The Better Time for Satellite Radio was 10 Years Ago
In a recent interview with senior writer Jon Birger at Fortune, Martine Rothblatt, the entrepreneur who founded Sirius back in 1990 had a lot to say about the current state of the satellite radio industry, most importantly, that the entire business model has become dated.
Martine is concerned about the “huge growth in terrestrial alternatives” and thinks that “As we move from third-generation to fourth-generation cellular, there’s going to be ever more bandwidth available to distribute content totally via terrestrial cellular infrastructure. And that will leave fewer and fewer unique market attributes to satellite radio.”
Although she doesn’t cite specifics she certainly seems to be talking about the some of the big competition from the likes of Slacker, Pandora, and iTunes which are now becoming common alternatives. Rothblatt seems to cast serous doubts that satellite can compete with not only free services but free services that offer more stations and a greater ability to personalize content.
Like it or not, its seems as thought you might want to pay attention to the kind of person who had the brains and vision to develop this kind of technology over 19 years ago when she says “Technologies have their ideal times and places, and in my opinion the better time for satellite radio was 10 years ago.”
This doesn’t mean that the end is near for Sirius XM but, I think it paints a clear picture that it’s time to evolve. No longer can Sirius XM limit themselves by their method of content delivery but instead, they will have to define themselves by the actual content they produce.
[ via Fortune ]
Didn’t we already do this whole internet radio/ipod thing?
Evolve we must, and I believe that is EXACTLY what the dual combo of Sat TV and Sat RAD are up to. I find it somewhat disheartening that ‘the creator’ has seemingly given up on her progeny so abruptly and at such a crucial juncture, when the people she has apparently charged with her creations well being have so bravely fought back from the brink of extinction.
I think that time has not only, dulled our chances as she state, but perhaps more importantly as well as shamefully, her vision as well.
She should be spending her energies finding new ways to vitalize her creation, not pulling the plug so to speak. After all time has it’s consequences on us all, we’ve but to gaze in the mirror for that rude realization, but certainly that is not a reason to call it quits…………many a youth wanna be has succumbed to the wisdom and guise of the properly aged…………….!
The cellular infrastructure we have does a crappy job of just handling a phone call let alone much else. While visionaries, like Martine, are at times brilliant they are not always right about all things. Especially things in their own areas of expertise. It’s just the way it goes.
Wat the ….is up here tonight Guys?
He-she obviously has a hard-on for Howard Stern. Stern has on his show made comments about IT. It’s payback time. Note the timing. I wonder how much it was paid by the NAB.
i feel the same way perfect timing (NAB) spend that money on a new face now
Barrons is not a credible news source. Anything written by them should be immediately discarded. If there against Sirius, but be time to buy, its bottomed after all. I feel sorry for Charles not believing in the company he loves, and didnt pick up shares at .05 cents like other investors here.
She wants you Charles……..I can see it in her eyes!
Boring. No new news. Just one persons opinion, who is bitter. I see biased all over her. I dont trust her motivation or timing on this. Why Mel would talk to her for Barrons, is beyond me, why hes a moron. For someone in the media, he sure doesnt know how to work them.
You are so biased and you can’t not be with your investment at .05 per share. If she said that this company was destined for greatness you would have been praising her you dummy.
Like I’ve said before on this Website & Orbitcast.com ,Until SiriusXM teams up With IBiQuity & puts out CD Quality SOUND of Sirius XM MUSIC They Can’t Compete W/Pandora,Slacker & I-Pods. Partner w/IBiQuity TO get Satradio content in “HD” or CD QUALITY SOUND in EXCHANGE carry HD Radio in NEW DualBand Receivers with the possibility of picking up “OUT OF STATE ” Commercial Radio Stations. EX; Being Able to listen WHTQ 96.5 FM Orlando,FL. in Dallas/FT.Worth Area In HD1,HD2 or EVEN HD3 using HD Internet Radio via Satellite. SiriusXM,IBiQuity You BOTH Have What Each Other NEEDS. SIRIUSXM Content,IBiQuity A way to Deliver it. If Your Listening THIS IS YOUR WAKE-UP CALL!!!!! WAKE UP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and…I guess the best time to be a man was 15 years ago…good thing Martin (ahem, Martine now) made the switch just in time to take advantage…
He-She must be assimilated. It is time for Mel to launch the “Trans-Sister Channel” on SiriusXM!
Content is King. (but there are a lot of pawns, knights, bishops, rooks and queens)
I sold my lifetime subscription on eBay last summer. Hello AOL Radio, Pandora, Slacker, and iPod.
Sirius is Lost in Space.
Every time I undress this hot, luscious piece of ass with my eyes, all I can think of is Joe Torre!
