Is Sirius XM Rebranding Their “Best Of” Packages?
Currently Sirius subscribers can add the “Best of XM” while XM subscribers can add the “Best of Sirius” for an additional $4 fee. The “Best of” packages suggest a division of the services, something it appears the company is trying to get away from. On the new channel line-ups, the former “Best of” channels are now called “Sirius Premier” and “XM Premier.”
While this is not a total unification, it is an attempt to avoid the impression that users are paying extra to get channels from the other service of an already merged company. To a consumer it simply seems like some add-on premium channels for the service (be it Sirius or XM) that came with their car.
This subtle move makes a lot of sense for the company. The big question people continuously have is how a merged company can still operate so independently 3 years after the merger. Certain aspects have been changing all along, but one branding frustration had to be naming off two stations, a Sirius channel and an XM channel, every time the company, a DJ, or show host made an on-air announcement, Tweet, Facebook post, YouTube upload, or press release.
While the May 4th changes will not fully unite the services it does go a long way in getting some consistency in Satellite Radio, a move which was long overdue. Satellite Radio subscribers will notice some interesting things when they turn on their radios next Wednesday. Most radios will inform the user that an update is in process. Stored channel numbers, etc. will need to be re-assigned by the subscriber, but for all general purposes the system will perform the update without the need for the subscriber to do anything.
There are definitely going to be some changes on your dial so, do yourself a favor and checkout the FAQ’s or simply download the new full line-up [.pdf] before the Wednesday morning commute.
Position – Long Sirius XM Radio
This company is primed for a buyout offer by August of at least $ 3.00. I’m not sure if shareholders will take it, but it looks like it might be coming.
One website, one customer service, one set of finacials, one set of channels, one company finally. I think they put the finishes touches on all this bewtween now and August 1st.
We may have a big surprise in store for us when they report 1st week of August.
But for now, I’m excited about May 3rd CC !
I wish Best of XM on Sirius had MLB the way Best of Sirius on XM had NFL. Until that is fixed, it leaves me with garbage. It’s not fair that I can only get Sirius in my car and basically have a crippled lineup vs. XM.
No mention of the loss of more channels in this piece, though. Roadhouse and Willie’s Place merge, they drop the gospel channel, they merge the two liberal talk stations (but keep two conservative channels) and there are other changes I don’t remember off the top of my head.
Personally, I’ve become so disgusted with this company I’m going to drop my subs. Maybe I’ll do online only, but the XM radio that I loved and recommended for years is now well and truly dead. Mel has destroyed what made satellite radio special — he flooded music channels with talkative jocks, he neutered the Virus, he scrapped music channels that made XM worth the price of subs (X Country, Fungus, Backflip, etc), he ruined a perfectly fine online service (and started charging for the inferior product), he raised overall fees, he backtracked on promises made to Congress to allow true a la carte subscriptions, he made the presumed “benefits” of the merger (access to bith services’ programming) premium add-ons… I mean Jee-zus…
Ironically, investors will applaud all of this and call him a genius, either forgetting he nearly bankrupted what were two very highly-valued companies or they bought SIRI stock when it was worth pennies figuring it couldn’t get any lower. Why else would they celebrate the stock hitting a massive $2 mark this week?
I can only dream of what this company would be like if XM’s management team was retained rather than Sirius’. Maybe I’d still enjoy the heck out of it, and would want to continue to pay $20+ for my subs. But with this crowd, and mobile apps that allow me to stream just about anything for free on my phone, this garbage is just a waste of money.
Sorry about the long-winded rant, but I’m so fed up and there are too few places where I can vent.
Very good points.
I have been working on a piece about that very subject. Of course I will get slammed for it here
Thanks, Spencer — I look forward to reading your piece. I know what you mean, too. After the merger went through and the initial channel revision occurred there seemed to be three camps, the XMers like me who felt royally screwed, the Sirius folks who actually gained a handful of channels but mostly didn’t have too many noticeable changes, and the investors who couldn’ care less about SIRI’s customers but only worried about the stock’s outlook and earnings. So anytime someone writes anything critical about he company now, they’re guaranteed to piss off 2/3 of the stakeholders of the company.
It makes for some assuredly difficult and generally one-sided dialog, but this stuff needs to be said if anyone wants to make sure this is still a service that people will actually want to pay for in five years.
Anyway, keep up the great work, and I’ll be looking for new posts from you as this thing plays out.
Gah, this thing keeps tellong me i’m trying to post a duplicate comment, when I’m just tryimg to post a reply. Grrr..
I think this was a stupid idea to implement in such a short period of time. Granted, if they needed to do it ok. But really let people know ahead of time whats happening. A week is not enough to let everyone know this is coming. I got a feeling some ppl are gonna wake up and not even know this has occurred. They will get pissed off. Life will move on but u don’t wanna piss off ur consumer base with inconveniences that could have be squared off before they were ever created.
Yeah, I only just heard a commercial for it today on the Virus (and that was a fluke b/c I usually flip channels during commercials). Are people who listen primarily to music channels hearing anything about the change on-air? I remember how confused I was during the original shake-up, but luckily for listeners of most channels this new shakeup is more hide-n-seek, not sucks-to-be-you.
It’s a shame that this company still operates as if they are still separate. After all this time you’d think they’d have things completely merged. There should be one complete standard channel lineup delivered to Sirius and XM units. From there they could add tiers similiar to satalite/cable TV – Sports, Adult, etc. These best of packages are a joke.
It’s hard to keep all happy. Don’t they play the same music as before and commercial free? It’s complicated merging a Masserrati and a Porsche.
They really don’t play the same music, though. Maybe they kept the Sirius playlists, but they threw the XM lists out the door. They eliminated a lot of specialty programming after the merger, not just entire channels but also unique shows that played specific sub-genres of music.
Karmazin’s FM background is the absolute root cause for all of this. XM was broadcasting via a spectrum of “narrowcasting”. SiriusXM is just broadcasting, providing vanilla music that the PD’s think appeals to the most listeners, without concern for the folks who might like chocolate, strawberry, pistacchio, etc.
And yes, the music is commercial-free, but the number of jocks they use almost defeats the purpose of not using jocks. Try listening to an hour of Outlaw Country (other than Meredith Ochs — she’s not that bad at all). It’s absolutely unlistenable.
Lee Abrams is sorely missed, which is really ironic, since he created the FM style that Karmazin is trying to force SIRI into following.
Never thought I’d do this but I cancelled my subscription yesterday. Maybe I’ll regret this we’ll see… I have an Ipod full of music and plenty of other online options available for my smartphone. Just can’t justify the $15 dollars a month to hear most of the same stuff over and over. I still hate terrestial radio. I’ll just find other options.