As an XM Radio subscriber for years, I’ve enjoyed having the options of listening to commercial free music and world news 24/7 however I always felt that it was the beginning of the end when XM and Sirius starting doling out tens (and hundreds) of millions to people such as Howard Stern and Mad Dog Russo. XM/Sirius has tried to replace all radio and like the Roman Empire, it expanded too fast, too far and without any discipline. It eroded shareholder value by trying to directly compete against the worst kind of competitor – a free medium.
XM/Sirius should have remained a primarily music/news/traffic focused service and not a behemoth of a media empire. What they failed to realize is that while there is competition (and opportunity) for music and news over the radio, the local flare of sports and regional talk radio cannot be nationalized. XM/Sirius completely won in the battle for my FM listening time but will never win the battle for AM listening time. I believe this company will not succeed in the short run but hopefully will comeback streamlined, free of capital intensive contracts and agile enough for the next decade and beyond.
The FCC dragging it’s feet to approve the merger didn’t help the stock at all. While the merge has been anything but successful, it’s pretty obvious that had the merger not occurred both companies would have gone belly up, and sooner than the single SirusXM conglomerate will.
As an XM subscriber I’m getting ready to cancel my subscription. They way they handled the merger was terrible…no warning at all, and most of the XM channels have been converted to Sirus programming, which, in a word, is horrible. If I wanted all of those commercials I wouldn’t be paying for the service, I’d just listen to FM.
The stock, well, as a shareholder that bought my stock at $8.35 a share, I’m ready to take a bloodbath, and I’m certainly not going to reinvest in the Titanic.
Sirius XM is a good concept.
They made a critical mistake: picking the wrong customers and channels. Car-buying consumers and automakers are a toxic combo, and they have been for years. It would have been better to develop a general-purpose radio that anyone could use anywhere: cheaper and more useful = bigger, more profitable market.
The mistake that they continue to make is to not (down)size their business to their profitable core of customers.
Even in a recession/depression, a company should strive to satisfy all customers, prioritizing those who have cash and (preferably) cash flow, in order to survive the recession/depression to enjoy the recovery on the other side.
Sirius XM who?
Seriously though, why would I want to pay to listen to the radio.
Besides, the fact that they paid people like Howard Stearn excessive salaries had DEPERATE written all over it.
I believe the XM/Sirius merger and their subsequent business tactics have compromised the performance expected not only by its subscribers and advertisers, but also by its stockholders and possibly the FCC.
I believe the integration of Sirius into the XM service is an insult to all parties involved, but especially to its listeners. Personally, as a long-time XM subscriber, I believe the integrity and ingenuity of some of the XM concepts have been terribly compromised; the XM service has lost the vitality, variety and value provided when originally conceived and offered to subscribers. And I am under the impression that subscribers who preferred and originally chose Sirius also feel that some of the compromises made by the merger lack the original expected standards promised to them when they originally signed up with the Sirius service.
What will happen to Sirius if subscribers become as disenchanted as their stockholders have already become and do not renew their subscriptions? Will the service need to be offered to listeners at no charge and be completely advertiser-supported? Can Sirius afford and support such a model?
If XM or Sirius subscribers had wanted standard broadcast radio formats, they possibly would not have subscribed to XM or Sirius in the first place. I subscribed to XM after being disappointed and dissatisfied with how CBS/Infinity led by Mel Karmazin (now CEO of Sirius XM Radio) was compromising the resources and programming offered by their radio stations which for the most part had previously offered superior content, better execution, respect for their audiences and consistent results for their advertisers.
I suggest Sirius learn from the mistakes made by CBS/Infinity during Karmazin’s tenure. I suggest Sirius not repeat the same types of strategies and tactics implemented by Karmazin which seem to disregard what is best for listeners, advertisers and stockholders. I believe CBS might still be trying to catch up due to mistakes made during Karmazin’s tenure at their company; trying to catch up on quality of product, competitive position, revenue, value of equity and overall profitability.
