Satellite radio: Looking for a few good customers, anybody?
Apparently, the idea of paying for radio chatter doesn't hold much appeal to customers who actually have to shell out hard earned cash. While many new cars today come equipped with stereos that are capable of receiving either XM or Sirius, fewer people than ever are buying standalone receivers. In December, retail sales of satellite receivers were down 37.5% (36% for Sirius and 41% for XM) compared to 2006.This might in part be due to the fact that without an external antenna that has line of sight to the satellite, the radio usually doesn't work indoors. There's also the quality of what you hear on the stations. Unless you have a compelling need to hear Howard Stern unfiltered, most of the rest doesn't sound much different than what you can hear on terrestrial radio. At this rate, XM and Sirius better hope their merger is completed soon before they both run out of cash or customers.
[Source: OrbitCast]
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Gil 7:24AM (1/28/2008)
HOLY BIASED REPORTING BATMAN!!!!!!!!!
"This might in part be due to the fact that without an external antenna that has line of sight to the satellite, the radio usually doesn't work indoors."
Thats why you can stream over the internet for free if your a subscriber.
" There's also the quality of what you hear on the stations. Unless you have a compelling need to hear Howard Stern unfiltered, most of the rest doesn't sound much different than what you can hear on terrestrial radio. "
Ummm excuse me?? Find me a all Elvis radio station, How bout a 24 hour techno station. Hard core hip hop ??
All without commercial interruption. Find that for me on terrestrial radio.
If your biased towards terrestrial radio thats fine just dont post your heavy handed biased views here and try to pass it off as news....
Reply
C.D. Ward 7:28AM (1/28/2008)
I, for one don't mind paying for uncensored radio. The sad part is we have to pay for free speech. Not to mention no annoying commercials on any of the music stations. After listening to my Sirius for 2+ ears I can't even listen to terrestrial radio garbage anymore.
Nicholas Strandberg 7:43AM (1/28/2008)
Satellite radio is nice to have because you don't have to change the radio station when you drive long distances and sound quality never changes. With traditional radio you get comercials, fuzzy stations, and you always have to change the station if you drive too far. There is too much competetion because the market isn't large enough, so a merger will help both companies.
Brian 9:25AM (1/28/2008)
I am currently on my free trial with a new car and I have been listening to a lot of the stations, they are VERY REPETITIVE same songs over and over again but now in a different order. Add in the news, and talk stations are completely over run with ads than comercial radio Honestly I am pissed off at Acura for shoving this XM Radio in my car vs an HD reciever.
You may be a fanboy of it and the article is not accurate on the reasons but in my opinion, it is not the signal it is the content for the cost that is the problem. Maybe if the cost was $5.00 including traffic I would consider it.
FrankTheCrank 10:33AM (1/28/2008)
I agree with Brian.
The pricing sucks. If it were cheaper, I think they would double their customer base.
At $13.95 a month, it's just too pricey. I can't justify paying that much money. Not only that, but it's $13.95 for EACH radio. So, if I activate my XM in the car, I can't get a tuner for my home and use the same account. STUPID. Sure, I could listen to it over the computer, but my computer and my stereo are in two different areas.
XM/Sirius, DROP THE PRICE ALREADY!!!
Drop it after the merger and charge no more than $4.99 a month. You would double your subscribers overnight.
naggs 2:27PM (1/28/2008)
i used to have XM when i did pizza delivery, got rid of it because i could not find a channel that wasnt fin terrible
local radio + burned CDs was much better and free
summazooma 7:34AM (1/28/2008)
Rather than the opinion "Unless you have a compelling need to hear Howard Stern unfiltered, most of the rest doesn't sound much different than what you can hear on terrestrial radio.", maybe the real issues with SDRS are the uncertainty over it's long-term viability & the fact that the early adopters (most of whom love it) have bought as many radios as they're going to.
I'll give you an example... As a fan of cutting edge radio in Southern California, I was ticked that my favorite radio (even or, perhaps, especially in SoCal) was either going away completely (KSCA or 103.1 World Class Rock), filtering towards the middle, where every station sounds alike, or not available (good classical in Detroit, anyone?)... I subscribed to XM in January of 2001, one of the early adopters, and have had as many as 3 radios (my car, my wife's car and one in the house). I have 2 now, with the computer acting as the home system.
1. The availability of signal in-doors is a non-issue;
2. If you want to hear anything new in an existing genre of music, or a genre that may be under-served by commercial radio, SDRS is (by far) the best way to get what you want... (and, XM is significantly better at this than Sirius, though Sirius is likewise better than commercial radio with it's wide number of genres represented on it's dial). I don't know where the Sam lives or what he listens to (Contemporary Pop?), or even if he listens to radio, at all (in this day of the iPod), but he's not speaking for all when he makes the comment above;
3. Finally, I agree whole-heartedly that the merger can't happen soon enough for XM & Sirius (or their listeners), since I think that having a service with a future will ease concerns about investing in hardware and, frankly, address my biggest beef with SDRS. Right now, I have a car with integrated XM (factory-installed), a car with a Sirius-capable head unit (which I don't want to HAVE to take, since I like about 15 stations on XM that don't have direct or equal corollary stations on Sirius, based on a co-workers' unit which I get significant ear time with) and a portable XM receiver that I have to have plugged into the power-point in the dash (I know, I could hard-wire it...). I know the "Why?" but I don't really understand it (it doesn't have to be) about the need to make the two services so exclusive. I mean, if I want SDRS, and don't know which one I want, I have to buy the hardware first... if I get a car with one but want the other, I have to essentially buy hardware twice (the fatal flaw in OnStar, in my book)... I can't buy the hardware and "sample" both, decide which one I want and choose, separate from the hardware purchase. BIG miss, in my book. In this day of personalization options every where else, I KNOW, based on research, that people hate that they're tied to hardware or service, dependent on each other.
