XM radio sub renewel at half price YMMV

[cuttergallery]

"SIRI locked into a HORRIBLE deal with Stern. While they did get a bump in subs, it was not the HUGE payoff they had expected. (Not trying to start a Stern fans vs haters discussion--just simply pointing out SIRI did not get the huge number of subs everyone expected them to get when he moved over)"

This is an incredibly ignorant statement!!! I never considered getting any satellite radio until Howard Stern announced he was moving. I looked into it and got my first radio over a yr before 1/9/06. Howard opened the eyes of millions of people to what satellite is offering. I'm certain that XM benefits tremendously from the much higher profile the industry gets from the media. Every move HS makes is headline news...He is the biggest star that radio has ever had & no one works harder to entertain his listeners.

Can you name a single other personality that could have turned around SIRIUS' fortunes quicker or better than Howard Stern????

SIRIUS were geniuses for signing him. XM tried, but failed...If HS went to XM, SIRIUS would be virtually dead by now.

 

[Necrosaro420]

Originally posted by: hans007
I really doubt that XM will be the first one to die. If you look at their financials it is sirius that is in far more dire straits. they rae losing money faster, with less subscribers

Well with last years 4Q numbers just coming out, it appears that the gap is even CLOSER now. And BTW, Sirius posted there first GAIN financially in 4Q as well. They are NOT losing money.

 

[Necrosaro420]

Originally posted by: altonb1

SIRI locked into a HORRIBLE deal with Stern. While they did get a bump in subs, it was not the HUGE payoff they had expected. (Not trying to start a Stern fans vs haters discussion--just simply pointing out SIRI did not get the huge number of subs everyone expected them to get when he moved over)

Lets see. Sirius is now up to a little over 6 million subscribers. There was what, 300,000 when he joined.

500 Million dollar deal over 5 YEARS.

Total MONTHLY from the 6 million subscribers is:

12.95 x 6,000,000 = $77,000,000

$77,000,000 x 12 months x 5 years = 4.6 BILLION they will make, if they never got another subscription again over the next 5 years.

The deal with Stern has already paid for itself, hince that they finally got into the PROFIT column in for 4Q of last year. Its all profit from here on out.

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: Necrosaro420

Originally posted by: hans007
I really doubt that XM will be the first one to die. If you look at their financials it is sirius that is in far more dire straits. they rae losing money faster, with less subscribers

Well with last years 4Q numbers just coming out, it appears that the gap is even CLOSER now. And BTW, Sirius posted there first GAIN financially in 4Q as well. They are NOT losing money.

Shoot..I cant recall how they expalined this this...but they did not really make money..

from Morningstar:
http://news.morningstar.com/news/ViewNe...070102NYTU107_univ.xml&pgid=qtqnPress3

NEW YORK, Jan. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) today announced that it ended 2006 with approximately 6,024,000 subscribers, an 82% increase over the company's 2005 ending subscriber base of 3,316,560. SIRIUS added a record 2.7 million net subscribers in 2006. Based on preliminary financial data, SIRIUS achieved its first ever quarter of positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Both Sirius and XM are bleeding money...

Stern was expensive but he has done well for Sirius

 

[altonb1]

Originally posted by: cuttergallery
"SIRI locked into a HORRIBLE deal with Stern. While they did get a bump in subs, it was not the HUGE payoff they had expected. (Not trying to start a Stern fans vs haters discussion--just simply pointing out SIRI did not get the huge number of subs everyone expected them to get when he moved over)"

This is an incredibly ignorant statement!!! I never considered getting any satellite radio until Howard Stern announced he was moving. I looked into it and got my first radio over a yr before 1/9/06. Howard opened the eyes of millions of people to what satellite is offering. I'm certain that XM benefits tremendously from the much higher profile the industry gets from the media. Every move HS makes is headline news...He is the biggest star that radio has ever had & no one works harder to entertain his listeners.

Can you name a single other personality that could have turned around SIRIUS' fortunes quicker or better than Howard Stern????

