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DEAL JOURNAL Blog Search: An up-to-the-minute take on deals and deal makers. < Today in Lehman Poaching: Nomura Bats .8[...] -- Previous | SEE ALL POSTS FROM THIS BLOG | Next -- Outsourcing in the U.K.: Meet the Govern[...] > October 14, 2008, 11:38 am Visit WSJ.com's Deals Page The Future of Sirius XM: Playboy Channel and the Pope RECENT POSTS

Posted by Heidi N. Moore Winners & Losers From the Week That Was Jan 2, 2009 You can understand if investors in Sirius XM Radio are in despair. After all the company’s Deal Maker Profile: New IndyMac CEO Steve Mnuchin shares look more like a penny stock than the shares of the second-largest U.S. audio Jan 2, 2009 company–created by the combination this year of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Dow Chemical's Tale of Woe Radio Holdings. Shares were trading at 54 cents in midmorning trading–and that was a 6% Jan 2, 2009 boost from Monday’s close. Afternoon Reading: Rethinking LTCM Jan 2, 2009 For CEO Mel Karmazin ( left ), that advertisement means it is time to sell, sell, sell–not the shares, but the company’s prospects. At the Dow Jones Media and Money conference this morning, Karmazin talked up Sirius XM’s future as a content company.

And what kind of content? In a classic Karmazinian juxtaposition, the CEO crowed, “We have 24- hour-a-day Playboy Radio, we have a 24-hour-7-day-a-week Catholic Associated Press Diocese channel…” Interesting synergies that. Mel Karmazin, Sirius XM Radio CEO, at a news conference in New York Tuesday Aug. 19, 2008. The rest of Karmazin’s time on stage was spent on the hard sell. With analysts questioning Sirius’s ability to meet revenue ABOUT THIS BLOG forecasts and the company having agreed to offer a la carte pricing as a condition of the merger, Karmazin made his case for the full-subscription model (currently $12.95 a month at Sirius XM, with a la cart options starting at $6.99 a month), saying a full subscription was a Deal Journal is an up-to-the-minute take on the deals way of guaranteeing options. “We consider ourselves a content company,” he said, reminding and deal makers that shape the landscape of Wall the attendees of the power of Sirius-only broadcasters like Howard Stern. “People can listen Street, including mergers and acquisitions, capital- to commercials on radio, or pay us 43 cents a day.” raising, private equity and bankruptcy. Deal Journal is updated throughout each trading day with exclusive commentary, analysis, data, news flashes and profiles.The Wall Street Karmazin acknowledged analysts’ skepticism about Sirius XM obliquely, by mentioning, Journal's Heidi N. Moore is the lead writer, with contributions near the end of his interview, how the company needed to increase its free cash flow. from other Journal reporters. Send news items, comments and questions to [email protected]. But he saved much of his ire for competitors such as HD radio and Clear Channel Communications’ mammoth terrestrial radio network. In Washington, there has been talk of requiring car makers to install HD radio gear as an alternative to Sirius XM. Karmazin scoffed at the idea, which he said would drive up car prices.

Karmazin’s sales job was lost on no one. Wrapping up the interview, his interviewer concluded, “Well. You’ve made your pitch.”

That pitch might have been better served for the credit markets. That is because the company The First Annual Meanie Awards has $1.1 billion in debt to be refinanced next year, and Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen wrote on Sept. 29 that the real fear around Sirius is that it won’t get the three debt For a few cheap laughs, Mean Street has put together its first deals done. “Investors are currently pricing substantial risk that SIRI will be unable to ever Meanie Awards to recognize extraordinary achievement refinance ‘09 maturities, potentially forcing a restructuring,” she wrote. in an extraordinary year. ( Read more )

“I wish the debt market wasn’t what it was,” Karmazin said today. “It’s very challenging, but Previous Columns: we’ve been talking to our debt holders and I’m confident we’ll be able to work something out.” The Chutzpah of Goldman Sachs

