Sirius-XM (SIRI) To Raise Rates While Destroying Programm

[chrisy]

Check out the news story by Jerry Del Colliano about how Sirius/XM is raising rates while lowering content on HomeTheaterReview.com;

Sirius-XM (SIRI) To Raise Rates While Destroying Programming

"Consumer electronics industry's trade publication TWICE is reporting that they have confirmed that Sirius-XM will be raising rates for their best subscribers - the ones with multiple accounts - from $6.99 per month to $8.99 per month. The company will also start charging $2.99 for consumers to download their audio content from the Internet. That service was previously free.

Sirius was allowed to merge with XM in 2008 after much deliberation by the SEC and FCC. Upon being allowed to merge, jobs have been slashed and programming has been destroyed, as less-popular XM stations have replaced much better programmed Sirius stations. The result: core Sirius subscribers are up in arms.

Sirius stock has been decimated from a 52 week high of $3.89 to a mere eleven cents ($0.11) today. Sirius also reportedly has two major debt payments to make in 2009 which is casting a cloud over their future.

In just a few short months, the merger of XM and Sirius has created a satellite radio monopoly that has resulted in a loss of American jobs, the pure destruction of the better audio content and higher prices for consumers. How anybody has won from this corporate shell game is hard to tell, but with Apple selling iPods, iPhones and other devices like Apple TV - it's easy to predict that satellite radio's future is looking more and more doomed. Moreover, the company has now basically dismissed the Generation Y audience who simply doesn't pay for content, thus dismissing the largest demographic in United States history from their media, just as traditional media has done. Sirius-XM's CEO, Mel Karmazin was the former leader of Infinity Radio (Viacom), a terrestrial radio company known best for syndicating Howard Stern who is one of the few bright spots on Sirius-XM today."

[Sonnie]

Well I am one of those with 5 accounts at the $6.99 per month. Actually the first one is maybe $8 per month and the other 4 are $6.99. Either way, I will cancel one of mine with the increase.

I am very very very disappointed in the changes they have made. At first it was not so bad, but in the last several weeks I have noticed a change in the music being played on my channels. A change for the worst IMO. I love classic rock, but I think they are confused about what is really classic and what is not. Leave it up to Sirius to mess things up.

[shankar]

Their new smooth jazz called watercolors is a joke... I let my kids listen to pop2k.. and one day it turned into a rap channel, which was not bad until the bad songs with "F" "MF" and "N" wards came on and I had to shut that channel own...

My wife and I DO NOT enjoy this new Sirius

[Keith Shaw]

I'm probably one of the people who will be cancelling either some or all of my XM subsciptions (currently have 3). It just seems like there are so many other choices now that are almost as convenient and certainly higher in sound quality. There was a time when Watercolors sounded good and Fine Tuning could be counted on to broaden your horizons on quality material. Now, Fine Tuning is dead and sound quality has been on a downward spiral for, well, years. I may keep one for automotive use, the one area where the convenience of setting a station and not having to mess with anything while driving could make it worthwhile. The rest, though....

Keith

[audionut71]

I have had an XM subscription since 2002 and have been listening on line for years - this is a bunch of hooey! They promised subscribers that prices would not go up after the Merger - so much for that! I am actually happier with the music channels now, the Sirius variants were better than the XM for my tastes. I drive a ton (50k miles /year) and would not want to be without the service, but will miss the online stuff on the weekends.

[brandonnash]

I have loved sirius radio since I first got it, and since the changes, I have just liked it. I only have 1 subscription for my car, and I love it with my nearly hour drive into and from work, but they've taken or changed some of my favorite channels (punk 29 and maxim 108 are examples). A big money relief would be to get rid of howard stern. His shock radio has seen it's better days and most of his listeners are numbed now. No shock effect at all anymore. That would get them $100M a year and I would bet most that have sirius have enjoyed it enough that it would not make them cancel their subscription. Right now their overhead is too high. They pay dj's on their music channels to say a few words an hour, and most of the time I could care less about that. I would rather have them just have a constant random mix of the music without the talk. That's some more saved money. They could also try to appeal to some of the bigger companies for their advertising on their talk radio stations. If nashville can have bud commercials on any of their stations, then sirius could certainly get them in their with a contract.