XM- A Quickly Sinking ship

DaveSarcevic · 04-21-2006, 04:19 PM

I have had the oppurtunity to listen both Sirius & Xm. And to tell you the truth Xm cant even compare to Sirius. I have read some of the posts of the Xm supporters and and I see people in denial. Xm continues to make poor business decisions causing an executive to leave. Members are being begged by Xm not to cancel, reducing monthly memberships to $3.00 to keep members who have come to their senses. No offense Ron, but how much does Xm pay you or this site to praise them. The false sense of superiority that you give to Xm is embarrasing and quite honestly desperate.

Xm spent almost $200,000,000 in the final quarter of last year for advertising and showed no gain for it. Hiring Oprah for a 30 minutes a week, boy, that should bring in the subscriptions. Switch to Sirius and Howard and you will never regret it. If you dont like Howard Stern, ask yourself, "What the hell is the matter with me?"

Bubbabooey to you all.

WillG · 04-21-2006, 04:30 PM

Quote:

but how much does Xm pay you or this site to praise them.

How much is Sirius and Howard paying you. Did he give you some tickets to the film festival or something.

Quote:

The false sense of superiority that you give to Xm is embarrasing and quite honestly desperate.

Aren't you doing the same thing right now for Sirius

Quote:

Xm continues to make poor business decisions causing an executive to leave.

I can't be sure about this, but didn't that story turn out to be fake?

Ronald Epstein · 04-21-2006, 04:36 PM

Dave,

It sounds like you work for Sirius. I certainly hope you
don't because such trolling is not appreciated.

And let's set the record straight...

XM pays me nothing. My opinions on XM being the superior service
are based on listening to BOTH. I have also been to Sirius headquarters
and met management, and I can tell you that I was never so disgusted
with a group with a group of people and the way they used me and
this forum as a means to promote their service.

My opinion is an educated one. Yours seems to have some alteriative
motives.

Peter Apruzzese · 04-21-2006, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveSarcevic

Switch to Sirius and Howard and you will never regret it. If you dont like Howard Stern, ask yourself, "What the hell is the matter with me?"

If you don't like the Howard of the past 10 years, praise yourself for your good taste!

Chris · 04-21-2006, 10:57 PM

First, I will be open and say: I really enjoy SIRIUS and have spent time promoting it on this forum. I don't really give a darn about Howard Stern or O&A or the like. And, admittedly, my main competitor to SIRIUS is not FM music radio, but rather AM talk, where community issues, politics and sports get hashed out... along with Audiobooks.

But, where SIRIUS got me was with what I felt to be superior sports offerings, and because I'm an NFL junkie, I still lean that way. I do occassionally listen to the music, and I love SIRIUS's format, especially of their urban/rap/etc. oriented stations which I feel are dead on and keep a rotation that I like.

But I recognize that there are those who like a different format, etc. And that's fine. While Ron & I have had our back and forths at times, I don't think either of us would suggest the other is a loon for what they like or don't like. You find something you like and that's the direction you go.

I've tried XM in a rental car when my vehicle was totalled (damnit) and it just didn't suit me. I found myself missing NFL Network as well as a few other signature shows enough that I just can't consider switching.

And that's fine. I know a lot of people who are really in love with XM's format, and I think: bully for them. Admittedly, this is coming from someone who has listened to the same four book audio-book series (over 100hrs combined) at least four times in the last year. (Hey, when you drive 4-5 hours a day, it is worthwhile). And that's where I love SIRIUS, because the kind of programming I wanted, they have.

I'm not going to encourage people to hop ship from XM if they like it. I will encourage them, especially if they are NFL fans, that they ought to give SIRI a try.

There are tons of reasons for a listener to chose either format, and I think both formats will be strong this year.

To address the sinking ship comment; it is true that SIRI has a much better growth curve right now over the last three quarters, and in percentage growth, a very strong pattern. But a big part of that is because of several announcements, etc. etc. as well as SIRIUS gaining ground in the OEM install markets. Last year at this time, XM laid claim to almost 70% of all OEM install partners. That's down to 60% or less now.

