Is that to say if streaming services did not exist, Siriusxm would have the exact same sub numbers? If pandora and the likes all went bankrupt and stopped streaming tomorrow, NONE of those users would become new Siriusxm subscribers?
Printable View
Sirius has studied effects of streaming music in the connected car. They have mentioned this on conference calls. Not only has it had no affect on Sirius sub numbers in those cars, it turns out that Sirius conversion rates go up in those connected vehicles where you can easily get streaming services. 2/3 of Sirius subs stream music. Higher than non subscribers.
It's not hard to see that streaming music is replacing downloads which replaced CDs with replaced tapes which replaced 8 tracks, all of which coexisted in the car with terrestrial radio. Frear said something very revealing to Cohen at Merrill's conference when asked about competition. He said something to this effect - terrestrial radio as the top middle and bottom of competition and then way down below is internet radio.
Music distribution and radio are just 2 very very different businesses. In a lot of ways they are very complementary (radio helps sales) But the business models are so different. I hope Sirius never gets into the music distribution business.
One thing I am very happy about is now that Pandora is a public company you bloggers that lauded streamers so much 5 years ago get to see how they make no money. I wish Spotify was public too.
@Muscle... please understand I am not disagreeing with you. I just don't see the cable companies having that big of an "advantage" over the telco's. Look at how many video subscribers AT&T will gain once they take over DirecTV. I am not too concerned about DISH because like you said, DISH is losing subs unlike DirecTV and AT&T. If anything AT&T is going to give the cable companies a run for their money in the video segment. Where are the cable companies when it comes to the "connected car?" Are they doing anything or is this another area they will be playing catchup on when they get their wifi network up and running? I will say it again... i think the cable companies are making a big mistake not buying T-Mobile or Sprint. At least they have the network built and operating. Starting from scratch takes a lot of money and regulatory approval.
@muscle... I am actually very excited to see the consolidation and competition. I really think this will drive the share price(s) higher across the board.
As far as SIRI, I really don't see them doing much unless someone takes them out. We are slowly seeing the connected car come to fruition (still a ways to go) and big companies like Apple, Google, etc... getting into the content streaming business. They have a lot of money they can spend too.
I think you don't understand what a MVNO is. When Comcast, TWC, Brightwater and Cox sold their wireless spectrum to Verizon in 2012 they picked up a perpetual right to purchase Verizon phone and data services wholesale and resell it to consumers. Comcast not only has this MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) deal with Verizon but it also has it with Sprint. Combine that with dual SSID Wifo routers distributed to the Comcast homes and businesses (8.6 million hotspots so far) and you have the makings of a WiFi First phone offering. They are not there yet. Liberty Global already has MVNOs in Europe already operating.
Personally I think this puts the mobile telecom operators in a very very bad position. Cable is about to hit mobile hard in the US too. My guess is 2016, when Malone completes his TWC deal.
My hope is Cable doesn't but any wireless telecom company until they have destroyed them with MVNO's and wifi. Then buy the scraps. Moffett said virtually the same thing at the INTX conference.
The IRS will show up with nothing if you were audited and say basis is zero and make you prove it's not zero unfortunately. I would do your best to find documentation of any kind to support your calculation.
If you can't find anything, I would personally put together some type of reasonable and (as much) fact-based calculation you can do. Even at a minimum you could say # of shares X average price from, say 1950-1975 and that is your basis plus add in an average dividend per year calculation.
Chances are you may never get audited, but if you are, you need to prepared to defend yourself. Hope that helps you out to get started. We can take this conversation off the thread and to somewhere else if needed.