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the -future -of -sirius -xm -playboy -and -the -pope/ 1/4/2009 Deal Journal - WSJ.com : The Future of Sirius XM: Playboy Channel and the Pope Page 2 of 10

Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the-future-of-sirius-xm- Why the Bernie Madoff Scandal Is a Good Thing playboy-and-the-pope/trackback/ Save & Share: Share on Facebook | Del.icio.us | Digg this | Email This | Print E-MAIL SIGN -UP Read more: Sirius -XM , The Players A big deal breaks. Be the first to know with our new Deals Comments email alerts. Plus, get a daily roundup of Deal Journal blog Report offensive comments to [email protected] posts and deal news. Check the boxes below to subscribe. Deals Alert in case you hadn’t seen. ray Deal Journal

Comment by [email protected] - October 14, 2008 at 11:51 am Save Settings To view all or change any of your e-mail settings, click to the Get some braces MEl E-Mail Setup Center

Comment by Anonymous - October 14, 2008 at 12:28 pm

This stock has been te most bashed stock ever. Motley Fool comes out daily with MOST POPULAR POSTS sometrumped up news, the a.P. writes anything that is negative, and ever hedge fund and brockerage firm analylist is bashing the stock. why I want to know are so many people 1. Ignoring the Oracles: You Are With the Free Markets, or interested in seeing the stock fail. There is an on going effort to keep the stock price down. I Against Them want to see someone go to jail for stock manipulation, which is supposed to be illegal. 2. Bush Asserts Israel's Right to Defense 3. Year in Photos - The Wall Street Journal Online Comment by pat - October 14, 2008 at 1:25 pm 4. Dow Chemical's Tale of Woe I got stuck with a little unhedged XMSR stock and obviously didn’t realize how vulnerable 5. Choosing A Name: Bristol Palin's Son Tripp that failure to hedge was to the debt restructuring situation of the combined company. 6. Bank of America: What to Expect When You're Expecting Merrill Lynch Mel’s right about the full subscription model. I just did an experiment. 7. Dow Chemical's Break -Up Fee as Down Payment? I happen to be a SIRI subscriber. In my home; in my car. I’m just the kind of guy SIRI needs. 8. Real Time Economics But my @home SIRI radio was on the blink, and being pissed about my stock situation I was 9. Deal Maker Profile: New IndyMac CEO Steve Mnuchin going to cancel. 10. The Best Sportswriting of 2008 First a SIRI tech probably spent 30 minutes with me to determine the technical problem. The technical problem (which is intermittant) is that my radio is busting. My unit is 24 mo old and not under warranty. I would have preferred (as a shareholder) that that problem was diagnosed in ten minutes. Recent Comments

So then I went to a customer service guy. My goal was to get a free replacement and is it legal to.. on Is It Illegal to Pay Out Wall Street downgrade to the new $6.99 service that gave me the 10 (I ONLY USE IT FOR TEN) Bonuses In Junk Bonds? stations I use. That deal couldn’t get done. And the experience offered an interesting view Bonehead on Dow Chemical's Tale of Woe into why Mel is right. TheDog on Casting the Lehman Brothers Movie z a c a r i e l on Was Microsoft -Yahoo a Victim of Bad Radios that are enabled to get the new cheaper service are priced substantially higher than Timing? full service radios. (It’s a quick payback–like 14 mo, but after the warranty period). And even z a c ariel on Was Microsoft -Yahoo a Victim of Bad though I only wanted like ten stations out of the fifty I could have gotten (like 5 news stations Timing? and 5 music stations–no Howard; no ESPN; no Martha, no Mad Dog), I couldn’t get them without paying an extra $1/mo. Top Deals Stories

