Comments on: Sirius XM sticks it to subscribers

Wasn't the Sirius XM merger supposed to lower costs and benefit subscribers? It doesn't seem to be working out that way.

[davidwb]

Having bought a 2006 that is neither iPod friendly nor 3rd party stereo friendly I made the decision to subscribe to XM radio. Now that I've lost some of my favorite stations and Internet play I'll be telling XM-Sirius to stick it where the sun don't shine in another 12 months. My next car WILL be iPod friendly - it'll be a top priority.

[LilySpark01]

The problem is in some communities Sirius is the only solution. There are no top 40 radio stations in the area. There are no classic stations. You have a few local stations, relgious, and NPR and thats it. Sirius opens up everything. if the cable is out then this is only way to get the stations.

I'll tell you what we got out of the merger -- the format survived. And its well worth it, IMHO. I've had the format almost from when it launched. Without the merger, both services were going to fold. They may both fold anyway. All you need to do is look at all the great music streaming applications for the iPhone -- Pandora, Last.FM, Simplify Music. Anywhere you have network connectivity, you can have music. And when you don't have connectivity, just listen to what's on your media player. This will happen on other devices as well. Soon, car stereos may have only an aux in jack(or USB or SD card), amp and speakers -- no built-in media access. You'll bring your own. Alternatively, they may just have a generic platform on which internet-based music services run -- but I'm not sure there's really a market for that when you can just bring your media player of choice (be that an iphone, ipod, sat radio receiver, whatever). So Sirius/XM had better figure out something soon -- like perhaps becoming an internet-based service, and getting an iPhone app out there. I'm not sure that a dedicated network for a particular music service has a future. They should focus on the programming, and leave the network/transmission to others.

[gladman911]

I personally love the service - I use it for music for the day, after Howard's 6 hours. I use it in the car, the truck, and online. Their customer service does suck, their new Sportster 5 and its accessories are cheap plastic junk (and the ff and rev buttons don't work right on the remote). Try listening to terror-estrial radio for a few minutes, and you'll be back in a flash to pay radio.

[lusciatti]

I only have terrestrial in my truck and get by just fine. Have started to see drop outs when in my wife's car. Never had this problem before the merger!!!

[SalG77]

The programming has gone on a downward spiral since the merger. Correction since the channel lineup was merged it has gone downhill. Many stations which were once excellent have since been watered down so badly that subscribers of both services are angry. Count me in as one of those subscribers that is angry. As an XM subscriber, I expected a certain sound from the stations I listened to. After the channel lineup merged, the stations I listened to changed so drastically that they could barely be considered the same station and I'm one of the lucky ones. Other listeners lost their favorite stations outright with little to no warning from Sirius/XM that it was happening! It's gotten bad enough that I'm on the verge of canceling and many others will soon follow. If they can't figure out a way to right the ship and improve the programming/restore channels to what it was pre merger then Sirius/Xm is doomed to failure.

[darrenmacdougall]

This subscriber dip is almost certainly also partially due to the tightening of playlists on many channels. Particularly on the decades channels, playlists were slashed after January 1, 2009. The channels now lack the variety to which XM listeners had become accustomed and they refuse to play certain huge hits (ie a 60s on 6 DJ recently denied a request to play All Along the Watch Tower!) On the 80s station, at least 40 songs have been averaging 7 or more spins each week, according to reports generated from dogstarradio.com, while other hits have gone unplayed since December. This has driven many former XM listeners away in favour of deep playlists available at no cost on the Internet.

[bjcamus]

When Clear Channel was gobbling up everything and going to their "all commercials, all the time" format, I decided to try XM. I like it so much that I added a second radio. Then the price went up. I almost cancelled but got 3 months free so I stayed. Then I started noticing DJs talking on stations that were previously "all music, all the time". Then I started hearing commercials. It was irritating but I was too lazy to call in to unsubscribe. Until I got the e-mail telling me that prices were going up again, only they really hadn't; I would just have to pay more to get what I already had -- which was less than what I originally signed up for. How come every time some big business genius saves me money, it costs me more? Well, thanks to the last increase, I was finally sufficiently irritated by the changes in service and price to call and cancel. Oh, they told me how good they are, they told me how much more I was getting, and they even offered me free service for awhile if I would only not cancel. If I am worth free service, why not just leave my pricing alone and I'd keep paying the way I had been? Sorry Sirius XM, you passed my price point. I hope someone from their home office is reading all of these comments to see the general feeling about what they are doing. Maybe their new business plan will work, just not for me. To me, they became about as relevant to me as AOL did 15 years ago.

[btg3491]

In fairness you should ask them how they are treating existing customers. This rate hike applies to new customers, and to customers who failed to renew before the hike. As an existing customer, they've been calling and warning us for months that rates were going up and they offered us reasonable discounts to try and get us to renew before the deadline.

[JCPayne]

YAWN... I don't know why anyone is surprised. I knew this at the time of merger. The two companies were running around... "Ohh we can't afford to be separate" and all that usually hook-line-and-sinker rubbish.... Then once the merger was done what did consumers expect it to compete with????

Hello when has the consolidation of a duopoly ever been a good thing for consumers????

Not to mention, all of the consumers of both companies had to know they would be paying for the cost of this merger through higher costs... That is the American way..... Stop complaining now you all knew this was coming.