That’s why the iPhone app would have been so important. But noooo, Sirius-XM had to spite the guys at StarPlayr instead of working with them or bringing them in house. This is where they’ve become bitten by the bizarre model of not only providing the service of satellite transmission and programming hundreds of stations, but in manufacturing radios. Soviet-era style radios, at that. Part of their model has become to hawk hardware. They have to realize if they are to survive, it has to be their content that comes first, and it doesn’t matter how that content gets to you — by satellite or by internet.
whatever anyone says about “ten years ago” The time is right now for satellite radio.
even thought there are all those gadgets out there, and I am speaking as a person who’s whole career is built on emerging technology, The one media that I listen to every single day of my life is Satellite radio. Ipods, mobile devices and internet are cool, but they cost ten times more than satrad and depend on g3 network, cell tower and internet connections, not to mention a power source that lasts an hour or 2 if youre lucky.
with satrad, I can hop in my car (which i drive several times a day) and sirius is right there at the touch of a button. I don’t have to think about battery life, internet connections, refreshing my playlist, etc…
all those people out there speaking about how satrad is a dying technology…SHUT UP. do yourself a favor and get a subscription and try it before you think of a thousand bogus reasons why it won’t work. stop trying to sound like an expert when you have NO CLUE!!!
exactly bro…I forgot to add this to my missive. Ten years ago??? TEN M’FING YEARS AGO??? That was the prime of SATRAD???? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….and this kind of f’d up statement gets printed in MSM as credible. I CHALLENGE ANYONE ON THIS OR ANY OTHER BOARD to prove to me the thesis that SATRAD was in its prime 10 years ago. Thank you.
Your whole career is built on “emerging technology” and you don’t know that it is an iPod and not an Ipod? Yeah, OK.
I have a SATRAD subscription and as great as it is, it would have been much more valuable ten years ago, you cant argue with that. If someone told you that you could have had satellite radio 40 years ago, wouldn’t that have been amazing? Clearly it is less amazing now with all of the new listening options. 10 years ago, there would have been much less competition, plain and simple. I don’t think what she said was revolutionary, it was just common sense.
another thing… Cellular technology is TOTAL CRAP!!!!
They force you into 2 year contracts.
then when you have all kinds of problems, “Abu” who speaks bangladesh is there to “assist” you with “one size fits all” solutions that are merely a ploy to string you along so you pay over $100.00 a month for shit that doesn’t work.
If anything is “ten years ago” cellular technology is a fantastic candidate for that title.
Seriously, when my contract is up, I’m going back to a land line.
Your whole career is built on “emerging technology” and you think cellular technology is crap? 10 years ago I could walk around the earth and make a call from anywhere, that is crap? Now I can walk around the city and connect to the internet via my iPhone at blazing speeds. That is crap? I can actually surf the web on my iPhone faster then most of the planet can access the net on a stationary computer.
Charles…
You do realize Martine used to be Martin before the sex change right? Listen, I’m not condemning anyone over their personal choice but that very issue = confused. Further, as the founder of the company, who is no longer connected to the company and is either “buyable” (either through stipend or any other kind of compensation) by MSM for spin purposes, or just plainly that he (it will alwasy be Martin the man to me) easily could have any number of axes to grind, I cannot take this person as credible. Sorry. It is not only very irresponsible for this “opinion” to be “conveniently” release at this moment, but also extremely suspect as MSM continues to search for dirt and ratings on this pig. Do you know if Martin has a heavy short position he’s protecting? Sorry again, but I’m not even really sure why you brought this into the forum. It was released on the wires and was snored at by investors. Most of the reasons cited by him also are not necessarily applicable to SIRI. SIRI’s model is as a diverse entertainment content provider. Not at all what “terrestrial radio” is…so purporting the bennies of how well TR can be repeated around the country..so what? It’s still shlub TR content. How good that content is, is what matters…
She is a millionaire philanthropist so, I would guess that she is not easily bought for a pro NAB agenda. She was just someone commenting to a question which was asked of her, relax, you can take off the tin foil hat, the black helicopter is just the channel 4 traffic copter.
Wilco..apparently you’re a know-it-all and Mr. Helper. What can I say but “Thank God, you’re here” to save us from ourselves. You showed up just in time my friend. Any other keen insight? The guy up there uses a cap I and you call him out? Sorry he didn’t meet your standards of properly representing he IPOD (how does all caps look to you??). Tin foil hat?? Black helicpoters?? You’re language not mine bud…so…that means you must know more about both than necessary. “HE” is a millionaire philanthropist just commenting on a question ask??? Duh. My comments were more about how his comments were used, and the timing of them. But I stand by my opinion about the relevancy of SATRAD and when. The sub base numbers 10 years ago will tell you that it was nothing more than a novelty my friend. If “the time for SATRAD ‘as a novelty item practically no one knows about’ was 10 years ago”, then I agree. If you’re talking about SATRAD as a more mainstream vehicle delivery system of rich, original content, personalities, et al, to ACTUAL MASSES..the time is now and still the future. Sorry. Keep your eye out for those helicopters genius. Don’t let ’em get ya!
Its not about a spelling error, he is lying about what it is he does for a living and he is puffing up his comment to be credible but he fails to do so. I just want to make sure other people recognize that fact. This guy claims he is a tech guy and that he is going to cancel his cellphone… does that sound right to you?
As far as the time being now, I guess we have to agree to disagree because as the days pass there is nothing but more and more competition for Sirius XM. That is not my feeling, that is fact, the numbers back it up.