And when the service rep offered a credit against the cost of a new radio (one that was much Rothschild Deadline Extended larger proportionally to the cheaper full service radio than to more expensive radio that enabled me to select SIRI-basic, I was incentivised to stay with the full service plan. So I High -Profile Investors to Buy IndyMac ordered a new radio at a net cost of $20 that is not switchable to the cheaper basic service. I got it overnight. Much better than VZ on ordering a DSL modem. And no shipping charges. Starwood Stock Rises on Zell News A couple of additonal points if Mel or his worker bees are reading. I wasn’t offered the credit MORE that quickly. Without it I was incentivised to cancel my service; get a credit for my unusued contract and re-sign up to get a new customer credit. That is dumb. Subscribe Got to go. My old radio is still enabled and it just switched to Soultown from CNBC by itself. I’ll switch em out tonight. RSS -- subscribe to updated headlines to read from anywhere on the Web. For more about RSS, click here . Comment by north fork investor - October 14, 2008 at 1:58 pm Deals Blog No add NFL NHL MLB WHATS GOING ON, I HAVENT SEEN ANYTHING I MIGHT BE WRONG. PAST POSTS Comment by adds - October 14, 2008 at 2:20 pm October 2008 That was mean using this horrific picture of Mel’s old bad teeth and gums. MTWTFSS 1 2 3 4 5 He has since hotten them fixed and he has nice shiny white veneers. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Comment by JM - October 14, 2008 at 2:50 pm 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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I want to see someone go to jail for stock manipulation, which is supposed to be illegal. 27 28 29 30 31 « Sep Nov » Comment by Anonymous - October 14, 2008 at 3:46 pm Sponsored Links XM Satellite Radio Store STOCK IS BEING MANIPULATED, A REAL GOVERNMENT PROFESSIONAL Full Line of XM Radio Receivers & 1,000s of XM Parts and INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE MADE THE STOCK SHOULD BE OVER $2.00. Accessories allthingsxm.com EVERYONE KNOWS NOW WITH THE NEW CREDIT DEALS OUT SIRIXM WILL Master wallstreet GET GREAT RE FIN ,IN 2009 ITS THE FCC AND OR POLITICAL GAMES THAT Wall street is where it all happens. stocks, bonds, people, SHOULD HAVE A CLASS ACTION SUIT BROUGHT AGAINST THEM FOR trading PURPOSELY TRYING TO MAKE THIS COMPANY FAIL. BUY THE STOCK NOW IT www.Wallstreety.com IS GOING TO BE THE TALK OF THE TOWN ,LIKE THE STOCKS THAT MADE Penny Stock Guide Looking to find penny stock? See our comprehensive PEOPLE MILLIONS DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION. COST AVERAGE! I AM guide. LONG SIRI YOU WOULD BE IF YOU LEARNED FROM THE PAST “WHO GOT RICH Mintel.Com DURING THE DEPRESSION NOT THE SELLERS THE BUYERS”! IF YOU CAN GET Xm Or Sirius Info THE STOCK UNDER $1.00 LIKE NOW YOU WILL BE IN HEAVEN IN 2 YEARS! Get Info on Xm Or Sirius from 14 search engines in 1. LONG OR BUST ,REMEMBER THE DUST BOWL AND THE CARS THAT SAID THEY www.info.com WERE MOVING AND HAD A “TOWN OR BUST’ DON’T BE LEFT BEHIND THOSE THAT WERE WERE KILLED. SORRY FOR ANY SPELLING MISTAKES I GOT EXITED ABOUT THIS AND WANT YOU TO GET ON AND STAY IN.

Comment by SCOTTY - October 14, 2008 at 6:53 pm

IF YOU CARE ABOUT HIS TEETH DON’T even speak YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN THIS STOCK you are just lonely so go get your TOWEL!

Comment by MORONS - October 14, 2008 at 7:01 pm

SIRI-XM is the best deal in town for radio and NO COMMERCIALS should be it’s strongest selling point. The public is so easily manipulated that they just accept the fact that they should watch or listen to commercials. Sorry, I disagree. Commercials are the largest form of pollution in the country and nobody even seems to address it. They infiltrate every aspect of life and most don’t even realize it.

