Pandora IPO Meetings Happening Now – What Does It mean To Sirius XM?
It is something I have written about for quite some time. Although I speculated it would happen last Fall, it appears that a Pandora IPO could be a 2011 event. Early this evening CNBC revealed that Pandora is holding meetings about an IPO.
Pandora, one of the leading Internet radio providers, carried a large presence at the Consumer Electronics Show as well as the Detroit Auto Show early this month. Press releases and announcements over the past two weeks have been at a fever pace as Pandora demonstrated that they are gaining traction not only on the Internet, but on smart phones and the auto dashboard as well.
For Sirius XM this means stronger competition from Pandora. While Pandora does not yet offer live content, those are barriers that can be remedied, especially if they raise enough capital from an IPO.
Some satellite radio fans tend to brush off Pandora and other Internet Radio companies as fads that will pass, or companies that will die due to limited data plans. There are some that have rung the death bell for Internet Radio scores of times over the past two years only to see these companies continue to thrive. Now they are in dashboard apps of some of the most popular auto manufactures with full function control…even voice control.
Is Pandora a competitor to Sirius XM? It certainly is. If you are listening to Pandora you are not listening to Sirius XM. Sirius XM certainly has distinct advantages such as news, sports, talk channels and personalities such as Howard Stern, but how long will those advantages last? Already Internet radio provider RadioIO has struck a deal with former Sirius XM employee Bubba The Love Sponge which allows LIVE streaming of his daily radio show over smart phones and the Internet. The technology is there, as well as networks needed to do it.
One thing I hear from satellite radio fans is the cost of data plans and how Internet radio will have consumers paying extreme cell bills because of their listening. Personally I have an unlimited plan with Verizon which I use to constantly stream data (including streaming NFL games and Internet Radio), and have never had my cell phone bill go up. In fact, I have had serious trouble approaching the 2.0 GB limits that some carriers have. At the half way point of January I am at 0.75 GB of data as a heavy user!
The fact of the matter is that Pandora has traction with consumers and traction in the OEM channel. They are getting into dashboards via smart phones and OEM stereos capable equipped with Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) Bluetooth technology. A2DP defines the protocols and procedures that realize distribution of audio content of high-quality in mono or stereo on ACL channels. The term “advanced audio,” therefore, should be distinguished from “Bluetooth audio,” which indicates distribution of narrow band voice on SCO channels as defined in the baseband specification. Simply stated, Bluetooth is much more than a gizmo you stick in your ear to talk on your cell phone these days and more and more car stereos are equipped with A2DP.
What most who call for the death of these services are missing is that some of their success is being derived from “consumer pull” rather than “manufacturer push”. Consumer demand for greater connectivity has essentially delivered the gateway into the dashboard via Bluetooth A2DP. The barriers of entry into the dashboard, a segment where Sirius XM had a distinct advantage, are evaporating and allowing the ultimate in consumer choice. For consumers this is good news.
This potential IPO by Pandora should be taken very seriously by Sirius XM as well as investors in the sector. Pandora came out of the Consumer Electronics show with a huge presence. They had exposure everywhere. In contrast Sirius XM was at a shared booth with distribution partner Audiovox and was nearly silent throughout the show.
Satellite Radio 2.0 carries some promise, but as yet the information coming from Sirius XM on the subject is scant. In my opinion the company needs to get on the stage and give some glimmer and detail on Satellite Radio 2.0 sooner rather than later. The lack of an announcement at CES has Sirius XM a day late. Failing to get that information out now has potential to make the company a dollar short.
Simply stated, Internet Radio should not be cast off to the side as insignificant. It is imperative that SIRI investors not underestimate the competitive landscape. These companies are here and will continue to grow as well as make more and more deals to have their apps included in OEM dashboards. Rather than pretend that there is not a gorilla in the room, let’s instead hope that Sirius XM Internet radio plays a substantial role in the future.
