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Sirius XM Plans Rate Increase As Stock Continues to Decrease

1/22/09, 2:55 pm EST

With its shares of stock worth little more than a dime, Sirius XM will reportedly impose a rate increase on March 11th. The company will seek an extra $2 per additional subscription per user, plus charge $2.99 to stream Sirius XM online. The latter fee comes with an upside: all Internet subscriptions will stream with a 128k “premium” feed. According to customer support reps, current Sirius XM users can lock in at their current rates for the next three years if they re-up before March 11th.

Whether the price hikes have any effect on programming remains to be seen. While the increase isn’t exactly wallet-draining, it’s just another straw on the camel’s back for those Sirius XM who told Rolling Stone in November that they were upset with the company since their respective stations merged into one entity in November 2008. Many listeners’ favorite channels and genres were causalities of the station-merge, and customers complained of too much song repetition and DJ bantering.

Despite their huge, anti-trust-avoiding merger back in July 2008, Sirius XM has struggled to climb out of its cavernous debt. The current economic situation and a slow holiday season likely didn’t help Sirius XM’s problems, so the rate hikes are likely an attempt to help the company stay afloat. Fact is, radio itself is a bad business to be in right now, as even terrestrial radio suffered its worst year since 1954 in 2008. So if things are that bad when the radio is free, imagine how bad it is when you have to pay for it. Still, we’re hoping our ordeal with Artie Lange and “The Howard Stern Show” these past few days have at least helped sell a couple radios.

Related Stories:

Satellite Radio Listeners Rankled By XM-Sirius Merger
XM and Sirius Merge Stations: Eminem, Bob Dylan, Howard Stern Survive
Sirius and XM Finally Merge, Become Sirius XM Radio


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Comments

BackSpace | 1/22/2009, 4:55 pm EST

Hey radio, here’s an idea.

Why not try playing a varied selection of quality music? I know it’s radical, but so crazy it might work.

Pastor Manning | 1/22/2009, 5:04 pm EST

Mel Karmazin pimps white women and black women.

John in Florida | 1/22/2009, 6:07 pm EST

As soon as they raise their rates I will cancel my subscription.

Seth Los Angeles | 1/22/2009, 6:25 pm EST

resign Stern, stock goes up 3 points instantly. build from there. trim the Oprah/Martha type fat. sign actual RADIO talent. Stay in every car. Company lives on.

WILLIAM J O'BRIEN | 1/22/2009, 6:25 pm EST

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE COST OF ADDING SIRIUS TO MY EXISTING XM ACCOUNT AND HOW TO INSTALL SIRIUS. MY EMAIL ADDRESS FOLLOWS:
willjobrien@yahoo.com

Jeff Flynn | 1/22/2009, 6:26 pm EST

I’ll re-up before March in order to avoid the fee increase, but as soon as Stern leaves, I’m gone. I listen in two vehicles, and occasionally online. They’re lucky I’m addicted to Stern, because I wouldn’t dare pay what they’re asking already if he wasn’t there.

Artie Lange | 1/23/2009, 2:06 am EST

I sold off my Sirius stock a long time ago and bought something that will never let me down, heroin.

Waiter at Nobu | 1/23/2009, 10:43 am EST

Tell Robin to stop ordering $800 bottles of Wine and send the money to us shareholders who have lost their collectives asses on Howards constant bantering about how great the merger would be..

Rock Singer | 1/23/2009, 3:54 pm EST

You know I worked hard for the merger by sending letters to the FCC, under the impression that there would be know increase in there rate let alone the nickel and dimeing me to listen to Howard Stern. I’m at the point in this economy where I’m going to tell them to take there rate hike and stick it where the sun don’t shine.

Lifetime Member | 1/24/2009, 3:42 am EST

I am glad I payed for the Lifetime Subscription last year so I never have to pay them another dime!

Kevin In Cocoa Beach | 1/24/2009, 8:28 am EST

I threatend to end my 5 yr reationship with XM in Sept. when they cut Fungus. Got a yr. for 7 bucks a month. Got a new roady xt with all the goodies on line for $89. i prolly reup if they give it at the $7 a month price otherwise I’m gone. RIP and ripped off no more.

Rod Stiffington | 1/24/2009, 5:56 pm EST

What the hell’s up with everybody cancelling their subscriptions? Wah, they changed Hard Attack’s name to Liquid Metal and I couldn’t take it! Wah! What a bunch of crybabies. Like you’re gonna hear half the stuff on FM that you heard on Sirius. I for one enjoy the hell out of my subscription and intend to stay with it for the long haul. P.S. Shade 45 is the bomb!

m sanderson | 1/24/2009, 10:47 pm EST

people will pay 4 bucks for a shitty cup of coffee, but not 15 bucks for a month of radio..hmmm..makes sense

Loosh | 1/25/2009, 12:22 pm EST

Hoo hoo, I invented rate increases, Robin.

Listener | 1/25/2009, 8:05 pm EST

I get two huge markets, New York and Philly, and I still can’t get a good non-NPR station, all the mega monopoly chain radio stations cant break away from the horrid top 40/pop charts. I subscribe to Sirius and will gladly pay a few extra buck.

