Sirius Exec promises fee increase (1 Viewer)

[Stu Rosen]

See attached article:

http://www.radioandrecords.com/Newsr...iriusprice.asp

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This was rumored months ago and when I brought it up, I was
squashed for even mentioning it. Sirius has long claimed it will raise its fees.

I'm certain after Sirius raises their fees, so will XM.

 

[Brent T]

I know with my company we raise prices across the board every year. Our customers see a 3-5% increase every year. I would assume Sirius and XM could get away with a 10-20% increase with out too many people getting excited.

 

[dailW]

sounds reasonable they have added some 30 channels since they started.doesn't bother me since i bought a lifetime membership.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Talk about rumors....

There are still *strong* rumors of a merger between both companies.

I am certain that the government will not allow such a merger,
but for once, I am sort of in favor of it.

XM has taken a huge nosedive over the past year. While its
problems (mostly financial) isn't making me consider going to
Sirius, I do see benefits in one large satellite company.

The major benefit would be sharing bandwidth so that you could
offer all these channels and have sound quality that matches CD
or even HD. That is the major benefit!

On the downside, we'll either enjoy the XM or SIRIUS mentality
of music programming which will not please everyone. Furthermore,
as a monopoly without competition, pricing could be a problem.

 

[Blu]

The feds really didn't stand in the way when Primestar got merged away but there were still other companies to compete against.

I do see the benefit though with one Satrad company having 5 birds!

If that should happen they could easily get away with charging 15-20 per month for nearly double the channels.

But with no one to compete against them....I just don't know.

I hope it doesn't happen I guess.

 

[WillG]

Also Stern and Opie and Anthony would be working for the same company again. So Howard might be able to initiate gag orders against them again, especially if Mel Karmazin remained at the helm, which I imagine he would if there was a merger.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Maybe O&A will refrain from spreading rumors about Stern's one remaining minor child and then they won't have to worry about a gag order. Then again, O&A will probably forget they are working for the same company and are not competitors and fall back on their old "don't have anything to say today - talk about Howard" mentality. Maybe this time Ashley will become impregnated by an alien and O&A will stage an exclusive interview with a Targashian (who is obviously reptilian).

 

[Tim_Stack]

I very much doubt that the relevant agencies would do anything but process the paperwork. They won't hold up anything any corporation wants to do...

 

[Ronald Epstein]

You know what?

At least in this one thread, let's not dive back into
the Stern vs. O&A arguments again.

We have been there, done that, and this topic had
nothing to do with either talent.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Agreed (which is why my reply was mostly tounge in cheek ). I also promise to refrain from going into the XM forum and posting about Howard in irrelevant threads (an easy task for me, considering I never do it).

 

[dailW]

a merge wont happen.it didnt work with dish and direct t.v. i cant see it with these two.variety is the spice of life and what a spice rack it is.

 

[Chris]

I fully expect that SIRI will go to $14.95 the moment NASCAR starts, or slightly before.

 

[streeter]

I'm not surprised by the rate-increase... but I expected XM to be the first to do so.

They'll undoubtedly both go up in the near future, but whoever goes first catches most of the crap for it.