So, anyway, I really like SDRS, personally; I know that those that have it really like it; I know that there are frustrations with the hardware/service subscription issues suggested above; I think the market with early adopters/ "true believers" is probably saturated with a lot of people owning multiple units/subscriptions (just how many radios does a household need?); Finally, I suspect that there are a lot of people waiting to see if it even survives before they invest any money in hardware that might be obsolete if the house of cards falls.
Reply
Gardiner Westbound 7:55AM (1/28/2008)
Commercial radio is hopeless. Too many commercials. What happened to the notion the airwaves belong to the people?
I don't think there is value in satellite radio. $15 a month to hear somebody talk dirty? And, commercials are creeping in.
I have a good CD collection I listen to.
Reply
h8rain 10:21AM (1/28/2008)
"And, commercials are creeping in."
I am a current XM subscriber and I have stopped listening to channel 21 and 22 because they have commericals. I only like to 20,26,54, and 9. I will probably kill my subscription, because I will just take that $12/month and buy a new CD every month instead, or buy music for my Ipod. Side note: I am working on "mounting" dock for my iPod in my truck, so I can just plop it down, and it plays without having to "plug" in something.
jg 11:33AM (1/28/2008)
'What happened to the notion the airwaves belong to the people? '
I think you made that up.
'Commercial radio is hopeless. Too many commercials.'
Commercial radio has too many commercials? That's classic. How do you expect 'free' radio to stay on the air if they can't make money selling ad tiime?
icu812ru469 7:55AM (1/28/2008)
The idea of "raw" radio is good in concept, but not in practice. I got an XM receiver a few years back and subscribed to the monthly plan, I cancelled after two months. First off, at first $9.95 (now about $12-$14) per month doesn't seem like much, but then when you calculate that actual time that you're on and the quality of what you listen to, I didn't think the $120 or so per year was worth it. Then on top of that, having to find a good place to place the antenna from car to car was a hassle and reception wasn't all that great, but this could be result of it being probably 1st or 2nd generation receiver. After two months, a lot of stations were repeating material and so it just became "ho hum."
Reply
J M C 3 8:12AM (1/28/2008)
why waste your money to hear some emotionally disturbed potty mouth rant about how great He is.Howard Stern's loser fans can't afford satellite and the people who can afford it want quality.They paid too much for that guy.Makes me laugh.The only good thing (exaggerating maybe)satellite did was to get Stern off terrestrial.Heck.I would have paid them for that!
Reply
Spankee 8:28AM (1/28/2008)
Well, I mean, I've paid for three Sirius units and pay for two subscriptions because my wife is a long term Stern fan (she also, by the way, probably makes more money than you) and he's an alright way to pass the time on my long commute.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, "stop being dumb."
That being said, I like satellite radio. If only for the comedy stations it's worth it to me. Also, unlike listening to my Zen every day, I actually hear new (to me) artists that I like and who's albums I buy thanks to satellite. Given all the other crap I spend money on every month, the $200 and change I spend per year on satellite's not bad at all.
Jim 8:25AM (1/28/2008)
"maybe the real issues with SDRS are the uncertainty over it's long-term viability & the fact that the early adopters (most of whom love it) have bought as many radios as they're going to."
I think there's also some sort of mindset still there that has people saying "why the hell should I pay for *radio*?" I remember some similar arguments when cable TV came in.
Reply
FSM 12:17PM (1/28/2008)
Didn't cable TV also promise commercial free programming? I think I remember that being the case. Now look at it, you have to pay for premium channels to get commercial free broadcasts (HBO, Cinemax) I wonder how long before all of Satellite Radio is the same way.
nick 8:49AM (1/28/2008)
I had XM for ~2 years when I got my Acura and with the help of information from online forums paid only $77/year. Even at that price, though, XM just wasn't worth it. The programming was pretty poor, especially the music channels. I was almost embarrassed to go channel surfing with people in the car because there would never be anything good on.
I do, however, subscribe to Live365 and use it all the time and the stations are 1000x better.
I've heard better things about Sirius but until the programming gets better, they definitely won't be getting subscribers, especially if they're paying full price.
If you're up for a renewal soon, just call and say you want to cancel about 103x and they will offer you the $77/year offer.
Reply
L.S. 8:46AM (1/28/2008)
It is, indeed, a step above commercial radio. The only issue I have with it is price. At around $120/year it seems somewhat overpriced and it took a $77/year offer I had from them to renew my subscription.
Reply
Jim in Tampa 8:45AM (1/28/2008)
I have a XM boombox in my office so that I can listen to classical music during the day and not be tortured by NPR. And when I work on weekends, I have the dance music cranked! I only listen to probably three channels on XM but I like it.
Reply
mr.ed 11:06AM (1/28/2008)
Now that I've retired, and am not in the car between customers hours a day, I no longer need their services. I might be enticed to return if/when they consolidate. I get by fine on 2 NPR stations, a local classical, and a couple other locals for sports or other music. And then there's CD's in the changer and MP3's through the cigar lighter socket FM broadcaster that plays off USB drives. Is that enough?
Reply
cooperaaaron 9:52AM (1/28/2008)
I get XM signals inside my home with the home kit. I pay for 2 receivers with the family plan, $9.95 per month, and I enjoy the stations that are on, plus I bring the XM to work and play it for the people that I work for. I will give up XM if they decide to close shop, tired of all the people talking over the music, signal loss, and dumb radio hosts...
Reply