Viper | 1/25/2009, 9:09 pm EST

Hey ‘Lifetime Member’ heres a reality check. Your lifetime membership is only good on the radio you signed up. A Lifetime Subscription associated with a home, portable, or plug & play receiver is transferable from one receiver to another receiver, up to a maximum of three (3) times. Each permitted transfer of a Subscription is subject to a transfer fee.

Not really the Lifetime you had in mind….

Wendy the Re-Tart | 1/26/2009, 12:23 pm EST

Shiny day, I thought. Why not have a shiny car to go with my shiny mood? So I decided to wash my car. My Sirius is bright and shiny, my Howard is as fun and funny as ever so I think I’ll follow him for life. Long live the King!

Mister Nickels | 1/26/2009, 2:24 pm EST

I was on board with Sirius way before the Stern arrival. I loved it. Commercial free, obscure genres, and deep tracks. I have a hard time paying for essentially watered down version of what the service used to be.

Sailndayz | 1/26/2009, 3:38 pm EST

XM-Sirius ability to retain my business is tenuous at best. Sirius totaly screwed up my 50’s station on XM. I miss the great DJ’s. Anyone want to start a competing satellite service? Once rates go up, I will leave with my 4 XM radios never to play XM again.

Crazier Alice | 1/27/2009, 12:41 pm EST

Awww, you know when a lawyer calls it gotta be sumthin’ baaad.

David Chapman | 1/28/2009, 12:28 pm EST

The new guys at Sirius XM seem to be intent to run off a lot of current long time customers with these price hikes! No wonder Sirius XM stock is in the toilet! They have managed to reinforce the long held belief that monopolies are not good for the consumer! You fooled the FCC and the American people. Nice going, Mel,

Mike C | 1/29/2009, 1:20 pm EST

I will be cancelling my subscriptions to sirius if the hike goes thru……

who cares if howard stays or goes…the only reason i listen to howard is to see if Artie has died yet…..

but people are not even mentioning that you loose your ability to stram for free too….. I hope SUXM (Sirius XM) goes bankrupt and Clear channel takes over……

I hope ya loose yer azz Mel.

annham | 2/2/2009, 6:54 pm EST

The merger sucks. A classic example of fixing something that wasn’t broken. What they did to the XM channels was almost enough to cancel my subscription. Charging me more for inferior quaity (the great American way)is the proverbial straw. If I wanna listen to inane DJ’s and and redundant programming I can always rely on FM radio…for FREE!!

xmsux | 2/8/2009, 1:04 pm EST

it’s going down!

Baba Booey | 2/9/2009, 9:18 am EST

Does anyone even care about Rolling Stone? They write about radio having problems…I’d say magazines are having even worse economic problems.

AndyMann | 2/22/2009, 8:30 am EST

I couldn’t care less about Howard Stern and I think it’s his outrageous fee’s that causing Sirius to be in the shape their in. At least I still have Siriusly Sinatra, however I’m not crazy about the Johnathan Schwartz show that came with the XM merger. He just rambles on to much.

james | 2/27/2009, 6:04 pm EST

Well whatever you do – DO NOT sign up for their Lifetime Subscription without reading their fairly well hidden (and never mentioned during the sales process) terms and agreements. This is an out and out fraud on the Sirius consumers.

It appears that Lifetime does not mean YOUR Lifetime it means the lifetime of your existing receiver. That’s right – get a new car with the radio built in, upgrade to a newer device and you will quickly find out how they have resorted to misleading customers with their Lifetime promotion. So what happens if your device fails after the one year warranty is up? That’s right – you have lost your lifetime subscription.

PS – the terms and agreements also go on to say “no refunds” on the hefty $500 fee.

So beware: The promise of Lifetime Service isn’t Sirius!

Anonymous | 3/1/2009, 6:17 pm EST

Exactly “Rod” Wah, grow a set. I’m calling in right now to upgrade to the Lifetime subscription. Been here since the beginning and don’t ever plan on listening to terrestrial radio again. It bugs the hell out of me riding in other people’s cars without Sirius. Rock On!!

“” What the hell’s up with everybody cancelling their subscriptions? Wah, they changed Hard Attack’s name to Liquid Metal and I couldn’t take it! Wah! What a bunch of crybabies. Like you’re gonna hear half the stuff on FM that you heard on Sirius. I for one enjoy the hell out of my subscription and intend to stay with it for the long haul. P.S. Shade 45 is the bomb! “”

jas | 3/1/2009, 6:23 pm EST

James, have you read this contract your whining about. It is no longer “your lifetime”. You can upgrade to three “additional” radios within the lifetime subscription. Nothing beats the content and diversity of Satellite radio… Nothing! Go get one, you’ll be a much happier soul…

John in Scottsdale | 3/7/2009, 7:56 pm EST

My subscription is up in July if the rates are higher I WILL CANCEL on the spot.

wickedpumpkin | 4/10/2009, 6:51 pm EST

the government is going to ” rent ” a couple sirius xm channels for military entertainment . Details in a week . The stock is going to skyrocket !

Jim | 10/8/2009, 10:57 am EST

Guess HD radio and others are scared that SIRI will survives all the negative press. They will

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