Subscriptions will no longer include internet radio at no charge

Choachy, do you even own a satellite radio subscription? H100 and H102 are two whole channels not just him. (Thats another thing that pisses me off, people saying SIRI paid 500 million for Stern. No that is not correct they paid for 2 channels that Stern produces.) If you want to be more accurate try saying Cable added ABC and CBS to their line up, not just NBC adding a sitcom. Believe me you would have had to pay for 2 extra channels or you would not have gotten them, that would have been part of a different package that you would have had to pay extra for to get. You think they both had 300 channels combined from the beginning, no whole channels were added out of the blue because of compression that got better. Once again I will say it, subscribers paid nothing extra for it has those things happen, IN THE LAST 6 YEARS. My satellite tv bill has almost doubled in that time, for the same package, as I am sure yours did also (you can say the same for cable). You see this is what tells me you have no common sense. Bubba is a show on one of Howards channels. Bubba is closer to your analogy of NBC adding a sitcom. I think a closer comparison would be H101 adding "Bubba" is more like HBO adding the "Serpranos".


By the way, here are some of the what you think are small things that have changed in satellite radio that nobody paid extra for the last 6 YEARS. Sound and reception has gotton much better because of the repeater towers and compression tech, People were getting satellite radio for free on the internet. The fact is technology has improved in both the only difference between cable tv and satellite radio is, satellite radio has not charged you for it each time it happened.

Newman- great post as always.

All of the bitching and moaning about the $3 internet fee and the increase of $2 for the family plan got me to re-evaluate my own personal budget...since I have been posting that it is only $2 or $3. Thats $60 per year..
Dish Network $80/month..$960/year Dropped one level saved $10/month..$120/year. ATT internet connection $30/month $360/year..Dropped 1 level saved $10/month $120/year. Home phone dropped call ID/call forwarding saved $6/month $72/year. Realized I was carrying full coverage on a 98 Toytota..changed it to Liability/comprehensive only..saved $35/month $420/year. Removed 1 soda/day will save $30/month..$360/year

Thats a grand total of $91/month and $1092/year. I didn't even get into eating in more instead of out. The savings could easily be $2K per year..I hope you get the point of this exercise.

Ok I'll tell you. If you try, you to can easily save yourself a bunch of cash and still pay Sirius the $60/year for the service that you have already been paying for!!

As usual it really comes down to user preference.

I'm not totally happy with my Stiletto experience; I'm not totally happy with being asked to pay more to listen online and am definitely not happy to be FORCED to upgrade to the 128k stream (which is gonna be a big fat memory hawg for those of us who may record our internet streams ;)).

That said, I'm opting to pay the extra for the time being in order to keep some mobility/flexibility. That way I can bail if things hit the point where I no longer wish to subscribe.

I'm pretty much a single-channel listener, and if that channel goes at some future point, Sirius/XM loses my business anyway no matter what else they may do or not do. And I do not mean this in a "Waaahhh, I'm taking my toys and going home" sense, just in a "this would make it no longer economically feasible for me to keep the service" sense.

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Originally Posted by john

Choachy, do you even own a satellite radio subscription?

You see this is what tells me you have no common sense. Bubba is a show on one of Howards channels. Bubba is closer to your analogy of NBC adding a sitcom. I think a closer comparison would be H101 adding "Bubba" is more like HBO adding the "Serpranos".

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I think you need to keep editing. Perhaps you'll get to your point eventually. :confused: I have two subscriptions. One per vehicle and have for 3 years.

Look for all the Sirius fanatics. Im a fan of satellite radio. Im NOT a single channel listener. I listen to 10 preset regularly. Thats why i keep paying for it...for now. But you have to admit that what people have been saying over the past week does hold water based on what is in the news. SiriusXM is making an attempt to grab as much money as they can from their customers as quickly as they can and the internet radio thing is just another attempt.

Dont believe me? Look in the news:

(look, there are many ways for a company that is in trouble to attempt to increase revenue. I simply do not agree with the methods SiriusXM are using. You can charge us loyal multiple subscribers who enjoy internet radio another $5 a months causing cancellations, or you can use other tactics to entice new subscribers which have greater benefit to the bottom line. Which would you choose?)

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According to the Wall Street Journal, EchoStar holds about $400 million of Sirius XM debt, and the satellite radio company led by Mel Karmazin is scrambling to raise $175 million by a February 17 payment date to fend off a possible takeover threat and avoid default.

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So far, the merger hasn't generated the savings needed to make the company profitable, and Moody's thinks there's a "high likelihood" that Sirius will fail to repay or refinance its debt in 2009. One outcome could be a takeover, at distressed prices, by other firms active in the satellite business.

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That's where I expect Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) to find itself in 2009 through one of two routes: Either its cash burn, and the impossibility of meeting its massive immediate debt obligations, pushes it into the embrace of bankruptcy. Or it dilutes existing shareholders into oblivion if, by some miracle, it persuades its creditors to accept increasingly worthless stock in lieu of actually paying them back.

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While it is keeping its core rates unchanged -- a condition to which Sirius and XM Satellite Radio agreed last year in order to close their merger -- the move could also anger subscribers still raw from a series of programing changes enacted in November.

