NAB Sues FCC Over White Space Broadband > Here's the problem

reply to fifty nine

Re: Here's the problem

They had a ton more subs than Sirius did before Stern came on board, so they were doing something right.

Yeah, XM was good as making deals with the car industry, making exclusive deals denying Sirius competitive access (eg GM and Honda). It certainly wasn't their horrible commercial filled programming or horrible Oprah channel (that never has Oprah) or the lame Stern wannabes Opie and Anthony XM tried to charge extra for but had to give up on; eventually just making them free and raising rates on all XM subs.

Meanwhile, despite not having the big lucrative car contracts that XM did, Sirius' post-Stern growth smoked XM to the point that Sirius acquired XM and not the other way around. Now I get Sirius' far superior programming in my XM monopolized Acura and superior on-air talent like Stern, Mad Dog and ex-KROQ jocks (from when L.A. radio was the best in the nation).

XM even with their subscriber number agreed to be bought because they saw the writing on the wall...they were going to be destroyed by Sirius as Sirius made more auto contracts and easily outstripped XM in new subscriber adds.

I understand that there were a couple of fans of XM's programming, but in the long run XM would not have survived. XM was the AOL of satellite radio.

So basically SIRI was a one trick pony. They couldn't survive without Stern.

Problem is that Stern is a lead balloon.

You're whining about GM and Honda, yet Sirius had contracts with Ford, BMW, Mercedes, Chrysler and was an option on Nissan. There may have been others but those are what I remember. As for the exclusivity of those contracts - so what? That's how you do business. Don't like it? NO one's forcing you to buy a GM or Honda vehicle.

As far as XM and Sirius buying them out - you're right. The writing was on the wall. Stern was a magnet for subscribers. Problem is that still made Sirius a one trick pony.

The stock's falling, debt is rising. Maybe Ergen will buy them up and run them into the ground for good.

So what about exclusivity? That is why XM had the initial bigger adds...it wasn't their horrible music programming. But yeah you're right, no one is forcing you to continue subscribing to Sirius XM. And if Stern makes Sirius 1 trick pony I guess Oprah and O&A kept XM a no trick pony.

And take a look, everyone's stock is falling.

Meanwhile you're the one whining...I'm happy with SIRIUS XM.

reply to Bit
many companies make those deals...its how you get your product out to the market and its called business.

No duh. What I'm saying is that it was those lucrative deals that got the early XM subscriber adds over Sirius, not superior programming. Point being had Sirius scored those early deals, I think XM would have been out of business a long time ago.

So what if XM scored deals with Honda and GM? Have you ever thought that Honda and GM did it all for free? No. They partnered and developed technology along with XM, such as NavTraffic.

Sirius had its own deals with car makers such as Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Chrysler to name a few.

Last I heard GM wasn't doing too well in car sales either.

Sirius did the exact same thing XM did - partnered with OEMs. They still didn't get the subscriber numbers until they added Stern.

reply to Bit

reply to fifty nine
I disagree. Stern has brought a lot of subs to Sirius, but I rather enjoy the music channels.

Do I listen to Stern? Yes, but he is getting increasingly boring, with the sameo sameo every bloody day.

He killed nearly 90 minutes one show yapping about Joaquin Phoenix's appearance on letterman.