Currently Sirius XM enjoys 60% to 65% penetration in the OEM sector. If Sirius XM further develops their apps on smart phones, cuts OEM deals to include capabilities for those apps, and offers some of the capabilities that Pandora offers, the OEM penetration could be improved via the smart phone. Smart phones are the future. The faster this is understood, the better off we will all be.
The good news is that Sirius XM has substantial presence, great cash flow, and the resources to fend off these competitive moves.
Position – Long Sirius XM Radio
come on, it will be 3 years before Pandora can make any inroads at all into cars. Sirius has this market by the throat. Using Pandora through a head unit is ridiculous when you have no continuous internet connection while you drive. Cell phones and smart phones are the only chance they really have – lol
Pandora will work through your car as long as you sit in a starbucks parking lot using their wifi connection – lmfao
Momentum is a curious thing. Supposedly, beta max was better than vhs when the vcr came out. We know how that turned out. It seems Mel is a straight up, old school, by the book, just the facts business man. We should all sleep well knowing that about Mel. The question in my mind is which tec. (sirius/xm/pandora)has the momentum. Generally speaking,it depends on your age. Because pandora is internet and has a unique tec., like it or not and I don’t, it’s considered the hip/ cool tec. So pandora has the cool factor but sirius/xm has the business man/men if you count John Malone and Greg Maffei. Here’s the unknown. Is pandoras ceo a great business man or can he at least surround himself with great business men to balance out his bench? On the reverse, can Mel and company put as much thought in the tec. side as they do the content and business side? Which one has the momentum? Which one is beta max and which one is vhs? I think our bench is deeper. In the end the public will decide. Maybe there’s enough pie for everyone.
Bottom line.
SIRIUS = BMW, Mercedes, Louis Vuiton, Chanel
Pandora = Local bus, 1976 VW, Kmart Brand, “Can’t afford Sirius”
It’s a status symbol! Do you really think you can impress anyone with Pandora in the car? vs Sirius?
This is actually exciting. I second that. I HOPE Pandora comes out with an IPO. Then it’ll have to come out of the dark, and be judged in the light of day, instead of as some idealized audio utopia and sat radio killer. Which it aint! Lol.
Seriously. Analysts will have to ACTUALLY compare them openly and honestly. Pandora as a private company has been able to get a pass…to escape scrutiny.
But as soon as it has shareholders, wall street will demand to see the bottom line.
I think it will become painfully clear rather quickly, that Pandora has a horrible business model compared to Sirius Xm.
Suddenly, It will be obvious that Sirius is light years ahead of Pandora and there will be a major paradigm shift in wall streets perception of the two.
Suddenly, those inflated “70 million” Pandora listeners will in reality turn out to be a much smaller number of people who “occasionally” use Pandora….and that if asked, a huge chunk of those people if asked to PAY for Pandora, would most likely say NO. Lol.
Because a public company needs to show it’s bringing in money, and it’ll have to either transfer to a higher subscription based model or start running ALOT more ads….at which point, people will look at Sirius, and go…I think Ill go with Sirius in my car thank you very much.
So yeah….bring on the Pandora IPO….i think it’ll be the best thing that ever happened to Sirius Xm! Lol. 🙂
Serious question. With Sirius “20 million” does that include Dish Network users? Dish Network’s satellite TV music stations are Sirius/XM. Anyone know?
Well said.
Having said that, I agree, competition is a great. It will force Sirius to step up their game, and FINALLY give us some clue about Sat Radio 2.0
If Sirius can mimic the jukebox, personalized, create your own radio stations feature of Pandora, I don’t see how Pandora can compete or ever catch up to Sirius.
But you’re right, Sirius has to head Pandora off at the pass. beat them to the punch. Not having a presence at CES was a missed opportunity to steal Pandoras thunder. Sirius has been slow out of the gate before….the last time with the iPhone app. It let Pandora get a huge head start. And still to this day, there is no official iPad app. In a few months the iPad will be a year old. That ain’t good.
