Sirius-XM merger won't save satellite radio

The FCC's approval Friday of the merger between satellite radio providers Sirius and XM won't solve the fundamental problems with satellite radio.

As I've written before, I was a Sirius subscriber for one year, before canceling my subscription in early 2007. It sounded bad--much worse than my current kludge of plugging my iPod Shuffle into an aux-input that connects to an unused frequency on my FM radio (don't ask...it's an '06 Subaru thing). It was a physical pain to set up. Most of all, it just wasn't worth paying $12.95 a month to hear what was essentially terrestrial radio without the advertisements. The DJs talked too much, their voices were annoying, and they stuck mostly with fairly safe major-label music fit into tightly conscribed genres. That's not how I listen to music.

As the FCC fuddled around trying to figure out whether to approve the merger, numerous alternatives for music fans have grown stronger. Terrestrial radio's still a dying joke, but the rise of mobile devices with anywhere connectivity is a real threat--I'm thinking about the imperfect but interesting Slacker, as well as the iPhone+Pandora combination that's going to take over the world. Instead of having a DJ broadcasting his selections to the world, these services narrowcast a specialized station based on your personal taste. There's still something nice about a great DJ, one who scours new releases looking for that nugget the fans will love. But even if Sirius/XM has that DJ on staff, is it worth $12.95 a month? Most music fans will say no.

There's one audience that could find the new landscape of satellite radio indispensable: hard-core sports fans. One drawback of XM and Sirius is that sports coverage was split between them, although I'm an NFL fan, so Sirius worked for me. The merger eliminates the split, meaning that fans will be able to hear just about every game they could possibly want.

[tony061977]

You are an idiot. Just because your car had a crappy connection don't assume the quality is bad.

[Dalkorian]

You're the idiot - satellite radio sucks donkeys. The quality is great - until you get between 2 and 10 seconds of pure white noise somewhere in the middle of EVERY SONG PLAYED. I'd rather listen to commercials (and I *HATE* commercials!). I know you're idiotic reply already - crappy connection. I agree. But I was driving on a freeway that was no more than 25 feet from the ocean and had no overpasses or tunnels. That's the problem - a crappy connection ON THE BEACH. I guess it would have been fine if I found a place that didn't have a drop off and simply parked there, but what's the point of satellite again?

[JCPayne]

I would only buy it if they added these radio stations.

--
*Voice of Barbados (VOB) 92. FM
http://www.vob929.com/

*HOTT 95.3FM
http://www.hott953.com/

* WACK ('We Are Culture Krazy') 90.1 fm --
http://www.wackradio901fm.com/

* Trini Bashment (Soca 91.9 fm) --
http://www.soca919.com/
& http://www.PointAlive.com/

* Radio Tambrin(Tobago) 92.1 fm -- http://www.tambrintobago.com/

* Rhythm City 94 fm -- http://www.city94fm.com/

* the Best Mix 95.1 FM -- http://www.95thebestmix.com/

* I 95.5 fm -- http://www.i955fm.com/

* Carnival Party Station WeFM -- http://www.96wefm.com/

* RED 96.7 fm -- http://www.red967fm.com/

* Radio Masala 101.1 fm -- http://www.masala101.com/

* Power 102 fm -- http://www.power102fm.com/

[sting7k]

Wow, I absolutely love my sirius radio and I see no reason to give it up any time soon. Sure I have my iPhone and ipod and have over 30k sons in iTunes. But in my car I do not want my dashboard cluttered with extra things all over the dash (my Mazda6 in dash radio was sirius equipped, all I had to do was activate it), it looks terrible and its just more things I have to worry about instead of what I should be doing; driving. I use the internet radio they give you as part of the subscription all day at work in my lab. My co-workers love it too, in the morning some Howard Stern for laughs, then over to some music. I don't know what stations you listen too but the ones I listen too the DJs only talk for about 10 seconds every 5-8 songs and then they are gone, just one song after the next.

Only complaint is in the car sometimes it cuts out for a brief second here or there when you go under something, but that happens so rarely I don't care, it still sounds better than any FM or AM station and I don't want to have my ipod or iphone to worry about in my car.

