Stewart can currently only leave her home for 48-hours each week

Lifestyle guru Stewart, who is currently under house arrest, will help launch the channel later this year.

She said she was "very excited" about the exclusive four-year deal, worth an estimated $30m (�15.7m).

Sirius, which runs 120 US stations, recently signed up DJ Howard Stern in a bid to broaden its appeal.

Stewart has previously worked in radio, producing 90-minute segments called Ask Martha.

House arrest

"I don't know about you, but I was raised on the radio," Stewart said.

"I'm very excited about this. ... Of all the things that I have done in the last few years with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, radio is actually one of the most enjoyable."

Stewart will feature on the channel, which is expected to be called Martha Stewart Living Radio, and will focus on cooking, gardening and entertainment programming .

It is expected to launch once Stewart has finished serving her sentence for lying to investigators over a stock sale.

Stewart spent five months in jail for her role in a share scandal

She has already served five months in jail and was released under house arrest for a further five months in March. She can currently only leave her home to carry out work commitments for 48-hours each week.

Scott Greenstein, the head of entertainment and sports programming at Sirius, said Stewart's channel would "provide women with the definitive complement to their lives and lifestyle".

Sirius is the second largest satellite radio company in the US, behind XM, with both battling to secure more subscribers.

More freedom

XM puts its listenership at 3.8 million subscribers, while Sirius has some 1.2m subscribers.

XM said it had held initial talks with Stewart to launch a station with her.

"We evaluated this deal and passed on it, particularly given what we felt was a limited ad revenue return for our investment," said an XM spokesman.

"We were more interested in doing a show. We didn't feel it justified doing a whole channel."

Howard Stern signed to Sirius in multi-million dollar deal last October, saying he wanted the freedom offered by satellite radio, which is not subject to the tough decency laws of terrestrial stations.

He has been in trouble a number of times over his outspoken broadcasts, landing record fines of $1.75m (�950,000) for Clear Channel.