Sirius can’t be complacent. They can hit this out of the park, but time is of the essence. You can’t concede any land to Pandora. If Sirius can mimic what Pandora does, they win. because Pandora can not match Sirius in terms of content. And Sirius does have a huge head start in the car market. Still…dragging their feet to release sat radio 2.0 is not wise. Every month counts. I know Mel said by the end of the year, but he has to be a better showman than that. He better drop some concrete hints about WHAT 2.0 can and will be able to do…and how COOL it will be.
Being the old-school guy that I am, I’m very slow at understanding these new technologies and their potential impacts. And it makes me very nervous as a Sirius investor that Pandora will eventually be standard equipment on new car dashboards. However, Pandora is a free service that relies on advertising (i.e. people listening or viewing ads). So how will Pandora disseminate their commercials via the dashboard? Will they display them like commercials on television or will it be audio only. If they are to be audio, then isn’t that just like free FM?
Pandora also has a premium tier that comes at a cost
WWD –“I’m very slow at understanding these new technologies and their potential impacts”
Reply:
Why did you invest in Sirius again? These kind of investors(nonsense investors) make me laugh! Understand what your getting into WWD before you buy!!!!
Denny Boy:
I understand satellite radio because it’s simple. It’s these internet companies I don’t get. How will they make money?
BTW – Buying a ton of shares of Sirius at 12 cents was a no-brainer.
The same way Sirius XM does, through advertising and subscriptions.
But what is Pandora’s premium tier? Just basic Pandora without commercials and without the limits of the free service. Given the choice between paid Pandora and paid SiriusXM, I continue to choose paid SiriusXM. Paid Pandora still can’t effectively compete with SiriusXM. And, even if it could somehow, this is not a zero sum game (as I wrote below).
A Pandora IPO has been rumored for a couple of years, but this latest buzz, and Pandoras large exposure at this years CES might make this actually true.
Could this strong buzz be the reason for the big pullback from $1.74 last week? Or is it the expiring options next Friday?
Now would be a great time for Mel to leak great Sub numbers. I am sure MF and the Street will come out with a zillion articles tomorrow about a Pandora IPO.
My first thought as well! Kind of scary, great point.
I got a new Sony DVD player for Christmas and to my surprise it came equipped with Pandora, Slacker, Netflix, and Hulu BUT NO SIRIUS XM. As a stock holder this scares me. I had no idea this stuff was coming installed on typical home entertainment DVD players and even more surprised that a Sirius XM app wasn’t on the EXTENSIVELY long list of apps.
Pandora IPO is just another great stock to short, They can never offer the content that SIRIUS Radio offers. SIRI is already affiliated with every major car maker and is moving fast in the used car and smart phones market. I would like to see SIRI make deals with entertainment consoles like Xbox and Play station and Home Theatre Receivers.
Not going to argue the notion that gaming consoles can’t generate more exposure. But, I really doubt that route would impact the bottom line moving forward…in regard to Home Theater Recievers… look no futher, this is a radio Co and Mel knows radio and more importantly where to lay his eggs…..click on the links below most Home Recievers comes Sirius ready.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webap.....0#features
http://usa.yamaha.com/products.....mode=model
My “gaming console” is my theater receiver. The xbox 360 interfaces with my computer, netflix, and their online music offerings.
“Gaming consoles” are like they were in the old days. Even the Wii has streaming content, news, weather, and internet access. Theses things are computers.
Go visits a few kids buying their first homes and tell me wht their “theater receivers” look like. Usually their whole theater console consists of a bunch of gaming wires hanging off of a TV bigger than they can afford.
I want to believe you but I am curious as to why they can never offer the content that Sirius offers? It’s not like they lack the technology to do so. It seems to me like they actually can offer the same content, its just a matter of paying for it.
I’m one of those kids you mention… on my 2nd Home though…lol
Listen, Sometimes investors need to step back and look at the broader picture …auto’s penetration level at 65% for a reason!!! …Home Theater Systems penetration makes perfect sense…Gaming Consoles, sounds feasible from an exposure aspect… will it boost subs count? Either way, I wouldn’t mind listening to the playboy channel while playing CALL of DUTY Black Ops…..
