Web Resources:

Unlike library databases, these Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the UW Connectivity Kit or the UW Libraries Proxy Server for authentication. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.
• Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc:   Company websites often provide extensive amounts of corporate information including histories of the company, investor information such as annual reports and Securities and Exchange Commission filings, historical stock prices, executive biographies, company news and press releases, etc. Look for this information under headings for Investor Relations, About The Company, etc. Go to Company Info in the bottom menu for corporate information and their Investor Relations section (including annual reports for 2002 and 2003 and S.E.C. filings).

• Yahoo! Finance:   This site is excellent for company and investment information as well as an excellent source for financial ratio comparisons with industry, sector and S&P 500. See the company profile for Sirius and their Key Statistics, as well as the excellent Competitors and Ratios sections. See also the link to Yahoo! Finance's Broadcasting & Cable TV Industry Center.

• Radio Advertising Bureau:   Trade and industry associations are often excellent sources of information about their industries (though the information may be restricted to members only). This association of radio broadcasters offers advertising and marketing data. See their Radio Revenue section. While there is a link to satellite television, there appears to be no information about satellite radio.

• National Association of Broadcasters:   "The National Association of Broadcasters is a full-service trade association that promotes and protects the interests of radio and television broadcasters in Washington and around the world. NAB is the broadcaster's voice before Congress, federal agencies and the Courts." See their Research & Information and Radio Fast Facts sections.

• Federal Communications Commission:   The governmental regulatory agencies are also often good sources for information on the industries they regulate. This governmental agency was "established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC's jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions." See their Audio Division, part of their Media Bureau (which regulates radio and television broadcasting). Finding information about satellite radio here is not easy.

• Arbitron:   This firm is an international media and marketing research firm, specializing in the radio broadcasting, cable, and advertising industries in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. See their information on Radio Stations and the results of a site search for Satellite Radio (129 results) and Sirius (three results).

• Broadcasting & Cable:   This weekly magazine, covering the television, broadcast, cable, satellite, and broadband markets, has a website which offers a search engine. A site search for Sirius produced over 90 articles; for Satellite Radio, over 160 articles.

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To identify relevant books, go to the UW Libraries Catalog on the Foster Business Library homepage (under Business Databases). Try searching by keyword; use the Modify Search feature to restrict your list of books to the Foster Business Library and in order from newest book to oldest. To do so, use the pulldown menu under Location to specify Foster Business Library. Clicking on the titles in the resulting list will bring up the full catalog record, indicating which Foster area has the book (general stacks, reference, reserve, etc.), the call number and the circulation status.

Circulation status is indicated on the right of each online catalog record, on the right. Available indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. Due and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated. You can have the Request/Place Hold feature to recall the book for your use.

The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

A keyword search for Sirius Radio retrieved no records. A keyword search for Satellite Radio produced six records in the UW Libraries but none in the Foster Business Library. Repeating this search in Summit, the online catalog of over thirty Washington and Oregon libraries, produced a list of over 200 records.

A subject search for Artificial Satellites in Telecommunication retrieved over 580 records, with just four records in the Foster Business Library (the most recent was published way back in 1999).

Foster Business Library Corporate Annual Reports:

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of several thousand annual reports for hundreds of U.S. and foreign companies. These reports are filed in lateral filing cabinets near the Foster Reference desk under the sign Corporate Annual Reports. Annual reports for companies in an industry can be a valuable source of information about the industry itself. For a list of all the companies in the Corporate Annual Reports collection, click here. For an index to corporate annual reports in the collection by industry sector, click here. For an index to companies in the collection with headquarters outside the U.S., click here.

The collection includes annual reports for companies in the Media sector but not any satellite radio companies.

Foster Business Library Articles:

In addition to the 800 journals in the Foster Business Library Periodicals Collection, the Foster Business Library offers access to 11,000 full text periodical articles through its full text article databases such as: ABI/Inform Global, Factiva, and Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. These article databases may be found on the Foster Business Library homepage, listed alphabetically under Business Databases.

Of these three main sources, all but Factiva are available from any computer on the campus network (as well as from home) via the UW Connectivity Kit or via the Libraries' proxy server. The easiest of these databases to use is ABI/Inform Global. For more information about accessing Foster Business Library databases from off campus, click here. For more information about business databases, click here.

• ABI/Inform Global:

  This database offers full text articles for over 800 journals. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box. ABI/Inform Global includes journals but not national or Washington state newspapers (though the Wall Street Journal is included). It also does not include valuable trade and industry and other periodicals. Your searches will span the widest possible array of publications by expanding your search to all databases in ABI/Inform. To expand your search to include all collections in this database, click on Select multiple databases, to the right of the search box. Click on all of the databases.

  Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article. For tips on searching this database, click here.

  For example, a search in all databases, for CO(Sirius Satellite Radio), produced a list of over 460 articles, including two articles in a scholarly journals, over 25 articles in magazines, over 290 articles in trade and industry publications, and over 100 articles in newspapers.

  As examples, see:

  • "Satellite Radio: Clear Growth, Far-Off Profits" (Business Week, February 2, 2004, by Robert Barker)
  • "Sirius Defends Higher Pricing" (Satellite News, September 27, 2004)
  • "The Broad Reach of Satellite Radio" (New York Times, October 4, 2004, by Sabrina Tavernise)

  Go to Topic Guide and look up the company to see what other subjects, companies, and people are associated with the company, in this database, such as Advertisers, Alliances, Automobile Industry, Consumer Spending, Investors, Market Entry, Market Research, Revenue, Strategic Planning, and XM Satellite Radio, among many others. A search, for instance, for CO(Sirius Satellite Radio) and SUB(Strategic Planning), produced a list of nine articles. Examples include:

  • "Sirius subs pass 105K in 2nd Qtr." (Twice, August 18, 2003, by Amy Gilroy)
  • "100 Channels, but Where Are the Subscribers?" (New York Times, November 3, 2002, by Alex Markels)

  A broader search for SUB(Satellite Radio) produced over 480 articles. It can also be combined with associated narrowing terms, such as SUB(Automobile Industry) as in SUB(Satellite Radio) and SUB(Automobile Industry), which produced a list of 18 articles.

The Foster Business Library Reference Desk is staffed nearly all of the hours that the library is open. The staff at the desk will be happy to help you find business research tools and resources, exploit business databases to the fullest or advise on research strategies. For e-mail questions, direct your query to balib@u.washington.edu. For assistance by telephone, dial (206) 543-8012 during library hours.

For research guides on a wide variety of industries, products, companies, issues and topics, see the Team Librarian Consultation archives.

• Team Consultation Course/Program Index      (BA Assignments)
• Team Consultation Industry Index      (Media Industry)
• Team Consultation Quarter Index
• Team Consultation Title Index
• Team Consultation and Research Guide Index