[MattRosoff]

Glad you like it. I didn't find it worth $12.95 a month.
--Matt

[Dalkorian]

We got a deal on a delivery truck (standard 3/4 ton) for work which has XM satellite radio in it. My first impressions with it weren't exactly stellar, I was following another employee who was taking another truck in for service and on the freeway I was amazed that every single song was interrupted with plain old static (no music, just annoying white noise for 2 to 10 seconds). I put up with it for a while, but when I got out of town, out into the open and STILL had the same problem, I went back to FM. FM radio doesn't sound as good as satellite radio when it's working, but the drop offs were nowhere near as bad. I can't fathom why anyone would pay money for such a trashy product, the static was even MORE annoying than commercials! The drive in question was between Santa Barbara CA and Ventura (along a stretch of highway right next to the ocean, known as the Rincon on highway 101), not exactly full of overpasses or tunnels (none of each!). I mean really, if you can't make satellite radio work ON THE BEACH, what good is it?

[Buzzerfly]

Wow, what a misguided article. I would never even consider owning a car that didn't have XM installed. The sound quality is perfect, and the choices of music that are presented are great. I spend most of my time in the morning listening to Opie & Anthony (Happy birthday, Jimmy), and whichever type of music that strikes my fancy in the afternoon. I guess Matt is as entitled to his opinion as everybody else, but sheesh, he has really missed the mark on this one.

[MattRosoff]

XM has better sound quality than Sirius, from what I've heard. But I've read--some time back--that the merged company will use Sirius's transmission technology. Correct me if I'm wrong, would love to see an URL detailing this issue.

[massonw]

tony061977 I agree with you Matt is an idiot!! Satelitte radio is so much more than music with no commercials. News, sports, old time programs, movie sountracks, medical information, channels, advice shows. Guys like you should plug in their ipods and keep you opinions to yourself!

[car663399]

i agree with you, Matt is an real loser, most likely bought off.. why else would you make yourself look so dumb !!

[bfrazm]

Sirius is great and I can't imagine driving without it! There is such a great variety, that if you can't find something on one channel, there is always something great to listen to on another channel. I also find it hard to believe your comment "But even if Sirius/XM has that DJ on staff, is it worth $12.95 a month? Most music fans will say no." . Did you even poll anyone to find out what 'Most music fans' would say? Almost everyone I know has satellite radio and they all love it. If you have bad reception, maybe you need to get a new car. In fact, I don't even listen to Sirius in the car as often as I listen to it clearly streaming over the internet in my office.

[MattRosoff]

The reception was fine. I'm talking about sound quality--the music was highly compressed to be delivered over the system's limited bandwidth. The merger won't fix that. It's fine for talk, great for sports, poor for music.

[JPJPJPJPJP123]

You are certainly entitled to your NAB point of view. I bought Sirius when it was big and bulky. Now I have the stiletto and I will never go back to commercial radio. I paid the additional 60 bucks to have it professionally installed.

What you fail to address as a real issue is the fact that HD radio can never compete and is already a dead technology. The only format that can and will generate real revenue is a subscription based, commercial free radio. Read my lips...no commercials and a format that allows for complete free speech without have to do station ID's.

[MattRosoff]

Agree, HD radio is dead.

[EricInAlbanyNy]

Matt Rosoff has lost all credibility in my world! Clearly Matt is involved with the NAB or Works for IPod in Some Way! I have the stiletto2 from Sirius, it is the best of all worlds! MP3 player and satellite radio receiver! It Also Does A World Of Other Things To Insure You Can Still Listen To Music Even With No Available Signal (Also WiFi Ready)! Tell Me This Matt, If your connection in your car was so bad, how did you get your ipod to work. Every Radio Sirius Makes Can Be Plugged In To The Aux Port Too you idiot! If Anything the Reason Satellite won?t do well after the merger It?s because the government took so long to approve it! Between people not wanting to choose a company till the 2 joined forces and the fact that both companies held up decisions in their business plans the two have drastically slowed growth in subscribers!

