot™coffee drink, and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venture partnerships. The Company's brand portfolio provides a wide variety of consumer products. Tea's line of innovative premium teas and Hear Music's exceptional compact discs enhance the Starbucks Experience through best-of-class products. The Seattle's Best Coffee® and ® Coffee brands enable Starbucks to appeal to a broader consumer base by offering an alternative variety of coffee flavor profiles.

About XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite Radio is America's #1 satellite radio service with more than 2.5 million subscribers. 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 ; more than 40 channels of premier sports, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and 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 and boom boxes for "on the go" are available from retailers nationwide. In addition, XM is available in more than 100 different 2005 car models. XM is a popular factory-installed option on more than 50 new General Motors models, as well as a standard feature on several top-selling Honda and Acura models. XM is available in many Avis rentals cars and will be coming soon to JetBlue and AirTran Airways. XM's new premium online music service, XM Radio Online, debuts in October. XM recently introduced XM NavTraffic, a new data service that will provide real-time traffic information for vehicle navigation systems. For more information about XM, visit http://www.xmradio.com.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements in this press release include demand for the Company's service, the Company's dependence on technology and third party vendors, its potential need for additional financing, as well as other risks described in XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.'s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 3-15-04. Copies of the filing are available upon request from XM Radio' s Investor Relations Department.

Media Relations Chance Patterson Phone: 202-380-4318 [email protected]

3 Starbucks Cheri Libby Phone: 206-318-7272 [email protected]

Edelman Jenny Liu Phone: 323-202-1062 [email protected]

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