I understand the need to eliminate redundancy. I do not understand anyone (including the FCC) tolerating Sirius’ complete disrespect of subscription contracts. Maybe the current leadership is making the same type of mistakes they made in the past. Now that’s the type of redundancy that should not be tolerable to anyone, especially to Sirius stockholders.
Maybe Sirius needs to bring back some of the original XM Radio management and eliminate the current leadership. Not all of the previous XM management led with integrity or honesty; but a new board of directors could be careful and perform their proper due diligence and assemble a team of managers, programmers and talent along with sales and marketing personnel to rebuild a superior product.
The unfortunate truth to Mr. Karmazin and his stockholders is that listeners and advertisers could all live without XM or Sirius, unless of course the product is made to be unique and relevant, and therefore possibly irreplaceable.
Yep, on the air radio is free as long as you don’t mind some guy screaming about car deals every 30 seconds. Sat radio is a wonder for anyone who spends time in a vehicle. The selection is amazing plus the quality is great. As usual, everyone seems to equate stock prices with success. In this case, with 20 million subscribers paying monthly fees, cash flow is king. Those who hold the debt will recognize that and restructure. Meanwhile, all those “free” radio stations will be wondering what became of the noisy sponsors and the bored listeners. Personally, it’s worth 40 cents a day to never hear another eight spot commercial pod!
I got hooked on Sirius listening to the music channels that came free with my DishNetwork subscription, and finally bought a receiver for my car last year. I don’t know what I’ll do if they go under. Some of you people that live in major metro areas may have a wealth of over the air options, but out here in hickstown I’ve got 5 flavors of country and some AC/DC.
How did Sirius get to this point?
Clearly it was caused by the government (at the financial urging of the National Association of Broadcasters) delaying the merger for a year and a half. If the merger was completed and SiriusXM was able to restructure a year ago, they would be in great shape.
It’s sad to see that the government has no interest in encouraging struggling upstart businesses like this one when a Corprate Giant like Old Fashioned Radio has a marketshare at stake. OFR will probably be in trouble soon also, but I’m sure our tax money will be used to bail them out.
It’s a shame. I bought a XM Delco radio 5 years ago and I love it, especially living in the Inter-Mountain West, where there aren’t that many radio stations. The free radio stations that are here are mostly Spanish language.
XM is a wonderful product. I think if they can restructure their debt, they can be profitable. Satellite radio is the future of radio.
I agree with earlier comments on dumping Howard Stern. That’s a very high priced contract that can go away. It’s going to be the first dumped in a bankruptcy.
Sirius Radio is what makes my 50 minute drive to work tolerable. Phoenix local radio is HORRIBLE. I would be very sad to see Sirius Radio go under.
I love my Satelite radio; News, Music, Baseball and other sports, and interesting Talk all in the same place. You cannot get that from an Ipod, and it is getting harder and harder to find interesting talk on regular radio. I will be very sad if we see Satelite radio go. I have had it for 4 years, and I can’t go back to regular radio.
that being said, I don’t think I would ever invest in the stock as long as Mel Karmazin is CEO. He has made poor business decisions, and has run a corrupt opporation since he came on board. The deal with his friend Howard Stern is going to be the demise of the entire company. He has historically put all his eggs in one basket, so to speak, first with Howard Stern, and now he relies on the auto industry to cell his radios for him. Hey Mel, get a new business plan!
There are a lot of obvious macro-economic advantages to having the capacity to transmit communication over virtually the entire united states and eventually the world all at once on hundreds of channels. And the satellites represent a huge investment that I am sure has many years of life left in it. This thing aint dead.
But whether it will survive as Siruis XM or not is a different issue. In fact, I think it may be up for debate about it surviving as an “entertainment”. At least exclusively.