Take Your Damn IPod And Your HD Radio That I Know You Got As A Gift From The NAB And Listen To Them All You Want! I?ll Talk To You In A Few Years When You Are Sick Of Them And Wise Up To What Sirius Truly Has To Offer, CONTENT! CONTENT! CONTENT! I Honestly Don?t Believe You Ever Had Sirius Radio At All Just By The False Statements That You Make In The Article! I Have Had Sirius Since November ?05 And Can Tell You Over 90% Of Music Stations Are Run In A Loop By A Computer And May Have Only A Few ?Bumpers? (Radio Station ID?s) Between A Couple Songs. The Program Directors Run A Similar Stations Like The Rock Stations Hip Hop Stations And So On Out Of Small Closets With Computers In Them. They Don?t Have The Money To Hire That Many DJ?s Like Regular Radio. How Ever Some Times They Have People Like Meg Griffin To DJ Because She Is An Actual Name And Someone Who knows What Is Going On In Music! But That Is Just Another Great Thing About Satellite! I?m Willing To Bet You Never Had Sirius Radio Mr Rosoff. I Just Don?t Believe You!

I Don?t Know How Many Times I Used To Listen To My Own Music On CD?s In My Car And Just Get Sick Of The Same Songs Over And Over Just Like You And Your IPod? Sirius Un-like IPod Does The Work For You And Keeps It New And Fresh And Changing All The Time!

OH AND P.S. No DJ?s Talk More Then 5-10 Sec Every Few Songs Unless You Are Listining To The Same Boring **** You Could Listen To On Regular Radio! So Don?t Complain About New Music If You Didn?t Bother Listing To The Different Variety Of Music They Have To Offer! Oh And One Last Thing! A Good Number Of Sirius? Products Come With A Delay/ Pause Button. If You Don?t Like The 10 Sec Of Chatter From The DJ?s On What Ever Channel You Were Listing To ? Press Pause For 30 Sec And Fast Forward Every Time They Talk! I?m Sure That Will Help You Make It To Work With No Talking Or 5 second Chatter.

Oh PPS. You Are Lame Matt!

[EricInAlbanyNy]

[Bammbammm]

Just because you don't understand the system doesn't mean you're the genius.
Sirius' AND XM's sound quality leaves MUCH to be desired.
If within the merger they can open up the bandwidth to give a larger bitstream, the sound quality and value would be vastly increased, but when you have music sounding like it's been ripped at 56KB/sec in MP3 format, there is a serious issue that should be addressed. I'm no audiophile and the sound is glaringly obvious. Make your voice heard, and make sure if you subscribe, to show them what ywere talking about by removing funding from them and not spending your hard earned (or not so hard-earned) cash for a sub-par product.

[jen0325]

I completely disagree with this article. I have Sirius and I love it. I listen to both the talk and music stations. As a commuter, I would be lost without Sirius.

[cssnyder262]

OMG, how can ANYONE who has had XM or Sirius for any length of time defend the garbage that passes for commercial radio? Key word here being "commercial" - I cringe any time I am subjected to terrestrial radio now, with loud, obnoxious DJs and loads of mindless commercials. Sure, XM plays songs that I don't like, but know what? I have dozens of commercial free stations I can switch to, to find something I like. And, no commercials. Hey Matt, come to Philly - spend a few days listening to the TERRIBLE terrestrial radio here, then tell me you don't like satellite.

[MattRosoff]

I never defended commercial radio--I think I called it "a dying joke." Doesn't sound like a defense to me. My point is that satellite radio's still radio. It's broadcasting--music channels, divided by genres, trying to fit all needs. Most of those genres don't mean anything (*** is "alternative"?) and are hugely variable in quality. I'd rather have a radio station that understands what I like and don't like and adjusts accordingly.

[EricInAlbanyNy]

Wow I Stick By What I Said! Matt Is An Idiot! If You Dont Like The "Genre" You Are Listining To Listen To Anothe One, Sirius And Xm Add More To The Genres Then Commercial Radio Does, Such As Non Radio Or B-sides Off Albums From The Genres. The Reason They Don't Change To Please You Like You Say Your Fav Commercial Radio Does, Is Because They Already Have A Good Format! When Was The Last Tim Commercial Radio Changed In Order To Make Listeners Happy? They Change To Please The Sponcers! If They Cared About The Real Listeners XM And Sirius Wouldnt Have Almost 20 Million Subscribers. You Are Such An Idiot MATT! WHY DONT YOU GO LISTEN TO SATELLITE RADIO FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YOUR LIFE AND STOP MAKING BULLET POINT STATEMENTS YOU HEAR FROM THE SIRIUS AND XM HATERS! TRY IT OUT AND GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!