Why do you think the radio lobbyists are so determined to see SIRI-XM fail? The huge loss in ad revenue. If I have to refinance the company myself, I will! Just don’t take my commercial free 70’s and 80’s channels!!

Comment by Cheetah - October 15, 2008 at 9:41 am

Mel is right about one thing… SIRI’s future strength will be original content. People once thought HBO would fail when basic cable first became widely available. People would rather have free (albeit with commercials) cable then a paid subscription. HBO thrived, not because of being commercial free, but b/c of the content they provided.

Comment by Michael - October 15, 2008 at 9:42 am north fork investor: Really????

Comment by silverpaws60 - October 15, 2008 at 9:44 am

Comment is obviously important but when it comes to listening to music with or without commercials, I think the choice is clear.

Comment by Willie - October 15, 2008 at 10:00 am

I am pretty sure that SIRI-XM does have commercials. If not, what do you call the breaks during Stern’s show?

Comment by Tim - October 15, 2008 at 11:46 am buy it, and you will see in few month.

Comment by sam,b - October 15, 2008 at 12:06 pm

Stern has commercials so they can take a break. Love shows have to take a break from time to time. No commercials on the music stations. But yeah, I can see where accepting advertising dollars to reach the Stern Legions of millions of listeners would be a detrimint.

Comment by Yotweiler - October 15, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Live shows, not love shows. Sorry

Comment by Yotweiler - October 15, 2008 at 12:13 pm

I agree with Mel, content is king and it is the machine that will turn this company around.

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the -future -of -sirius -xm -playboy -and -the -pope/ 1/4/2009 Deal Journal - WSJ.com : The Future of Sirius XM: Playboy Channel and the Pope Page 4 of 10

That said, I believe that SiriusXM has done a poor job of marketing their talent, especially with Bubba the Love Sponge and his show which is based in Tampa. Since Howard has done little if any promoting of his stations, Bubba should have been signed long term and marketed extensively. He has the second highest ratings among satelite radio listeners, and for good reason, his show is off the hook. His travels throughout America for his “Bubbapalozza” would be a great marketing event for Sirius, as people would be inclined to buy the latest gear at a show or Sirius merchandise. He is however treated like a a non entity, not even mentioned in any press releases disclosing the talent and content of SiriusXM. Disgraceful!

In addition they have made no attempt to market to the teenagers and young adults. The stilletto receiver is perfect for young adults since it contains an MP3 player and they have one station that is directed at this market, Sirius faction 28. What good is it to sign and pay, Tony Hawke and Bam Margera and Jason Ellis if you do nothing to appeal to their target market and the stilleto is perfect for these younger kids who were raised on a Mac and an IPOD. Of course the biggest problem was the disgraceful way that our elected legislators whored themselves out to the NAB and the FCC’s disgrace in waiting 16 months to approve a merger debating issues that any teenager could solve in an hour or less. Someday the politics in this matter will be exposed and the guilty should be punished.

This is an American company with a technology that was developed here in the United States. Sirius is the company that we expect American innovation to create, yet the politicians have done their best to kill off a unique American company.

That said, Mel should take a long look at his marketing department and clean house. This is a company that should be aggressive especially at the retail and internet levels, since their products are wonderful and cheap too.

I don’t believe for one minute that the shareholders wouldn’t lend this company the funds necessary to pay off their debt. All of it, not just what is due next year, that’s how much we believe in our company and its product. Besides the broadcasting spectrum that SiriusXM owns alone has got to be worth at least two bucks per share even in this market . Stock manipulation aside this is a great company, now lets market it aggressively and give the “fist” to the NAB and its disgraceful political friends.

Comment by LMaze - October 15, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Wow, Bubba the Love Sponge? Seriously. Probably the un-funniest thing ever to be passed off as entertainment. O$A are a great addition though and they are great at Making Bubba look stupid. Now if they would find truly funny shows from the south, like Dudley and Bob out of Austin, they could add to the content.