At .17, if I had a small pile of money I could afford to lose, I’d probably buy some stock. Probably win big if it survived.
facts are facts:
1) an overpayed clown, stern, as their main entertainment asset
(if that didn’t tell any investors that this company was doomed to fail, i don’t know what could have)
2) offering a product that you have to pay for when 100s of airwave radio stations are available for free
(anyone still remember satellite tv…WOW how that’s changed how we watch entertainment…NOT)
3) management that i wouldn’t have trusted enough to put in charge of my kids lemonade stand
*** note: drug testing not required. i know of many HUGE successful companies that don’t drug test.
4) it wasn’t the lack of drug testing that was a problem, it was a lack of capable leadership
(perhaps taking drugs would have kept them focused more and lead to a better management model)
As for Sirius…..I love it! Wouldn’t be able to survive without it! But come on…..you wonder why it’s going under??!!! Why in the world would a company pay someone (Howard Stern) that much money for talking on a radio. He’s not even that well liked, not to mention NOBODY is worth that much money! That’s where all your profit went!! Again…doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. Quit paying these people too much money and letting your company go under because of it!!!! People will still be available if you pay them a realistic salary/contract. What Sirius and other companies pay out is disgusting and proves how greedy executives are. And they get paid all that money to turn around and have a company fail in a couple years just because of that!!! Sorry…they’re called executives for what reason???? They can’t even make a sensible financial decision on realistic salaries, where a company won’t fail while trying to pay the salary….smart!!!
Seriously……it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why all these large corporations are going under. They are paying their executives too much money!!! If these companies got back to the basics and took care of the company and their clients…..STOP paying executives outrageous salaries they would be able to stay in business!!! I’m sorry..but upper management or if you prefer to call them “executives” do not need to make millions and millions each year while the company loses money each year….on THE EXECUTIVE PAYROLL!! It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why the company failed. NOBODY is worth that much money!!! Pay executives/managers reasonable pay, keep employees instead of laying everyone off that actually makes the company run and stop throwing away money on overpaid managers. How can they get paid millions for letting the company they get paid millions for fail?!!! What is wrong with this world today….greed by executives!!!!!
Sirius was a great line up of good and varied stations worth the subscription fee until they outsourced customer service and it became a cluster f***. XM was always a disaster, stations all over the place, stupid names for the stations, only one good song in between ten obscure ones. XM – why pay a subscription for stations if they are not commercial free – wasn’t that the whole point???! Maybe if they weren’t snorting so much up their noses they would be able to connect the dots…
The idea is a great one, the execution was pretty poor. The company put too much reliance on the auto industry, which in good economic times works well, but as we see in tough times its real tough. Most cards offer an adapter for an iPod, which reduces demand dramatically. My car has both and I have paid for my subscription, because I like the talk radio, and the ability to hear the newest song releases on the radio.
The stock was killed by the Justice Dept and SEC dragging their feet on the merger. Sirius could have survived if they really could have recouped the cost savings of the merged companies. Now its all over, the stock will never rebound, and the company won’t be able to borrow any more funding.
I’ve had XM for three years and have found it to be worth every penny I pay. For me it was never about big named artists as DJ’s, or shock-jocks, or even every sporting event under the sun. Although those aspects are nice, the reason XM is so appealing to me is no commercial music of every genre. We all must make sacrifices over the next year or so. Maybe SirusXM can use bankruptcy to get out of their many contracts and reorganize. As long as there is the music they’ll keep me as a subscriber.
I have been a XM subscriber for 3 years now and have enjoyed it immensely up until 2 weeks ago. XM removed all but one of my favorite stations in place of horrid stations with shallow programming. I have now come to the conclusion that ending my suscription will be necessary. It is no longer worth the money monthly. What i’ll miss the most is the ability to listen to one of four stations while driving from state to state over the holidays. I can’t see them staying in business much longer, for they failed to communicate with their customers on which stations to keep and which to get rid of.
I used to work for them and can say with certainty that the majority of blame should be placed on management:
1.) Even the simplest of costs that were obvious wastes were not stopped,
2.) the supply chain systems were a nightmare as they cannot tell from one month to the next where their products are,
3.) The partying. Most need to understand that they are not entertainers; they are in the entertainment business. With all of the celebrations going on (parties, meet and greets with the celebrities, etc) it’s no wonder the work didn’t get done, and
4.) This company does not, at any point in time, drug test their employees! Phew.