[shetaan819]

I had XM as soon as it hit the market hoping for 'CD Quality' (remember that?) music....the issue is not Matt's setup (I had a direct aux line-in) but was continually enraged by the pathetic sound quality that XM & Sirius try to pass off as CD Quality.....I'm not happy with the NAB either, backing 'HD Radio' which broadcasts songs that sound like a 64kbps version of a song as 'CD Quality' - neither of these services even sound like 128kbps which would be the minimal needed for 'CD Quality' sound - unless the XM/Sirius conglomerate comes up with something that sounds halfway decent I'll listen to Pandora or even Last.fm on my iPhone3G which at least gets closest to the CD quality that these other guys have been claiming for years....

[jesselfout]

I have to say that this guy doesn't know what he's talking about, at very least with the quality of the programming on XM.

I too cringe when I listen to regular radio, it's awful, I justify paying 9.00 a month for my plan because I don't have to tune the radio stations in and don't have to listen to garbage local ads.
I live in the mountains of WV and on my 30 mile commute only two times that do I not have uninterrupted CD quality audio, granted I pay a little extra to get the XM Direct adapter to have bus level line in to the stereo, instead of wondering why the $20 wal-mart
receiver didn't work so great.

Prime examples of XM's greatness, Bluegrass Junction Track 14 and Fungus 53, two outlets for musicians who usually don't get "Press". It's awesome to hear the Ramones road manager talk about riding around in a van with those guys, or getting them getting spit on in London, where else are you going to hear that. Or to hear about the stories about how people go into bluegrass. That's what I like about XM, I like both and it has both, with out commercials!

[mexman00]

i just activated my sirius and its great for me. I first used this when i rented a car in the LA area. I prefer the club and dance music channels. However, in the Washington DC metro area, they repeat the same crap all the time, every day. When they do play the weak dance music on the weekends, they (the so called DJ's) talk and make noises through most of it. An i-pod is ok, but i want music that is a supprise to listen to. Not something you've heard before on your own Ipod. Nevermind the shuffle opition on the i-pod. I know that comment is coming. Anyway, i'm hoping my 300 shares of sirius gets me rich. Ha!

[PhxGuy]

Really? You don't feel just a bit presumptuous speaking for all "music lovers"? And I suppose "coffee lovers" won't pay $8 for coffee either? You must live in a very narrow slice of the demographic spectrum.

Here's what I like about XM/Sirius: Someone else does the work of finding good music for me. I simply don't have time for it. Not everyone is a teen to 20-something with oodles of spare time on their hands . I want to turn on a device and hear songs I like but haven't heard before and would otherwise never have discovered. A $120/yr XM subscription is way more valuable to me than the equivalent number of cups of overpriced coffee.

[johns123123]

Matt is clearly working for NAB and has a different agenda: one to discredit satellite technology and to promote a dead medium, terrestrial radio. If it was upto him and his views, we would al be riding in a horse and buggy.
It is probably the most shortsighted article I've read in a long time. He reminds of a businessman at the turn of the century that said that ?everything that was going to be invented has already been invented?; or people who said that paid TV would be a flop; or people who said no one will need a computer at home. Those people ate their words, just like Matt will eat his words. Wake up Matt! I have two accounts: one for my wife and one for me just for the Internet-listening Option. The music is great; selection is even better, and no 10-minute commercials. Anyone I ever talked to, once they try satellite, they do not want to go back to regular commercialized radio. Go across the state and see how your favorite channel dies. With satellite you never loose your favorite settings; it is amazing. Satellite and its investors will prevail. Hang in there; you are at the forefront of technology and a huge return.

[SiriusBuzz]

This guy admittedly canceled his subscription 18 months ago and yet he is allowed to write this kind of mindless drivel like it is fact? CNET should be ashamed.

[ciscofreak]

Man, you're such a ******. Satellite radio has such a variety of material; you have a plethora of choices to pick from. Just because your a total dickbag and can't properly hook up a system doesn't mean it can't sound good. Please stop spreading your uneducated propaganda and go kill yourself......

[dawk20]

I couldn't disagree more with this article. I've had Sirius for three years and I love it. I hear songs that never seemed to get played on terrestrial radio. I've also been exposed to solid artists that I never heard of before. Between the music, talk radio, news, sports, comedy, etc., there is always something to listen to during my 40 mile commute to work. I couldn't imagine riding in my car without satellite radio.