Comment by Tom - October 15, 2008 at 12:58 pm

A a first time shareholder i am pissed that there is nothing being done about marketing this company. Every household damn near has cable and every cable provider damn near has SiriusXm. What is the problem? The IPOD era and the Blackberry cell phone’s are equipped for internet and MP3…I need to be wearing them damn suits!

Comment by Craig from Baltimore.. - October 15, 2008 at 1:08 pm

Tom: My point is that the marketing department at Sirius could do more to promote its talent. Bubba has the second most listened to show on satelite radio yet he isn’t mentioned anywhere. His fans are loyal and they promote his show. Sirius is just wrong in not marketing his show. Don’t know much about O$A, never listened to their show while they were on the air in New York the first time and only listen to Sirius now, that’s how I found Bubba, got Sirius for Howard, got the stock for my future, heck it could be worse, could be a shareholder of AIG.

For me I hope every Sirius subscriber buys the best of XM so they have a chance to listen to your boys. I hope every XM subscriber buys the best of Sirius so they could listen to Howard and Bubba and Scott Ferrall at night, and Chuck Zito, Riley Martin, and everyone else on Howard 101…

Hopefully this crossover of subscribers will improve the bottom line this quarter. The rest is up to Mel.

Comment by LMaze - October 15, 2008 at 4:55 pm

What Sirius XM needs is a Lollapalooza radio channel. A radio station featuring only female vocals. I would pay money for that kind of

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the -future -of -sirius -xm -playboy -and -the -pope/ 1/4/2009 Deal Journal - WSJ.com : The Future of Sirius XM: Playboy Channel and the Pope Page 5 of 10

radio content. Because males ought not to sing. It makes them look effeminate.

Comment by Toni_Stark - October 15, 2008 at 5:30 pm

Instead of signing Howard Stern, why didn’t they sign up Rush Limbaugh, or G. Gordon Liddy? Because the lack of intelligent discussion on satellite radio is deafening. And how about an African American Christian radio station featuring sermons from guys like Reverand Jeremiah Wright, or Rev. Al Sharpton? They couldn’t possibly be any worse than those other “Protestants on Parade”. And why not radio commentary by Pat Buchancan? Basically, XM Sirius Radio needs to get serious about creativity. Because to date, the content on satellite radio is not markedly different from content on terrestrial channels: In fact, the content is almost more boring. Here’s an idea: ‘Radio Rabbi discusses Khabbalah, with special guest, Madonna’..JFK once allegedly said, What we seek is a free marketplace of ideas where truth shall prevail. Sirius XM has a lot of potential. As for the ‘Pope and Playboy’ spiel, it only works if you have the ability to decide which channels you want, and which channels you do not want. Maybe Sirius XM should reduce the subscription price to $5 month, while making all the channels available, but including the option as to which channels you want to block out? Because the reason people don’t change the channel on TV, or don’t turn off the TV, is because the temptation to watch a Victoria Principal skin cream commercial is too great to resist. And so the ability to block out channels would be greatly appreciated. Now, Howard Stern is not difficult to resist, but most I think would pay not to hear him. By the way, Iron Man’s official colours are the official colours of the Soviet Union: Is that a coincidence? What was called RED is now called GREEN.

Comment by Communist_Conservative - October 15, 2008 at 6:31 pm

Mel has lost a ton of weight. I makes me wonder about his health.

Comment by Lookin' to Double Down! - October 15, 2008 at 11:55 pm

Just for the record, I was listening to the G-man just the other day on the Patriot channel. You

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obviously don’t have satellite. There’s truly something for everyone.

Comment by Mike - October 16, 2008 at 10:08 am

Sirius is hands down the best value for the money that I’ve ever come acrossed. I would gladly pay $30 a month for just a handful of music channels. Now add in Stern, sports, comedy, talk and news and you have a real no-brainer.

Comment by Mothertrucker - October 16, 2008 at 10:15 am

It’s just in it’s infancy, and it’s got a good business model. If it wasn’t for the overall crash, SIRI would be soaring right now.