Just looked in 2000 Sirius was going for just over 60 dollars now it’s 17 cents. WOW that is a drop of like 99.8 percent over 8 years.
Perhaps if I owned 100 shares I would get XM radio from them for free? That would be 17 dollars and just about one month’s subscription.
Just how did cable guys get their thing started when sirius has had such trouble? Perhaps cable could buy them and use them to advertise on. And let us have XM for free.
My new SUV came with XM radio and it’s pretty cool you get a lot more stations that free radio. However soon the free ride for me will be up and I am not going to pay $12 a month to listen. My boss has one in his car and he says he renews every 3 months at 5 dollars a month.
Perhaps 5 dollars is a good price I can give up one latte at star bucks for that. But to ask me to give up two lattes and part of another one a month forget it.
Apparent from the lack of comments is that nobody cares about pay-to-listen radio XM or its stock. I had it in my new car but after the year was up I didn’t renew, I dont think i would consciously pay for radio when I can hear it for free.
Romneys comments come to mind, let them fail – dont care
The terrestial radio owners were a lot sneakier than we thought. Everyone thought the master plan was to get the merger blocked when in actuality the blocking process was the plan. The FCC and Justice Dept should be investigated. 18 months to approve a merger that is about as far from a monopoly as you can get is a disgrace and shows where the money flowed to. During that time the 2 companies burned through millions of dollars and had to put all future planning on hold. How is a corporation supposed to sit on its hands for 18 months and continue to operate?
Who really cares?
It’s just music.
Listen to free radio (or not).
It’s just another goofy gadget whose time came and went, with no real prospect to have ever been a long term viable business entity. It’s not a necessary staple of life. You won’t die without Sirius XM satellite radio.
Would I invest in the stock…yeah right…not likely.
Let the satellites be used for more important purposes like keeping tabs on unfriendly nations that could do us harm (although that’s what they probably already do under the disguise of a “consumer radio” satellite – I hope anyway). They are way too expensive to build and launch for something as frivolous as just music radio.
Comparing this year’s growth rate to 2006 is silly – 2006 was the year that Howard Stern started broadcasting and people started to know Sirius existed.
I was a happy camper with my XM radio, especially while traveling over the holidays and not having to lug CD’s around. My happiness ended when XM merged with Sirius. Over the last 2 weeks the music stations and programming coming out of my XM radio speakers is horrid! All of my preset favorite stations got canned in this merger! So I’ll be cancelling my subscription within the next week or so.
Too many barely famous celebrity DJs were hired at too much cost. I’m going to listen to a station because Fred from the B52s is the host. Just give me good music and a DJ with a nice sounding voice. They seem to have killed some of their better stations. XM’s FRED & Sirius’ Sirius Disorder (a buddy was a DJ on that one –full disclosure).
Their subscription base provides fine revenue but they wasted money.
1. You don’t need a NYC location
2. Don’t need celebrities
3. You may not need DJs at all
4. Once you have a music blend that people like don’t mess with it.
Siriusxm have no mor chance then a snowball in hell of surviving. I had xm for 3 years and came to the realization that 150$ ayear was wasted for what i got out of it. ok for people who drive long distances every da, but how many people are there like that. the economy, the auto and energy crisises, all will contribute to their disappearance. Even if times were good most drivers dont travel that much to get any value from it.
I had an XM subscription until they tried to squeeze too many channels into their bandwidth. The last time I listened to the XM radio in my car (the only one I own–and it’s integrated in my car’s audio system, or I wouldn’t even have that), the quality was roughly that of a very old cassette tape. I’d also noticed that ads were beginning to creep in–even on the supposedly commercial free channels.
I do miss a lot of the programming, but I will not pay their asking price for the quality they offer. I’ve also found their customer service to be rather distasteful. I certainly won’t be a customer of theirs any time soon, and I definitely wouldn’t invest in their stock.
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After seeing XM shares drop to 19 cents and lower, I canceled my subscription. There is no way I’m making quarterly payments of $40 for a company that I can buy hundreds of shares of stocks for the same price. I hope this company goes belly up in 2009.