Having Gaming consoles and all types of Receivers on board is better then not having them at all, it is another avenue to receive more subs even if it is not in large numbers. To answer SXMfan question the reason no one can match SIRI content is that no one has the infrastructure and deals that SIRI has which cost Billions, no one can afford to pay Howard 500 million and still make money but SIRI can! Pandora is in trouble and would like to go public to get cash from investors who are simply putting their money in the fire. Going public will simply extend Pandora’s lifeline a few more years.
I’m not scared. Come on. Think. You’re getting into your car. It’s a cold wintery day, and you crank up the heat and place your hot cup of coffee in the cup holder. You start up the engine…and turn on the radio.
NOW….given a choice, do you just want a glorified jukebox that only plays music? What if you are an uber liberal, and want to listen to political talk? Or you feel like laughing to uncensored comedy like Howard Stern before going into work? Or sports talk? Or so many other great COMMERCIAL free radio? Cause WHO wants to sit thru commercials on your commute to work? That time is PRECIOUS! You want to max out that time. It’s YOUR time to relax and mentally prepare for work.
When you think about in in practical terms….it’s hard to see why one would chose the limited music jukebox of Pandora over the huge amount of music and unique content that Sirius has.
Plus if Sirius 2.0 can mimic some of the features that sets Pandora apart, it becomes a no brainer in my opinion.
Mel stated in Q2 CC that Siri next generation of satellite radios are expected to offer more choices for the consumer and contain functionality that does not exist today.
More channels/ touch screen / might even competes with my droid…lol
I would compare Sirius to Pandora as I would compare ESPN to VS. on cable. Content wins. Subscriptions lead to revenue….revenue leads to content….which leads to more subs which leads to more revenue.
ESPN is also on the xbox now. Why not Sirius?
What do I care if you (or I) have or listen to Pandora if I already have a paid subscription to SiriusXM? Does the fact that I watch over-the-air television such as CBS have an impact on my also watching cable only channels such as TBS? This is not a zero sum game. The fact that I have Pandora on my smartphones does not (and has not) impacted the fact that I also have (and continue to renew) fully paid subscriptions to SiriusXM satellite and SiriusXM internet. This is a growing market that can support both paid SiriusXM and free Pandora. Whether a paid Pandora can also be supported, I don’t know, but it won’t substantially affect SiriusXM. Again, not a zero sum game here.
Again…pandora going public and getting an IPO is GREAT news for Sirius investors! It will force them into the light, and people wall street will see what a terrible business model they have compared to Sirius. Sirius has the content and the better business model. Pandora is basically a commodity, an algorithm, that can be replaced by thousands of potential Internet radio companies with similar algorithms. But they don’t have many challengers BECAUSE it’s a money losing business model!!! Hello!
This basically sums it up:
When speaking of market share and money, Pandora’s biggest challenge going forward is competition. Both because it is becoming a commodity, and because other alternatives are about to hit the market. Be it Spotify types, or other Pandora-like services in the making.
If you have three Pandora-like products on the market, all with same value proposition, just looking and feeling a little different, it’s almost a commodity choice. Think picking a cable company, like between Comcast, ATT, or DirectTV or DishNetwork… it’s almost the same thing,, just pick your poison based on a few differentiators. When you can automate and algorithmically program music suggests (from a long tail yet shallow catalogue, I might add), everyone will. Right now Pandora markets it as some secret sauce. But that too will have lots of commodity competition because it’s only an algorithm.
The moats that Pandora currently has are its sheer marketing presence in the category, and the frustration with webcasting royalties. In fact, the royalties eat up most of Pandora’s revenue, unfortunately. And it is the sole reason why it’s very hard to actually make good money in the business, and is why there are no main competitors yet (including Spotify, even though its value is a bit different). People with money to invest go start a Groupon clone instead or something, Internet radio, so far, because of perpetual royalty situations, is not a sure bet.