Good fundamental subscriber base and content, and plenty of room for solid growth.

Stock is horribly undervalued right now.

Comment by me - October 16, 2008 at 10:58 am

I own SIRI stock… made mistake by trying to quikc-trade it right before the FCC merger approval. So many SIRI cheerleaders scares me. I can’t find unbiased info regarding the stock. I just hear “rah rah rah” how great it is.

Comment by John A - October 16, 2008 at 11:48 am

I got a free XM trial subscription for three months, and figured, hey, why not try it out and I’ll cancel when its passed 3 months. Well, 3 months passed, 4, then 5, etc… I’m hooked, I never canceled and I love it. It’s great to be able to listen to music, news, comedy, etc… and not worry about commercials (except for news channels) for the most part. Variety is good too. I used to listen to regular radio stations all the time, and now, I don’t think I’ve turned to them at all. Makes dealing with traffic and long trips much better. I hope they don’t go down :(

Comment by Chris - October 16, 2008 at 4:45 pm

If Sirius gets too low will it get bought out? and what does that mean for the stockholder?

Comment by Tim - October 16, 2008 at 6:14 pm

I bought a new Honda a few months back and wondered why I was getting over 40 phone calls on my cell phone from 754.777.7777 and 888.229.7796. Found out it was XM sales. Asked them to stop … now getting 4 calls some days. GUESS THEY’RE REALLY DESPERATE FOR CASH! NOT A GOOD WAY TO RUN A BUSINESS MR. K!

Comment by XM HARASSMENT - October 21, 2008 at 3:28 am

Satellite radio is an advanced form of satellite TV - You don’t have to look at it anymore… Let’s all be Sirius….

Comment by Techie53 - October 29, 2008 at 6:33 pm

“Wow, Bubba the Love Sponge? Seriously. Probably the un-funniest thing ever to be passed off as entertainment. O$A are a great addition though and they are great at Making Bubba look stupid. Now if they would find truly funny shows from the south, like Dudley and Bob out of Austin, they could add to the content. Comment by Tom - October 15, 2008 at 12:58 pm ”

Tom, Don’t Bust Me Up… Look at arbitron ratings for Sirius and XM O&A had much smaller number of listeners than Bubba The Love Sponge on Sirius ch. 101, Bubba is way more popular and when his terrestrial show goes nationwide it will succeed in a way that O&A could not. I try calling talk shows on Sirius and after Howard, Bubba’s show is the most difficult to get through, Playboy, Maxim, NFL, Nascar, Patriot, sirius left and the rest of them you can easily get through to the call screener.

Comment by Cul-D-Sac-Jones - November 2, 2008 at 10:31 am

XM was the better company. Howard Stern’s giant contract is offensive and his show is boring.

Opie & Anthony and Ron & Fez are the only shows I want on XM. (I should include their saturday night virus shows as well).

XM was great, SiriusXM is too big of a company with too much dead weight. Stern’s contract is a burden on the company and SiriusXM doesnt have the money to cover both XM

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the -future -of -sirius -xm -playboy -and -the -pope/ 1/4/2009 Deal Journal - WSJ.com : The Future of Sirius XM: Playboy Channel and the Pope Page 7 of 10

and Sirius’s content. That is why we see so many good radio folks leaving or being fired from SiriusXM. It’s very sad times. But hey, you all want to buy Chinese made products and employ illegal workers… We’re doomed. America needs to pull out of this globalization nonsense and start focusing on employing Americans, so that they can afford their $12 a month SiriusXM subscriptions.

No one really cares though so lets enjoy the downfall of another company. Lets hope they ask for a bailout just like the auto industry and the banking industry… because its only fitting that they now get our tax dollars after having sold out America in the first place. Enjoy the shit pile we call home.

Comment by XMrules - November 30, 2008 at 11:45 am

Radio is over. Any business that is a pipe for content will die because no one cares about the pipe, they only want the content. Mel, figure out a way to sell Stern as a podcast, or else people will just record it off XM and torrent it (if it isn’t being done already.)

