When faced with a choice between paying $12.95 a month for 170 channels of XM satellite radio or 130 channels of Sirius, many consumers bought neither. In an effort to lure new customers, the merging satellite radio companies are switching to a la carte pricing. So instead of a straight either/or choice, it's either XM or Sirius and THEN a choice between one of eight packages in seven price ranges (with a .25 per additional channel option on a la carte 1). If you thought the two companies would merge content, they have, kinda. "SIRIUS customers will also be able to choose a family-friendly version of SIRIUS programming that includes select XM programming. And XM customers can select a family-friendly XM programming option that includes select SIRIUS programming. These packages will cost $14.99 per month, a credit of $2.00 per month from the cost of the "best of" packages." Confused? You will be.
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Don’t tell Sirius, but I renewed my subscription for only 3 months after my year-long service included with the new car expired. That was almost 5 months ago and I have not heard a peep from them. No interuption in service.
I tried Sirius for about a year, mainly because I’m a big Howard Stern fan, but I got to the point where I couldn’t justify the cost. I think podcasts are much more entertaining and, ignoring the cost of my high-speed Internet connection, are free. I think these services are doomed. Consumers just aren’t willing to pay the amount necessary to keep the satellites in orbit.
The bundling effort sounds similar to what cable and satellite television operators are already doing.
I think these services are doomed. Consumers just aren’t willing to pay the amount necessary to keep the satellites in orbit.
I’m inclined to agree. Consumers can budget for only so much, and between their mobile phones, satellite dishes, Netflix subscriptions and all the rest, something has to fall by the wayside. When you have 50-80 AM and FM stations to choose from in many metro markets, it can be hard to justify a radio subscription for an hour’s worth of listening at a time.
Don’t tell Sirius, but I renewed my subscription for only 3 months after my year-long service included with the new car expired. That was almost 5 months ago and I have not heard a peep from them. No interuption in service.
That’s because of how satellite authentication works. Satellite radio is one way downstream only, your radio cannot communicate back to the satellite. So every week or so the satellite sends out commands to all radios and tells the radios if they’re not allowed to receive communications anymore. However, if your radio is off and doesn’t receive that signal, you’re good.
There’s lots of places on teh interwebs that tell you when the next “update” is coming so you can make sure that your radio is off and doesn’t get the update.
I like my XM and I don’t ever plan on going back to terrestrial radio, even though I don’t listen for hours a day (even less now because I ride the bike in summer). I pay ~$10/month and only listen to a few channels but the cost doesn’t bother me much. I could probably pay less by downloading the songs I like but there is so much good music I’d miss out on that way.
One of the other options I read about was 50 channels, your choice, for half the price of a current sub. That would be tempting, since i only listened to about 5 stations when I had it. But this is all speculation… they’re trying to push the FCC into approving their merger (HELLO, MONOPOLY?? ANYONE????) and they’ll say anything to get the public on their side. Expect them to later backpedal and claim it’s too expensive to implement, or some nonsense like that. All they really make money off of is new car sales w/ their services bundled, anyway.
I had SIRIUS installed in my Mazda6 and it came factory installed in my Mustang GT (with a free six-month subscription) and I listen to XM when driving my girlfriend’s Explorer.
It bothers me often when I think about how much I pay each month just for communications (Digital HD Cable w/ phone and Internet, Mobile phones, Netflix, SIRUIS & XM).
In my house we complain about fueling a Mustang GT and an Explorer, but spend at least as much on the above items.
I like the a la carte idea – wish I could do that for my cable. I only watch about a dozen or so of the few hundred cable channels I get and also only listen to a handful of SIRIUS channels.
Though I still prefer SIRIUS/XM over terrestrial radio. I’ll spend less than 50 cents a day to avoid several minutes of commercials that always hit on my drive home. That and the DJs – while almost as annoying as FM DJs – don’t talk as long between music. Also satellite radio is great for road trips.
As for the monopoly: I don’t really see it becomming a problem in this case. They’re merging because the market is so small it can’t support even two competitors. If XM/SIRIUS tried to abuse it’s monopoly (i.e. raise prices) then they’d just defeat the purpose of the merger – the few customers they do have would bail.
Though now once my free subscription expires I’ll wait until I get hit with an update before renewing… thanks miked.
Satellite radio competes with terrestrial radio, so it wouldn’t be a monopoly. Saying “but it’ll be the only company offering satellite radio” is akin to saying that McDonald’s has a monopoly on Big Macs.
i think the ipod may deal a fatal blow to sat radio. i’ve had sirius a couple times, enjoyed it, but once i got a good ipod connection in my car i either listen to the tunes i enjoy or NPR on standard FM channels. if the ala carte option could get you 5-10 stations for about $5/mo i would use it again. and what’s up with HD radio?
phil:
HD Radio which will be coming in BMWs is technology for terrestrial radio to add more music via substations. So you can have 100.3 Top 40 “A” and 100.3 Top 40 “B” playing different songs. More choices (but really the same choices with commercials) and less static.
I skip the iPod altogether. I bought a radio with a front USB port. I download a ton of mp3 tunes onto a thumb drive and then plug it into the radio. Hours of music with no clutter or monthly bills.
Subscription radio is an idea I can live without. I don’t need one more company dipping into my pocket once a month. Also, I like my radio listening to have a local flavor. Who wants the same thing everywhere? How dull!
jthorner: Local flavor? With the consolidation of radio stations, you’re already getting the same thing everywhere. Look it up, Clear Channel probably owns the station you listen to already.
I like my radio listening to have a local flavor.
I remember in the old days that “local flavor” on the radio was comprised of the Farm Report, a guy singing in a twang about the wife who had left him and the pickup truck that wouldn’t start, and an angry minister detailing the fine points of damnation and how it was going to find me. This is one of those instances when I think that I prefer the New Coke.
Clear channel does own both radio stations I listen to in Tampa but the local sports djs do add a local flavor and the ones we have in Tampa I prefer to the nationally syndicated sports djs