Sirius Satellite Radio said it hired two of the radio industry’s advertising executives, Sam Benrubi and Stephen Smith, to help build advertising revenues on the company’s non-music channels. Sirius has more than 55 talk, traffic, news, sports and entertainment channels in addition to the 65 commercial-free music channels. The company earlier this year acquired exclusive satellite broadcasting rights to Nascar racing and, as part of that agreement, has the right to sell advertising during race broadcasts as well as during other programs on its new Nascar channel.

The appointments of Benrubi and Smith “are an important part of the next step in the growth of Sirius, following our acquisition of significant programming assets that now allow Sirius promising advertising revenue possibilities,” company President of Entertainment and Sports Scott Greenstein said in a prepared statement.