I received an email last night telling me the rate will go up on our second XM radio unless we prepay for 1, 2, or 3 years. I will also loose XM online is I stay with the current monthly bill for the second radio.
The last year I have been paying $6.99/month for the second radio and XM online. This will change to $8.99/month.
Looks like I will start paying by the year.
I currently have the $77/year deal on the first radio.

It looks like they have a real problem making money. Seems like their best bet would be to reduce rates and try to gain back all the people who have XM capable radios but didn't want to pay the high rates. Some money coming in from a lot of people probably would bring in more revenue than more money from a shrinking Customer base.

On average we spend a few minutes per day in our car and even at $7 dollars per month it isn't worth the cost. It is like paying $7 for a subscription to a cloud.

Bill

It looks like they have a real problem making money. Seems like their best bet would be to reduce rates and try to gain back all the people who have XM capable radios but didn't want to pay the high rates.
Bill

I was really surprised to see a rate increase. I half expected to see the rates drop this year.

Well with everyone going around trying to get $77/year they gotta make up those losses somehow

It looks like they have a real problem making money. Seems like their best bet would be to reduce rates and try to gain back all the people who have XM capable radios but didn't want to pay the high rates. Some money coming in from a lot of people probably would bring in more revenue than more money from a shrinking Customer base.
Bill

Bill - this is so true but unfortunately many of today's companies dont think this way. For some reason they think its better to sell One overpriced widget and make 30 dollars instead of selling 4 well priced widgets and make 10 dollars each - which in turn is 40 dollars. By using this method - they would be moving more product and having more people seen using thier product to get more people intrested in the product.

I received an email last night telling me the rate will go up on our second XM radio unless we prepay for 1, 2, or 3 years. I will also loose XM online is I stay with the current monthly bill for the second radio.
The last year I have been paying $6.99/month for the second radio and XM online. This will change to $8.99/month.
Looks like I will start paying by the year.
I currently have the $77/year deal on the first radio.

Well they're thinking short term which is why a lot of these companies go broke long term. I would call them and threaten to cancel both and see where it gets you. They don't seem to understand that they have very little value to most people. Just because it's included with new cars doesnt mean people will pay for it. It's cool, but you need to be in your car to really appreciated it and to find enough value in it to pay that much. Most people probably listen to their XM for about 10-20 min a month and that's not worth the cost, so they dump it, and then XM treats theri current subscribers like crap. They need to come up with an all inclusive plan... every channel for something like $5 a month. It would drive sales. Instead they're trying to get the most out of their current members. It's a failing proposition.

Well there seems to be a reason for this after all. Sirius/XM has about $925,000,000.00 in debt. Echostar is buying $300,000,000.00 of the debt that is due. If Sirius/XM doesn't come up with $175,000,000.00 in a hurry they will not be able to stop Echostar from taking them over. Echostar is basically Dish Network, so I'm not sure how that would translate into radio. I'm sure they'd like to be in that market too. They probably have a more efficiently run company and it may end up being a good thing, but the lack of players in the industry is already not good, and merging TV radio might not be good for pricing. Maybe they'll throw in the radio with some of the TV packages. I think you'd get more subscribers (for radio anyway) that way.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/02/02/daily62.html

Interesting, considering that DirecTv already has XM radio stations (including changes to accommodate the new combined XM/Sirius lineup). Dish network is a competitor for DirecTv, so I wonder if there'll be any sort of buy-in from DirecTv to keep the ability to broadcast those music channels?

Well, I, for one, would gladly pay the premium to keep XM. Actually, I will pay the annual subscription fee (which is a better deal) so their announced increase doesn't matter anyway.

My point is, however, that I have enjoyed satellite radio so much that I can't imagine being without it. The AM/FM stations are so bad and overrun with commercials that XM is like a breath of fresh air. While some of the XM channels (the news/talk/sports channels) run commercials, the quality of programming and the array of choices is fantastic. I hear music on XM that just isn't available anywhere else. Whatever they charge (within reason, of course) is well worth the cost to me.

The economy is tough right now, and apparently the company does have some problems, but I'd hate to see XM go away.

kc650

Well, I, for one, would gladly pay the premium to keep XM. Actually, I will pay the annual subscription fee (which is a better deal) so their announced increase doesn't matter anyway.