[alnet42]

I am unhappy with the merger. Satellite radio is the future but there are too many alternatives at this time to play games on customers by raising subscription rates. There is no reason they can't give you all of the XM and Sirius channels. But instead you get 5 with the best of both package and they charge 2 bucks more. Its not right.
I bought a Jeep last year and also have the Sirius backseat TV. Only three channels since inception and nothing new coming.
I'm giving them some time but raising the rate and charging for the internet feed is a joke.

[App-roval]

I canceled my subscription for the reasons above as well as the two year service contract they are pushing to stall the mass exodus thats going to happen when Stern leaves.
Mel Karmazin (sp?) appeared on Sterns show when the merger was announced and said a price hike was out of the question, in fact when there was no more competition to pay advertising for prices would drop. I don't like being lied to.
When I called to cancel, the operator asked me why. When the two year contract part came up, she said "well it's just like what you do for your cell phone..." I told her that if I were to have a car problem on a back road somewhere, my satellite radio isn't going to get me out of there. They don't seem to understand that people don't NEED a Sirius radio.

[tcfolsom]

Are some of you actually complaining about spending $9 a month for over 100 channels of great radio including sports, etc.? Listen, go back to your am radio, listen to the local crap Clear Channel puts out daily and shut up!
You don't feel its worth the money ? Then don't pay it and go away....

[sting7k]

Lucky for me I got a life time subscription in Dec. last year when they brought it back as a special. This level subscription still gets free internet listening and I called them about the price increase on the additional line. I was able to lock in $6.99/month on that one for 3 years.

I have not noticed any difference in signal. In my car which has built in sirius I only lose it when I go under big bridges or 2 over passes that are close together. The internet scream which is supposed to be 128kbps (which they did charge for before the merger, the free one was 96kbps stream) does sound better when I listen at home.

[hwygo1]

I was a loyal customer of XM for 10 years and for the most part loved it and had very few problems. Once the merger took place then XM also became Sirius pieces of fecal matter. About a month after the takeover was public, I lost my favorite channels and to not find anything similar in the 170 channel lineup. Classic Rock and Classic Country, C?mon people it?s really not that hard. Then they wanted to raise my subscription fees. The only thing I had for them was a finger on each hand and to tell them they were fired. Well after 15 minutes of explaining their service was trash, then begging to cancel my subscription, and then finally cursing at them I was finally free of my XM/Sirius account.

[zincmann]

I had Sirius a few years back strictly for Howard Stern and because i was a traveling salesman and was able to listen to him daily, but once i returned to an office environment and the fact that Howard was taking more than 1 week vacation in one month which i was paying for, I was starting to find that unacceptable, so i shed Sirius and I still listen to Howard, I get all the music I Want to listen to commercial free and its what I want not what the programming "gurus" think I want to hear. I was never happy with the music selection and the rest of the channels were just wasteful for me. And i dont have a $13 a month bill now for total garbage. Just my 2 cents..

[527nrhpd]

I have had XM since late 2004 when we bought our Chevy Tahoe. I also have had an AudioVox ExpressEZ in my Saab 9-3 for about 2 years now. I am a hockey fanatic, and before XM came around, I might hear 1-2 minutes of hockey talk a day. Now, I have hockey on XM 204 almost ALL the time. My morning drive has a great night in review program with good interviews, and the afternoon drive has Phil Esposito, who is one of my 3 favorite people all time in the NHL...even if he was mostly a Bruin and once was a Blackhawk...ugghhhh...Blackhawks suck...but I digress! All I have to say is that I was not happy to see the extortion of "lock in now or pay us more and not get online access", but there is no chance in hell that I'd cancel at this point. I would agree with Dr. Rask above above keeping the XM system rather than the Sirius system. Other than the NFL, nothing good as far as I am concerned is on Sirius. Howard Stern is a fat bag of lukewarm air and does nothing to entertain me, and I'm a 35 year old male...should be in his target market and could care less about his antics. At any rate, something needs to be done, because if Sirius XM folds, I'll be lost...and I am sure there are millions like me who have found a niche somewhere within the confines of satellite radio.

[ImCEO]

http://www.corporate-america-sucks.com

[rtaggi]

I currently have 4 subscriptions to Sirrius XM Radio( 3 are counted as family plan). When I first heard of the price raise of $2.00 on each of my 3 family plan billings, I simply sent them an e-mail telling them I would cancel 1 subscription each time they added $6.00 to my bill to ---apparently my plan worked, so far as I have not been billed any more than b4 the announced price hike. Unfortunately this strategy didn't work for the new on line usage fee they are now charging

[AppleSuxLeo]

I`m Sirius..I like listening to CNBC , FOX NEWS , DOCTOR but isn`t worth $12.95/mo.
Will probably dump it soon.

[jmac226c]

Had SIRI packed it in when they brought Howard on board, I believe he is way over paid, and found it interesting when my friends assumed that I was listing to his take on things, ie: it was Stern's Radio, not SIRI. Moved over to XM found it better for the music I enjoy, but some it's quality has dropped. LIke it or not now that LIberety is involved with SIRI it will survive in years to come, I will still pay and gladly as my time is more valuable then listing to ads. Also I firmly believe SAT Radio is just showing it's Tip of the Iceberg.