Satellite Radio (Sirius/XM) Ping List
Freepmail me to be added.
Posted on 05/01/2005 2:50:23 PM PDT by Brian328i
It's a common refrain, one XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have heard too many times to count: No one will pay for what they already can hear for free.
So what happens if you can't get it for free anymore?
Numerous announcements during the past year by XM and Sirius are testing that theory.
Singing a different refrain - "content is king" - the companies have sought to lure customers by emphasizing what traditional radio doesn't have.
Sirius, for example, last month signed a four-year deal to devote a 24-hour radio channel to Martha Stewart, whose syndicated 90-second radio spots on traditional radio were dropped during her legal problems. Next January, traditional radio won't have Howard Stern. Sirius will. Similarly, XM plucked shock jocks Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia last August, two years after the duo were kicked off New York's WNEW-FM.
"We hear that often: 'Well, I'm not going to pay for something I can get for free.' You can't get this for free," said Jim Collins, a spokesman for Manhattan-based Sirius, which in November named former Viacom head Mel Karmazin as its chief executive officer. "It's really trying to make a comparison between apples and oranges. You cannot find this anywhere else. This is why we believe people will pay and are paying a subscription fee to get this kind of content. It's that compelling."
The Stewart deal is an attempt by Sirius to broaden a demographic appeal that, for both companies, has been heavily marketed toward males ages 18-49.
Last year, Sirius began airing National Football League games, and it has deals with the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League.
In April, XM began broadcasting every Major League Baseball game and recently announced a partnership with America Online to create a new Internet radio service. Both offer dozens of music channels.
As the companies slug it out, their strategies seem to be working.
XM added more than 540,000 subscribers during the first three months of this year, bringing its total to about 3.8 million. Combined with Sirius' subscriber base, there are 5 million who pay for satellite radio. Basic subscription costs for both is $12.95 month.
And, as the companies point out, there are hundreds of millions of cars on the road, millions more that are sold every year, heavy trucks, boats, recreational vehicles, households and businesses - all potential satellite-radio customers.
By 2010, 20.1 million households will listen to satellite radio, according to Forrester Research.
Although neither company has yet to turn a profit, "They've exceeded street expectations, including myself," said Kit Spring, an analyst with Colorado-based Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
XM got an eight-month head start over Sirius in the race for satellite-radio domination, launching nationwide service in November 2001. Although just two satellite-radio companies exist in this country, the competition is still fierce, focusing on three key areas: content, automaker partnerships and technology. In March, Hyundai became the first major auto company to make satellite radio a standard in its vehicles after reaching a deal with XM.
Before that, automakers had been content with signing deals to make satellite-radio equipment an option. XM has deals with General Motors, Honda and Pontiac, while Sirius has partnerships with Ford, DaimlerChrysler and BMW.
On the technology front, both companies have worked to make their hardware smaller, and XM last year got out in front with Delphi XM MyFi, a portable satellite-radio device. Sirius has said it plans to introduce a similar product later this year.
Both offer devices that can be transferred between a car and home.
XM's Logan said the federal regulators who approved of both companies' licenses "strongly encouraged" the development of a radio that would play both XM and Sirius, but he said such products are "still way down the road."
Great, now I can get my instructions for making manure tea and cat hammocks while I'm out on the road.
People, stop acting like consumers.. Why pay for music when you can get it for free on AM / FM??
Technology for the sake of technology is crazy..
(Yes, I've used Sirius in a friends car. Not worth paying for unless one travels cross country.)
I understand that...
Ever try the internet??
Yahoo has radio
Itunes has radio
etc..
People said the same thing 20 years ago about cable tv. Who would pay for cable when you can get it for free?
Sirius came our new boat for one year. We activated it for 2 months( we bought late in the season) and called to see if they would put a hold on it while it was put up for the winter in storage. Not a chance
that they would credit us for the boat downtime. When the time comes to renew? No way. They do not have all consumers in mind. They repeat the same music too much anyway.
Well, we have plenty of channels on am & fm..
Back then, there were just 3-4..
Big difference.
Yes, but can you sit in your recliner with a contented look on your face and flip though 185 channels with your remote on an AM/FM (like the guy in the Comcast commercial)? I don't think so.
>>Yes, but can you sit in your recliner with a contented look on your face and flip though 185 channels with your remote on an AM/FM (like the guy in the Comcast commercial)? I don't think so.
Hmm, maybe the fact that you have to channel surf means that there really isn't much on those 185 channels...
The 50's music channel has the familiar classics, as well as earlier songs from that era which I hadn't heard before.
There is also a channel geared to independent truckers which I'm hooked on now. Dale Sommers (aka the Trucking Bozo) and his son Steve are great.
They talk politics a lot and are generally pro-military, pro-small government conservative in their commentary. They're good old boys with common sense.
I just wish XM had the NFL.... baseball blows goats.. I own stock in both. I figure that every car and truck will have it in 10 years. As well as GPS and video for security. Imagine carjackers "smiling into the camera"...
If they're going to survive they need to up the content quality dramatically. When FM took over AM it was because the content totally blew AM away. That's not happening with SatRad yet. I turned in my xm sub because content was so horrible in my narrow scope of interest, CCM. They've got 6M subs now, there's no excuse for Top 100 (and the "top" part is debatable) playlists that are throwbacks to radio formatting from the '60s. Since I'm home more than on the road, I took up Launchcast Plus; at $3/month it's a shade better than XM. In the car I'm fine with CDs.
Still a XM stockholder, though.
However, for those of us who love listening to FOX News in the car on weekends when local radio offers nothing, it's a great addition. The musical niches that are all but ignored by terrestrial radio are a sensational treat. How about every regular season Major League Baseball game at the flip of a button?
Fine. live in your "rabbit ear" world. Your choice. But some of us (I have both Sirius and XM subscriptions) are enjoying the heck out of satellite radio.
Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that’s so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude
Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price ---
Almost free...
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It’s really just a question
Of your honesty
One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity
For the words of the profits
Are written on the studio wall,
Concert hall ---
Echoes with the sounds...
Of salesmen.
Dish network forced people with the dish to pay $3.00 a month for the crap called Sirius. I hate this to be pushed down my throat for something I will never use!
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.