And on the final note… just remember what Facebook did to MySpace. Same thing can happen to Pandora within 18-36 months, given proper competitors. So it’s no easy feat to stay on top when you are becoming a commodity.
i would have thought some sort of announcement would have occurred at CES–The new products/features maybe arent ready to be demonstrated? There seems to be a lack of info lately–Im still confused about their marketing program
Yes, it would have been nice to have more of a presence at CES. Sirius was on a wave with reaching 20 million subs, the Paul McCartney concert, resigning Howard.
And they let Pandora steal alittle bit of their thunder at CES.
I am sure Sirius will steal it back when they leak their sub numbers for the quarter.
However, I agree that Sirius can be alittle slow in beating Pandora to the punch. The iPhone app was an example of that. it took Sirius over a year after Pandora to finally release theirs.
Now the iPad has been out for nearly a year, and still no app for that. I’ve heard rumors that Sat Radio 2.0 may offer a video iPad app. Dunno what Sat Radio is all about, but it sure would be nice if Mel leaks more info besides it’s gonna be “great”. Especially when it’s not coming until the end of the year. You are basically giving Pandora the stage with a loud bullhorn by doing this.
Now Im confident that Sirius will prevail. It has the content and the better business model. but I just hate to see Sirius let Pandora take the spotlight away. Sirius needs that killer instinct. No mercy. Quiet confidence is cool and all…but sometimes it’s nice to be cruel and merciless. Run up the score on these mutha f’ers! Don’t let them gain an inch of yardage.
Anyway…. Looking forward to Mel leaking the numbers SOON. 🙂
Perfect timing for this article. I was thinking about this yesterday as a co-worker told me he’s now driving in listening to Pandora. He’s got wireless broadband, driving in backroads of CT (northwest area) and he said it clipped out once. This concerns me a lot as a SIRI investor. He said that after every 4 songs he hears a commercial, for something like Mutual Farms or Allstate. Most people won’t mind hearing a commercial once in a while (if it’s less DJ blather than AM/FM) compared to $150+/yr for satellite.
I have 3 unitis for SIRI/XM and they don’t have a presence on the smartphone. If Pandora makes it, and a lot of people start using their smartphones in their car (music takes very little bandwidth), i’m thinking that others like the NFL won’t have a need for Sirius. This makes me worry.
One more thing, i think they should have done something at CES and dropped the ball again. Four years ago (read that again, 4 years!) the Stiletto 2 came out (records shows, create playlists, wi-fi) and they have nothing today similar in product. Pathetic. Dropped the ball again.
This article seems to ignore that SIRI XM is also available as an internet application. I stream XM on my desktop, as well as have it in my car. I’m thinking of buying the latest Blackberry so I can have XM on my phone, too. Lastly, I drive long road trips, and there are places where I lose phone service, but never SIRI service. It’s a superior product.
Spencer…you mention that you all the video/music streaming you do rarely approaches the 2GB plan that some carriers offer. Is all of your usage truly on the Verizon network or is your device hitting a Wi-Fi hotspot and actually utilizing another ISP? I have a 2GB plan but can usually find a Wi-Fi hotspot (my home, office, etc.) and keep total usage under my plan. Once I’m using the carrier’s network exclusively, my data usage racks up in a hurry. I’m not dissing your discussion regarding Pandora and how it could affect Sirius, but streaming music (and video) exclusively on a carrier’s network is still going to be a challenge both from a congestion issue on the network as well as what the customer will, eventually, see on their bill from the carrier. It will be interesting to see what develops in regard to pricing plans as well as the carriers’ efforts to enhance their data networks to handle all the increased data usage.
Marc….
Fair question. I do not use hotspots very often. While there are caps on some data plans, someone that listens on their 20 minute commute each day will be able to use a service like pandora without worry of going over. Further, it is my opinion that the caps will soon go away or become higher. Verizon getting the iPhone could impact plan pricing more than people think.