Comment by dave9 - November 30, 2008 at 2:41 pm

I was high on SATRAD when I first signed on in ‘06.(XM) I signed on primarily so that I could listen to MLB games all summer long.They have managed to keep their paws off that.It’s everything else that got “the treatment”. Since the “merger” they have killed or mangled most of the channels I liked:

FUSION JAZZ….gone SALSA & LATIN JAZZ…gone DEEP HOUSE MUSIC…gone DISCO…gone

I’m ok with their talk radio line-up…but where’s ROME?…LEYKIS?…ELDER?… ROGERS?

Another thing I find annoying is that on a commercial-free music channel…you will often hear a song that still has it’s terrestrial radio edits in place.As if the station was still under time constraints.I subscribe because I wanna hear the full 14 minute version of Marvin Gaye’s GOT TO GIVE IT UP.

Not sure if I ’m gonna re-up. Talking with my car stereo guy about making my truck a wi-fi hot spot…and then just typing in or bookmarking my fave internet music/sports/talk stations.

Comment by DR.VEGAS - November 30, 2008 at 2:59 pm

I would never pay for radio for the little bit of time that I’m in my car. When I’m in my office or at home, I already have broadband that I pay for so what’s the point?

And they wonder why no one cares about this business..

Comment by Buddy - November 30, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Merger never should have been approved. Principals promised FCC as part of original sat- permit never to form combine. Stockholders should’ve insisted on management change instead. Too late. Meanwhile I’m listening the netradio or streaming songs 18 hours a day off my personal hard drives. Plenty to hear & no commercials either.

Comment by JackSpratts - November 30, 2008 at 4:08 pm

Mel has bigger choppers than Bababooey!

Comment by Riley Martin - November 30, 2008 at 8:27 pm

XM programming was great until the merger. It has been downhill since then.

Comment by nate - November 30, 2008 at 8:55 pm

They’ve put some awful DJs on 70’s on 7. I used to enjoy DJ-free 7 XM. They replaced the XM DJs on 50’s on 6 with awful Sirius DJs.

They gave up NASCAR to Sirius, then merged and now they’re trying to charge me an extreme upcharge to get NASCAR back.

Sirius is awful. XM is now ruined.

What thieving morons!

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Agreed, merger was not to be allowed. What were they thinking?

Comment by Tim - November 30, 2008 at 10:56 pm

I’m sick of the whole thing. At one time I subbed both XM and Sirius. I dropped the Sirius because the sound was so compressed it sounded worst than terrestrial radio.

I also preferred the the channel selection and announcers on XM. The other night I tuned into the 80’s on 8 only to be met with a monotone, prerecorded and completely out of touch woman trying to talk about things that were relevant in the 80’s.

If it weren’t for O&A and Ron & Fez, I’d drop my sub. I’m really not happy with the content I’m hearing.

Comment by Peed Off - November 30, 2008 at 11:59 pm

I would never buy the stock, but have three subscriptions. I will just stick with full content because you never know what you want to listen to. The music is great, but on the talk stations, there are too many commercials which has me staying on music more often.

Comment by Homer - December 1, 2008 at 11:09 am

Once I got an iPhone and realized that it could stream thousands of internet radio stations my way, I became skeptical of the value of satellite radio. Recently, I drove from DC to NYC and listened the entire way to streaming radio and I think the signal dropped once when crossing the Delaware River. Other than this one blip, the audio was perfect all the way.

Seems to me that satellite radio’s only real advantage is sports and Howard Stern…which is certainly not enough to make me pony up $13 a month for the privilege.

