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Is Sirius Radio Doomed?

Chief

Chief

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It's not just the fact that XM Radio has 10X the subscriber base. In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated Sirius has a large booklet ad. It was this ad that made me feel that something is VERY wrong with Sirius - because they list their OEM agreements:
  • Dodge
  • Chrysler
  • Jeep
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • Ford
  • Mercury
  • Lincoln
  • Jaguar
  • Volvo
  • Mazda
  • Land-Rover
  • Mini
  • Nissan
  • VW
  • Audi
  • BMW
  • Aston Martin
  • Infiniti

Now with a darn right impressive stable of high volume OEM partners (Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Mazda, VW, Nissan) you'd think they would be able to drive much, much bigger sign up numbers. I mean getting these OEM deals would seem to be the name of the game in the satellite radio business - and no doubt about it, XM Radio got their arse kicked in this arena. However it doesn't seem that these deals are turning into orders.

Case in point - on the new Mazda RX-8 it's not even an option, and a highly advanced technological beast like the RX-8 seems like a no-brainer to get folks to buy Sirius.

It just seems like their OEM channel is completely broken. XM Radio may have only gotten a couple of folks to sign on, but they are cranking the numbers - and this is why I just can't see Sirius surviving.

I actually think the death blow has already been dealt. XM made their technology "open source" and folks are building adapaters to hook XM Radio with the new spec into factory systems that would not normally support XM Radio. The first one on the market?

BMW -- striking right at Sirius' market...

Thoughts?
 
I see where if you buy certain d@$@#ge (or some kind) vehicles you get sirius a life time subscription to sirus for free....

Now why do that? other then build member numbers....by why build a member base of non paying customers when you do not have any advertising on their network.

There business model is to make money on subscriptions? I guess they arfe

confuses ME....
 
If you're interested in satellite goin's on, these folks have a rather well-established site. They also e-mail daily to you if you want that. (Dish, Direct, XM, Sirius and others.)
http://www.skyreport.com

Sirius' CEO came under fire a few days ago by the shareholders his response was upbeat about the availability of units for Christmas....

Here's a 3 month chart; nothing great nor major to sweat over at this point.
(NASDAQ:SIRI)
siri.gif
 
Well, XM surely gets the bonus points for their ad promos!! Nissan/Infinity have actually gone xm (Sirius never really got started). With the new addition of ford, and many more chryslyer/dialmler vehicles coming equipped for sirius, I think they will be around for a while even though the stock has been getting hammered as of late. Additoinally, sirius claims to have more bandwidth than xm and have future plans for video transmission. Would not surprise me a bit to see xm and sirius both gobbled up by Directv, Dish or by cable companies wishing to hedge some of their competition. Sirius recently released a somewhat novel option for their subscribers--the ability to stream sirius live to any computer for no addtional cost. XM defintely led the way, but don't expect sirius to go away any time soon.
 
So, if one has an XM-PCR ( http://www.xmradio.com/xmpcr/ ) he has to pay the $6.99 additional receiver fee. But Sirius offers their subscriber's additional PC receiver sub for free?
I hope they advertize that!
 
Chief said:
I actually think the death blow has already been dealt. XM made their technology "open source" and folks are building adapaters to hook XM Radio with the new spec into factory systems that would not normally support XM Radio. The first one on the market?
Click to expand...

Both Sirius, and XM are compatible with ANY stereo with an 'AUX' input. And I'm NOT talking about FM Modulation. (Chills :eek:) The only thing that makes a stero compatible is that the HU shows all the information, as compared to having to add on a LCD panel to do the same thing.

Chief the way you explained it, I take it as: these people are accessing the code to put on their stereos so they won't have to use an additonal LCD panel? Correct?


Look as a Sirius owner I'm not gonna get into a "Is Xm better than Sirius?".

They both have advantages, Xm has a much clearer signal, while Sirius has more Commercial -free stations. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

IMHO, just because it came with your truck, it doesn't mean you shouldn't examine and compare all services. When buying anything, you should always go with what you will use, and use to fit all your needs.

Ditch
:B:
 
As I said before I sell both and I have both in my Av. There are both pros and cons to both. Xm has the better live muisc (16:cool: Sirius has I think A great rock stream (15) Xm has a ch called Cinemagic (27) they play muisc from Bond to Star Wars. They both have muisc from the
40's to the 90's Xm you have to pay for Playboy Sirius you get Pam Anderson FREE. When it comes down to it I love good tunes BUT I hate Commercials! Just my 0.02 worth..
Glenn Enkei Avalanche
 
kodiakz said:
Well, XM surely gets the bonus points for their ad promos!! Nissan/Infinity have actually gone xm (Sirius never really got started). With the new addition of ford, and many more chryslyer/dialmler vehicles coming equipped for sirius, I think they will be around for a while even though the stock has been getting hammered as of late. Additoinally, sirius claims to have more bandwidth than xm and have future plans for video transmission. Would not surprise me a bit to see xm and sirius both gobbled up by Directv, Dish or by cable companies wishing to hedge some of their competition. Sirius recently released a somewhat novel option for their subscribers--the ability to stream sirius live to any computer for no addtional cost. XM defintely led the way, but don't expect sirius to go away any time soon.
Click to expand...


now that you mention it i did see an XM antenna on the new '04 Maxima i was looking at.
 
I saw a DARS antenna on a Mercedes, Sirius likely, since it's factory-looking; was kinda big and globby-looking compared to others.
 
Another thing to consider is that both of these companies have been around since the mid-90's and have invested alot of money to send satellites into orbit. I think that they will both be around for a long time. just my .02
 
I do know that Sirius has the ability to do Video not just muisc. So if you have screens in your car and have Sirius You might soon be able to down load a good movie for that long ride to a GTG.
Glenn
 
XM has a live weather data overlay system (on top of a GPS moving map). It's mucho bux at present and primarily for Aviation and Fire/EMS. I doubt if the general public will see it soon. Can you imagine a severe weather overlay live over your Av's GPS NAV screen? !!!

Well, here's one link anyway...
http://www.xmradio.com/newsroom/screen/pr_2003_07_28_a.html
 
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