http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/...nkruptcy_N.htm

Possible looming bankruptcy. I knew the merger was not a good idea. I think XM would have eked it out without Sirius. Too much Howard Stern debt. They should have flushed him a long time ago. Perhaps bankruptcy is a good thing. The article says they can terminate their Howard Stern and Martha Stewart contracts in bankruptcy.

 

It's sad. Unfortunately I've been seeing this coming now since the merger. I have a couple of friends that were laid off by them - such great technology - a company will acquire it with pennies on the dollar.

 

It wouldn't have made one iota of difference if the merger had happened or not, except that we'd have two smaller companies going bankrupt now rather than one larger one.

That's the way these super capital-intensive things often work - raise money from starry-eyed investors and leverage this to massive debt that can never be repaid, go bankrrupt servicing this debt and building the business, and then run away leaving investors holding the bag so a new smaller company can emerge without all the debt that can turn a profit.

If this results in Stern getting screwed, I'm all for it. The economics of paying a single performer like him 10% of your total gross revenue has to go down as one of the most idiotic business decisions of all time. Especially when you consider the baggage he carries - he probably pushes as many customers away from your product as he attracts to your product.

- Mark

 

+1, one of the reasons I have a xm roady plugged into the aux port instead of mini integrated sirius.

 

I love all the stern bashers! You do know there are other channels to listen too?

 

Internet radio will sooner or later make it to the car. Satellite radio was a good idea that got siriusly botched.

 

We're not complaining about the choices. We're complaining that 10% of our subscription cost goes to this idiot. I voted with my wallet and am no longer a subscriber.

- Mark

 

http://techstructions.blogspot.com/2...-your-car.html

You can stream pandora now through an i-phone. If this takes off I can see this in my future instead of xm.

I agree with markjenn, 10% of revenue to this clown is ridiculous. When they hired Stern they made a big fuss about how many subscribers he'd bring into the fold. It never happened. They had to acquire xm to have a hope a solvency, and even now can't seem to make it. 500M dollars for five years, 100 million per year will keep you solvent and viable.

The only hope these guys have of remaining a viable option is to file for bankruptcy today, can Stern and Stewart and some of the bloated pro sports contracts and get back to the business of music. XM had a good mix of different tastes of music with rich deep playlists. They need to get back to it.

 

You will also be able to stream SiriusXM to your iPhone very soon too!

http://usirius.starplayr.com/

 

XM/Sirius rescued by Liberty.

 

Heard that this morning on the Alex Bennett show. Great news!
Sorry to all of you Stern haters!

Jim

 

That's ok. It just delays the inevitable. Sirius shares were up twice their value today from 10 cents to 20 cents. Soon shares will be diluted 40% once preferred stock is issued to Liberty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...021701145.html

The article claims that this is better than bankruptcy, Bankruptcy would have been better. When Howard's 5 years are up do you really think he'll be resigned to another mega-deal? I really doubt it.

They diluted the value of their compancy 40% by accepting the liberty buy in of 530 million, wait, they wouldn't have had to had they not paid Stern 500 million!!

 

Read this.

Liberty Media just stepped in an infused 500+M into Sirius XM. There's life - at least for a while.

 

They deserve to go bankrupt. I am not happy with the quality of their music content at all. They play the same crap over and over again on the rock stations I listen to. Plus I don't care about Stern's crappy show. They could have used a fraction of the money they wasted on Stern to improve their music content. I will probably never get satellite radio again in my future cars, if such a thing still exists in the future.

 

The music is only a plus for me - I want the ACC games (I'm an original XM Customer) and HLN. My iPhone takes car of the music.

 

+1

Before the merger xm seemed to have a rich play list. It seems awfully diluted now after the merger.

 

I have pretty much given up on XM. I am really unhappy with the music since the merger. I am still trying to decide if I want to give them another month or just cancel it. Plus, the whole thing about the upcoming removal of the ability to listen online from most of the subscription packages has really irked me. There are too many free internet stations for me to pay to listen to XM online.