Pandora attempting to go public is no news. This is normal, to be expected and the only way for them to try to raise money. The only other alternative would be to sell the company. Even if they do go public, they are still light years away from Sirius. How much money will they be able to raise? If they are lucky, they will raise $100M, which is petty cash compared with siri. What can you buy for this money? Sirius spends about 370M a year on content. i agree that they are overpaying because of the cruel history of competition of XM and Sirius. Don’t you think that now that siri IS making more and more money, Pandora may find itself in the same situation like siri and XM before? Sirius will be simply able to outbid Pandora for ANY content providers and drive Pandora into the ditch. Siri’s niche in the car is OFF LIMITS practically to anyone. After market could be a different story where siri is not as strong as we would like it to be. It is very naive to think that siri is sitting on the fence waiting for anyone to drive them out of any market. This is why they announced Sat radio 2.0 and there will be many more announcements of this nature in the next two or three years.
Now, about Pandora’s free ad based business model. Its chances of survival are ZERO. Internet like any other media is moving firmly in the direction of PAID subscription, and siri is a pioneer of such model in radio. Signal quality. Pandora is miles away from siri. Coverage will remain a huge problem for them because they can only be where internet service is available. Pandora is years apart from siri. Content. You have to be crazy to assume that they can compete with siri in this area in any foreseeable future whether they are private or public. Siri may drive the price so high that Pandora will find itself in exactly the same situation as Sirius and XM three years ago. This is why they merged – to stop the bidding war that was destroying both companies. They are still dealing with the effects of this war. Arguably, pandoras will never be able to afford the content siri can.
I am not saying by any means that siri should dismiss pandoras. Of course they are not doing that. However, like any strong company, which siri certainly is, they have to maintain FOCUS. And their focus is auto and content. I expect siri’s strong move in dozens of other areas once their capex is stabilized (starting 2012) and cash flow has improved dramatically. In the meantime, as an investor I would like them to remain FOCUSED on their fundamentals. Once you build a real foundation, you can build as many floors as you want.
The only way for them to raise money? They have had a flood of private investors and are now turning a profit.
It’s not “the only way for that to try and raise money.”
“Internet like any other media is moving firmly in the direction of PAID subscription”
Citation? No it isn’t. 99.9% of the web is still free.
It does give me hope that before Howard re-newed he was discussing the other possible tec. that he thought were going to be the future of radio and he still re-newed with sirius/xm. I don’t think he would have re-newed if all the pieces weren’t in place. I’ve read a lot of comments on here about the negatives of pandora and internet radio. Just curious, have you really tried it?
I don’t see everyone who has Sirius switching to Pandora or vice versa.
As an investor——-why not play both if Pandora does an IPO.
Just don’t “put all of your eggs in one basket”.
Spencer has a secret love fest for Pandora. Other than handhelds using their cell signals and sitting in a Panera Bread parking lot, the idea of Pandora in the cars head units is a fucking joke…really laughable concept. I wonder how great it will work on my 4 hr trip to Las Vegas from LA through the Mojave desert. Am I going to pay for an additional cell service built into my car ahead of Sirius XM..come on now get your head out of your ass people.
“Spencer has a secret love fest for Pandora.”
If that is the case, why does he own SIRI?
How many times will we make the same mistake when it comes to technology? What seems difficult today will happen tomorrow. Did anyone envision an iPhone 25 years ago when they were corded to their rotary phone? Nope. Do you think you could have sold the idea of radio beaming down from space to your moving car 25 years ago? Nope.
Not only is an internet connection in your car possible, it already exists. I’m not saying that internet in a car is the next big thing, the next big thing might be something we can’t even comprehend because it doesn’t exist, all I am saying is that you have appreciate the possibility of technology.
That said, you don’t need a handheld to listen to Pandora. Not everyone is listening in a car, there is a rather large non vehicle market. Just sayin.
I have tried Pandora…and slacker. Both apps are still on my iPod touch and iPad…..and I hardly EVER use them at home, or while walking around.