But we need to hop off this: only one can survive bit. I think both formats strongly benefit from the existance of the other. SIRI provides unique programming to one kind of audience, XM to another.

NASCAR fan? Right now you're XM (next year SIRI); NFL fan? Your SIRI. Baseball fan? Your XM. Oprah? XM. Stern? SIRI.

Hell, I'll admit, the prescence of "Car Talk" on SIRI probably has a lot more influence on me then Stern. But to each their own.

I will post in here questions and concerns about XM and SIRI, but I don't see a need to call for gloom and doom of either just yet.

Edit: Nice to see I joined in 1969. Damn, I remember that; it was just all of us hanging around a board, posting notes about whether or not diamond needles really made an improvement and if Patsy Cline played at 33RPM instead of 45 really sounded like a man singing the same song.

**HTF Ads**

Ernie Estrella · 04-21-2006, 11:22 PM

Chris,

I do think both services have their strengths and yes both need to thrive in order for each to grow. No matter what brings you in, you need to find what it is that best suits your listening habits. And once you try it, you're more than likely to find something else that's great about Satellite Radio.

It's nice to see people are continuing to find the gem that's NFL Radio. You won't find smarter, more informed sports talk than what's on this channel. Even the callers are intelligent. The personalities understand all the angles that need to be covered as well. This alone is worth my Sirius subscription by itself. ANd believe me, the off-season of the NFL is just as interesting as the season itself. Can't wait for the draft in a week!

Mark Bendiksen · 04-22-2006, 12:53 AM

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No offense Ron, but how much does Xm pay you or this site to praise them. The false sense of superiority that you give to Xm is embarrasing and quite honestly desperate.

I know that Ron does not need anyone to defend him but I'm going to do it anyway... :-)

In short, you must be kidding. I've known Ron for many years, if you define "known" in the HTF sense of the word (i.e. sharing posts and emails). He has never, and I mean never praised anything that he did not truly feel was worthy. That goes for hardware, software, or services (such as XM Radio). In the past several years he has given both XM Radio and Sirius and honest shake. He was even a guest DJ for Sirius at one point (that's what he was alluding to in his post).

Please be careful what accusations you throw at Ron; he has always been a straight shooter. That's why so many people highly regard this forum. They respect the integrity of its administrators.

Casey Trowbridg · 04-22-2006, 02:29 AM

I prefer Sirius to XM because of the football mainly, although XM does have the baseball which makes me want to subscribe for a million years right there.

It just sort of reminds me of a saying from the incomperable James E. Cornette: "That's why they have chocolate and vinilla, so I can have my good ice cream and you can have yours."

Ronald Epstein · 04-22-2006, 04:08 AM

Listen guys, it has taken me a long time to get to the point where
I can actually say that we need both services.

If not for Sirius, there would be those of you frustrated with XM's
eclectic music line-up and vast playlists. If not for XM, there would
be those of you frustrated with Sirius' repetition and vastly short playlists.

The fact that one is totally opposite from the other gives listeners
a CHOICE of what kind of music they want to hear.....

...then there's the other things like sports and entertainment.

Yes, I am certainly very bias towards XM. I have a very bad personal
history with Sirius. Still, you can't say that I never considered the
feelings and opinions of Sirius listeners on this forum. A specific forum
area was created, and for the most part, I haven't gone in there to
troll my personal dislike for the other service. In fact, as long as there
isn't any "misinformation" posted over there, I stay out of the area.

I'm actually very happy that Sirius listeners spend their time on
this forum.

Chris Gerhard · 04-22-2006, 08:05 AM

I don't like either service and think both are overpriced but the OP has just stated his opinion that Sirius is better. I can't read the opening statment here and come to the conclusion that he is a troll or works for Sirius or would benefit by having Sirius succeed or XM fail. I suspect both services are in trouble and paying Howard a large sum is a risky move in my opinion. His program became very tiring for me long ago.

Chris