Yea, I agree - sounds like Savage thought he was a bigger shot than he was. Rather than looking at being on Sirius/XM as expanding his audience and adding some prestige, he figured it about $s and cents, probably played tough and highballed it, and they told him to take a hike.
If you think about it, Limbaugh himself probably couldn't get a good price from the satellite companies unless he agreed to do an exclusive "4th hour" or something. He's on too many stations. The people who are on XM or Sirius are just happy for the publicity.