My point is, however, that I have enjoyed satellite radio so much that I can't imagine being without it. The AM/FM stations are so bad and overrun with commercials that XM is like a breath of fresh air. While some of the XM channels (the news/talk/sports channels) run commercials, the quality of programming and the array of choices is fantastic. I hear music on XM that just isn't available anywhere else. Whatever they charge (within reason, of course) is well worth the cost to me.

The economy is tough right now, and apparently the company does have some problems, but I'd hate to see XM go away.

kc650

kc650 I feel the exact same way. I hate being in a car without XM... even when I go and rent a car I specifically ask for a vehicle with XM Radio. I will never go without an active subscription to XM Radio again.

I don't even know the local AM/FM channels to be honest... I haven't turned my past two cars to AM or FM once.

Well, I, for one, would gladly pay the premium to keep XM. Actually, I will pay the annual subscription fee (which is a better deal) so their announced increase doesn't matter anyway.

My point is, however, that I have enjoyed satellite radio so much that I can't imagine being without it. The AM/FM stations are so bad and overrun with commercials that XM is like a breath of fresh air. While some of the XM channels (the news/talk/sports channels) run commercials, the quality of programming and the array of choices is fantastic. I hear music on XM that just isn't available anywhere else. Whatever they charge (within reason, of course) is well worth the cost to me.

The economy is tough right now, and apparently the company does have some problems, but I'd hate to see XM go away.

kc650

True, but are you in your care more than the average American?

I don't think that they're hurting because of the economy. They've been hurting for years and they've owed the debt for a long time. They've made some poor decisions and hedged a lot of bets on things (like Howard Stern and a large percentage of people with 3 mo. trials buying in after expiration)

Well, I, for one, would gladly pay the premium to keep XM. Actually, I will pay the annual subscription fee (which is a better deal) so their announced increase doesn't matter anyway.

My point is, however, that I have enjoyed satellite radio so much that I can't imagine being without it. The AM/FM stations are so bad and overrun with commercials that XM is like a breath of fresh air. While some of the XM channels (the news/talk/sports channels) run commercials, the quality of programming and the array of choices is fantastic. I hear music on XM that just isn't available anywhere else. Whatever they charge (within reason, of course) is well worth the cost to me.

The economy is tough right now, and apparently the company does have some problems, but I'd hate to see XM go away.

kc650

I agree. I drive 35k miles per year and can't deal with local on air radio. Two songs and 5 minutes of commercials drives me crazy.

I need my Hair Nation, Mix22, 80s, BoneYard, Classic Rewind, Fox Sports, Etc.

I can't believe $2/month will break anyone. I lose that amount in change in my car seat each month!

Well with everyone going around trying to get $77/year they gotta make up those losses somehow

took the words right out of my mouth.

I agree. I drive 35k miles per year and can't deal with local on air radio. Two songs and 5 minutes of commercials drives me crazy.

I need my Hair Nation, Mix22, 80s, BoneYard, Classic Rewind, Fox Sports, Etc.

I can't believe $2/month will break anyone. I lose that amount in change in my car seat each month!

It's not about that. Isn't it more than $2/mo? The problem is that most people aren't in their car that long every day, and as much as they like the XM radio they can't justify paying $100 a year or whatever it is to listen for 5 min a day. This isn't true for everyone, but a lot of people, and it's part of their problem with maintaining subscribers. There are other things on the forefront of their mind for them to spend money on.

$2/month extra as posted in the original post, not $2 total.

$2/month extra as posted in the original post, not $2 total.



Ahh I see... Hey where in WI are you?

Ahh I see... Hey where in WI are you?

Appleton.....

Appleton.....



I live in the Milwaukee area.

For now I'll stick with our two XM radios and online XM. We have very limited radio stations in this area and the last year has been great having so many music choices.

On most investment sites all the talk is of WHEN they will file for bankruptcy. Neither one of them has EVER made a profit. And pulling nonsense like paying Howard Stern 500 million will be a learning experience for them. Just as the banks etc are having a learning process ongoing.

We need to harp on the manufacturers to put in HD radio tuners. I live in a city of ony 400,000 and we have at least 12 HD Digital station that are all CD quality if you have the tuner. But the car folks AGAIN partied with the wrong people. Im guessing the XM folks PAID the carco's to put in their tuners.

But then I might be wrong as I just found out the HD tuners are quite expensive, likely due to the patent from Ibiquity. HD is not even in some high end stereo gear apparently for this same expensive reason.