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Increased revenue derived from the new charges and long-term commitments would come at a crucial time for Sirius XM, which entered the year with about $1 billion in debt due to mature in 2009.

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http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/02/0...-look-so-wise/

http://uk.reuters.com/article/burnin...5150ZB20090206

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28897337/

http://uk.reuters.com/article/techno...50K63V20090121

Choachy, that was sarcasm. I should have known you would not get it, your common sense being what it is. The point was your comparison was like you have no clue as to what H100 and H101 are. They are 2 totally seperate channels produced by Stern something you should have known if you had a subscription.

Next as for them doing it to get more cash, that was never the issue that was always understood. As for the time I guess you also think it was some kind of a quintessence that after they say you are going to have to pay for your internet, (not days later) out comes starplayer through Ipod that you can now listen to SIRIXM on the internet using your Ipod. Once again as for the money issue that is self explanatory. Once again I will remind people dont you think they needed the money 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years ago, thats right because they were also losing money then to. They are not a charity, they are not doing it as a public service, they are not doing it to lose money, they want to eventually make money on it. It boggles my mind how you people cant seem to get that concept.


P.S. I will not even go to much into the articles you posted they have all been found to be based on speculation and rumor at best. I will say this much as to the one that states; the merger has not yet yeilded the savings to make them profitable. That just gos to show how off they are it HAS ONLY BEEN 6 MONTHS for god sakes, They would have to be the only ones on this planet to think that, in 6 months that synergies from the merger would make them profitable, DHAAAAAA.

I don't get the idea of raising prices in an economic downturn. I already cancelled my gym membership and then Sirius stuck its neck out with the 3/month charge. Oops!

I just don't trust the "lifetime" membership. I always get the feeling that debt refinancing, clever wording, or "new features" will render it useless.

I have a cross country trip coming up. After that, I'm likely out for good. I'll read the boards to see what is up with Artie ;)

I could get into a whole rant about Sirius's business model... but that would be for another thread.

Enjoy your subscriptions, I'll be jealous!

I pose the BIG question:
How is a lifetime subscription a viable long term business plan. Does it not terminate a continuing income stream from those subscribers forever? How is that going to promote the longevity of the company?

I'm concerned I'm rolling the dice for $399.00. I just can't see how this company can make it for all the reasons previously discussed.

Don't get me wrong; Sirius is the best passive music source on the earth (or should I say space). I want it to survive. I'm just concerned they are spending way too much and will never be able to generate enough revenue to support both the programming and infrastructure.

Bottom line- I don't know what to do.

I'm new to this forum, so apologies if I'm late to the game weighing in on the new model / price structure for receiving Internet Radio. At any rate, this will likely be my first and only post as I will be canceling my subscription after 3 plus years as a listener. My email to Sirius below relays my frustrations.
I will, however, continue to listen at work - for free - as a co-worker has a Sirius Sportster Replay model with built-in FM transmitter whose signal nicely furnishes the whole office.
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In light of the recent policy to discontinue free Internet access to existing subscribers (without commitment and prepayment to a long term contract), I will be canceling my subscription at that time unless the policy is rescinded. Notwithstanding Sirius' cash flow problems and plummeting stock price, I believe THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE you will come to regret- via cancellations of existing subscriptions - it is unethical to punish the earliest / existing subscribers. I have been very disappointed with both Customer service as well as programming options since the merger / lineup changes, and was leaning toward cancellation even prior to the Internet Radio policy modifications. There are a multitude of other, quality, FREE, online listening options available, and attempting to justify a price increase by providing 'higher quality digital audio' is pure BS - it's all in the user hardware, speakers, audio cards, and connection speeds - the existing signal is fine, and no significant listening quality increase can be afforded by anything that cac be implemented on your end.
GOODBYE
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Well, I held up my end of the "threats" I made when I first heard about the price hikes.

Called yesterday at lunch. I canceled one Radio, and I went ahead and paid for our other one (which had its annual subscription up in May) so that, at least for the next year, the Wife gets the Radio and I get the Internet. After that I might end up just dropping it completely (depending on what happens over the next year).

A couple things I was surprised about. The absolute and complete lack of any interest or attempt to keep my radio online. I don't know if they just flat out don't care or what. After I was transferred to a second CSR who actually canceled my account, he did at least ask me why. I told him that it was because of the price increase and removal of the *included* internet radio. After he started making changes, I asked if there were any deals available. He told me "nope, not for secondary radios".

Since, at least AFAIK additional radios "receiving" signals from their Satellite don't cost them anything... I would think stopping any lost income would be a top priority. But obviously all these Large corporations know exactly what they are doing :rolleyes: If I were a shareholder the lack of interest in keeping subscribers would scare me a little.

Does anyone here happen to know what feed you will get if you have a lifetime sub (32k vs 128k premium)? I've seen contrasting answers around the internet and wondering if anyone here had any insight. I recently bought a Sonos receiver to stream the Sirius internet feed through, but it requires the Premium Internet feed. My existing ID (bought lifetime in 2005) worked for a while but stopped working yesterday. Just wondering if I have to ante up for premium or not.

Thanks, any insight would be appreciated...