On occasion, I crack open Pandora on my iPad and type in a genre of music or artist just for the he’ll of it. But then, only for a short while. I get sick of it pretty quick. You type in the “Beatles” and they start playing Tom Petty. nothing against Tom Petty, but their music Genome ain’t as smArt as a human DJ.
But I could never really imagine myself choosing Pandora in the car over Sirius. Never. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Perhaps decades from now it’ll be cool if Internet streaming in the car allows you to use voice commands and you are actually able to say a specific song or artist, and GET THAT SONG or artist….that would be cool. But the music industry wants you to buy their songs….and that is why they don’t want to allow song on demand features.
But the main thing is that Sirius is so much more than just music. CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT. Sirius is King when it comes to content. Pandora is a dime a dozen. Other Internet streaming companies are sitting back and watching Pandora….and could jump in at any time and challenge them.
but Sirius stands alone. NOBODY offers what they offer with no commercials. Nobody.
They are a frigid monopoly. And unlike the Internet gnats buzzing around them, Sirius HAS a viable business model!!!!
I’ve been saying it from day ONE. All these companies are wracking their brains trying to figure out how to monetize their content on the Internet….um….HELLO! Sirius is. So is Apple. Probably the only two who really get it.
If Pandora goes the ad route….they will play annoying audio ads ever few minutes and be no better than terrestrial….driving their customers right to Sirius.
if they go the subscription route….They can’t match Sirius’s content….and again…their customers will pick Sirius.
I really can’t wait for Pandora to offer an IPO. Then the analysts and idiots on CNBC will have to acknowledge that compared to Sirius, their business model SUCKS! Seriously. Pandora won’t be able to hide in the dark anymore. They will have to be held accountable.
They should just concentrate on outside the cars because they have no business competing with Sirius delivery method and content offerings. They will get completely crushed.
“If Pandora goes the ad route….they will play annoying audio ads ever few minutes and be no better than terrestrial….driving their customers right to Sirius.”
Why haven’t all the terrestrial listeners come over to Sirius?
“I really can’t wait for Pandora to offer an IPO. Then the analysts and idiots on CNBC will have to acknowledge that compared to Sirius, their business model SUCKS!”
Their business model is actually solid and profits are streaming in. The sweetheart deal they locked up with the SoundExchange/RIAA allows them to pay a nice cheap rate for royalty fees which keeps their costs down.
Sirius vs Pandora is like comparing Apples and rotten Oranges
Hey Spencer I think, and I’m going out on a limb here:), if you really want to get a disscusion going just type Pandora and you’re done.
With the IPO will come the pressure to produce profits and growth in those profits – return on investment. That is the same pressures that led commercial radio to increase the number of advertising minutes on their stations. Pandora of course has to pay for its content, so the pressure to increase ads will be even greater. They will have a similar presure to increase subscription rates for their premium service.
You are all nuts. Cell phone coverage will be ubiquitous within a couple years. Pandora already has more than double the users of satellite radio. It doesn’t need to pay $250MM+ for satellites every few years. It has a much lower cost structure and will be able to pay for plenty of content. Satellite radio will be obsolete within five years. Malone bought Sirius for the spectrum. Wise up.
There sure are a lot of cheerleaders on here for Sirius. My ’10 Chevrolet came with an XM ready nav system. As far as I’m concerned, GM missed the boat. Between great Apps like Pandora, Stitcher, AOL Radio, Podcasts and so on, I have unlimited free content. News, Talk, Sports, and Music, that I have at least some control over, all while utilizing a data package I already use. Why would I pay an additional monthly fee? (I do have to say I miss the Covino and Rich Show). Thank goodness XM finally quit sending me those desperate letters wanting me to rejoin the cult. If I ever have spotty cell coverage, I just switch on the iPod feature, or listen to a podcast. But hey, you guys do have the morning show guys honking the bike horns and laughing at each others jokes. What can beat that?