And for the love of God, could someone tell the djs that they are not the reason I subscribe...the music is. So lay off the jibber jabber.

 

I used to watch a cable show about computers and they tested both services. They both agreed XM actually had a better sound over Sirius because of the compression algorithm. I later went with XM. Now that they have merged, I have no idea what the differences are.

 

I suspect the compression algorithms deal more with the individual system with a given satellite link, so you are still probably getting a better sound over a xm broadcast system than sirius even though merged. They still have two distinct systems operating.

 

Yes, I'm unhappy too. I've sent them a couple of e-mails on the subject, but all I get is a canned email response back. My only hope is that they go bankrupt, are bought out, a new company emerges, and the sirius satellite network is turned off.

 

We had the XM family plan. We cancelled primarily
because our favorite station was sonic theater, and
they didn't play it on the weekends. That makes no
sense to me as I don't see how it saves them money
its all recorded stuff.

I'll be interested to hear how it went if you call to cancel.
The person was VERY rude to my wife when she called.

Also, be careful about taking their offer of 3 months at
half price "to think about it". I think it triggers some
type of year long contract.

I don't see us getting satelite radio again unless it is in
the 3-4 per month per car range. I mean, the $20 family
plan we had wasn't breaking the budget, but we are not
howard stern fans, MLB, NFL, etc etc, where I think most
of the cost of the service is going.

Also the sound of the music was very flat I made some posts
here on it and determined that was just how it is. Using the
auxilliary jack on the standard radio. It just didn't sound great.

 

when i dropped SIRIUS a while back i was flat out HARRASSED by their sales team for weeks following my cancellation. They were calling my cellphone DAILY! During work, dinner, ect ect. It took way too much effort for me to get them to stop.

Word to the wise, DO NOT get Sat radio installed in your car. IPOD or a USB flash card full of tunes is the way to go.

 

I was on the phone for about 45 minutes when I called to tell them I did not want my plan renewed. I had been renewing 2 years at a time. They transfered me to sales who offered me a free month. I took it and now I am just on the monthly plan.

It never fails. Every time I am about to call and cancel altogether, they play a bunch of good stuff all in one day and make me reconsider. I'm not falling for it anymore!

 

i have yet to consider outright cancellation. I was actually hoping for bankruptcy, but that was avoided, so now I'm thinking about cancelling. I've never signed up for long term plans, paying for three months at at time.

I did hear there are coming price increases. One will get rid of free online streaming of xm, now will be a 3 dollar a month charge. That doesn't really affect me, I've never been an online listener anyway. The second is the increase in family plans which will now be 2 dollar more per additional radio.
This really incenses me and I'm going to contact the FCC. Those guys promised the FCC the merger would result in reduced prices, which we've yet to experience, in fact it is the opposite. Although they do have the mostly music option at 9.95, but I don't think you can do family plans with that and if so what reduced rate that would come at. In short they sold the fcc a line to get the merger through and now are backpedalling.

 

"The Lure of Sirius: Tax Losses


By JESSE DRUCKER and MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG

Some investors are baffled why media titans John Malone and Charles Ergen are competing to throw money at Sirius XM Radio Inc., the money-losing satellite-radio company that was perilously close to bankruptcy.
But in fact, the company's most valuable asset could be precisely all the money it has lost.
Sirius XM has at least $6 billion of tax losses, according to securities filings. That means that the losses it has accumulated over the years can be used as deductions to cut taxes on future profits. As long as those losses stay with Sirius, they have little value, securities filings show, because the company's future prospects for significant profits are still slim.
But in the eventual hands of another company, like Mr. Malone's Liberty Media Corp., those tax losses could become extremely valuable, helping to wipe more than $6 billion in taxable income off of its income tax returns -- thus some day cutting Liberty's corporate income-tax bill by more than $2 billion. "


So this all may be a smoke screen to offset Liberty's losses. If you're interested in Satellite radio - I'd go with the plan with the least time possible. At least now, my year's subscription will expire while they are fluid.