Comment by Dr. Pangloss - December 1, 2008 at 11:41 am it’s sad, it wasn’t really a merger, it was more like a hostile take-over. XM’s stock was so much stronger than Sirius’. XM owns it’s own satellites, and has it’s own rocket/satellite jockeys. The merger (wink, wink) happens, and it’s most of the XM people that get the axe. Those people who knew how to run a satellite company. XM’s equipment has always been far ahead of sirius’ offerings. XM has some great talent, some of which you never get to see on any of the plackards/front pages of web sites, big box store ads, and yet they pull in a large number of listeners. The cost of subs has gone way up. The standard $6.95 family plan, would be $14.95 if you wanted the so called best of sirius added to your sub. That’s doubling the cost of a sub to get a handful of new stations added. Check it out.

As other have said, a lot of the stations have had XM talent laid off and replaced with Sirius talent (who have now clue how Satellite radio is run).

Howard was good at one time, but I can’t see all the money they gave him. He seems to take a hell of a lot of days off. I’d like to see the contract, but I’m sure it has all sorts of clauses in there. The way they market Sirius, they make it sound like he’s one of the anchor talents. Which may be, but I don’t think they’ve been able to pull in the massive amounts of subs that they thought they would get by signing Howard, but it’s hard to tell with that company, since they count subs using the good old MCI math. The free subs that come activated in new cars that are sitting in car lots somewhere, are counted.. that’s so bugus..

Bah.. enough said…

I’ve been a subscriber to XM for years, early 2002, maybe late 2001, can’t remember, things run together.

Comment by Anonymous - December 1, 2008 at 12:40 pm it’s sad, it wasn’t really a merger, it was more like a hostile take-over. XM’s stock was so much stronger than Sirius’. XM owns it’s own satellites, and has it’s own rocket/satellite jockeys. The merger (wink, wink) happens, and it’s most of the XM people that get the axe. Those people who knew how to run a satellite company. XM’s equipment has always been far ahead of sirius’ offerings. XM has some great talent, some of which you never get to see on any of the plackards/front pages of web sites, big box store ads, and yet they pull in a large number of listeners. The cost of subs has gone way up. The standard $6.95 family plan, would be $14.95 if you wanted the so called best of sirius added to your sub. That’s doubling the cost of a sub to get a handful of new stations added.

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the -future -of -sirius -xm -playboy -and -the -pope/ 1/4/2009 Deal Journal - WSJ.com : The Future of Sirius XM: Playboy Channel and the Pope Page 9 of 10

Check it out.

As other have said, a lot of the stations have had XM talent laid off and replaced with Sirius talent (who have now clue how Satellite radio is run).

Bah.. enough said…

I’ve been a subscriber to XM for years, early 2002, maybe late 2001, can’t remember, things run together.

Comment by The Unknown XM Sub - December 1, 2008 at 12:41 pm

Mel and Howard are geezers who are out of touch with what’s going on with the internet. Just like the auto industry, held back by those who are out of touch.

Comment by Fred Norris - December 1, 2008 at 2:48 pm

I hate what Sirius has done to my XM. I think the “hosts” or whatever they call them butting in and making comments in between songs on what is supposed to be commercial-free radio is BS. To me, it’s a commercial for Sirius-XM, or it may as well be. If I wanted to hear chatter with my music, I’d listen to terrestrial radio. I don’t need DJs, thank you very much. And the things they say are either wrong or lame! They even got the station name wrong. As far as “the best of Sirius,” if that’s the best, no wonder they had to buy XM.

Comment by Anonymous - December 1, 2008 at 6:27 pm bababooey bababooey!

Comment by Ham Hands Bill - December 2, 2008 at 1:41 pm

From the posts here, it sounds like the future prospects of this stock are 100% dependent, as in life or death, on someone called “Bubba the Love Sponge”? I’m sure this guy is very popular esp. in those regions where “Bubba” is a name, but you can’t build a company around one or two talents, unless they own most of it and often not even then.

Comment by Selene - January 2, 2009 at 10:31 am Post a Comment

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http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the -future -of -sirius -xm -playboy -and -the -pope/ 1/4/2009 Deal Journal - WSJ.com : The Future of Sirius XM: Playboy Channel and the Pope Page 10 of 10

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/14/the -future -of -sirius -xm -playboy -and -the -pope/ 1/4/2009