SIRIUS were geniuses for signing him. XM tried, but failed...If HS went to XM, SIRIUS would be virtually dead by now.

XM talked with Stern but was not willing to pay the amount of money Stern wanted. They didn't fail--they walked away from the deal. I don't believe you can classify their choice to not sign him as a failure as much as simply XM's usiness decision.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: altonb1

XM talked with Stern but was not willing to pay the amount of money Stern wanted. They didn't fail--they walked away from the deal. I don't believe you can classify their choice to not sign him as a failure as much as simply XM's usiness decision.

In all fairness it seems like a pretty obviously stupid decision. If XM had signed Stern there would be no Sirius today - period. Instead Sirius is outselling XM two to one at retail.

 

[bloodthirster]

Originally posted by: Necrosaro420

Originally posted by: altonb1

SIRI locked into a HORRIBLE deal with Stern. While they did get a bump in subs, it was not the HUGE payoff they had expected. (Not trying to start a Stern fans vs haters discussion--just simply pointing out SIRI did not get the huge number of subs everyone expected them to get when he moved over)

Lets see. Sirius is now up to a little over 6 million subscribers. There was what, 300,000 when he joined.

500 Million dollar deal over 5 YEARS.

Total MONTHLY from the 6 million subscribers is:

12.95 x 6,000,000 = $77,000,000

$77,000,000 x 12 months x 5 years = 4.6 BILLION they will make, if they never got another subscription again over the next 5 years.

The deal with Stern has already paid for itself, hince that they finally got into the PROFIT column in for 4Q of last year. Its all profit from here on out.

You really cant calculate it that way. 6 mil is the total radios activated. 1-2 million of those subscribers are 2nd 3rd and 4th radios @ $6.95 month. Like me I currently have 4 radios and 1 internet only subs on my account. I have taken advantage of the free radios for friends and relatives. Theres prolly another Million or so who do the cheaper 6 and 12 month payment plans. Just pulling numbers out of my arse though.

 

[sintaxera]

So, like, umm.......Is this the hot deals forum or OT? 😕

 

[cuttergallery]

XM talked with Stern but was not willing to pay the amount of money Stern wanted. They didn't fail--they walked away from the deal. I don't believe you can classify their choice to not sign him as a failure as much as simply XM's usiness decision.

You really don't know what you're talking about...Where are you getting this info?

Howard actually explained his decision to go to SIRIUS like this: The XM management team made their pitch first...They had an attitude like, "Hey we're number 1, SIRIUS are small fry that we will crush & you'd be stupid to sign w/ them..." They really didn't kiss Howard's ass or court him enough. All of the negotiations went slow w/ XM's board having to approve every detail along the way. Howard gave them a chance, but was not impressed.

SIRIUS met Howard and made an inspired & sincere presentation w/o the BS. He was genuinely impressed w/ their approach and decided they would be at better organization to work for. Of course the $$ was excellent...But as Howard said, it's not always all about the money.

Who would you rather work for...An employer that acts like they're doing you a favor, or one that really appreciates you and is grateful for your services?

It's obvious now that XM screwed up and are paying the price.

 

[Necrosaro420]

Originally posted by: cuttergallery

XM talked with Stern but was not willing to pay the amount of money Stern wanted. They didn't fail--they walked away from the deal. I don't believe you can classify their choice to not sign him as a failure as much as simply XM's usiness decision.

You really don't know what you're talking about...Where are you getting this info?

Howard actually explained his decision to go to SIRIUS like this: The XM management team made their pitch first...They had an attitude like, "Hey we're number 1, SIRIUS are small fry that we will crush & you'd be stupid to sign w/ them..." They really didn't kiss Howard's ass or court him enough. All of the negotiations went slow w/ XM's board having to approve every detail along the way. Howard gave them a chance, but was not impressed.

SIRIUS met Howard and made an inspired & sincere presentation w/o the BS. He was genuinely impressed w/ their approach and decided they would be at better organization to work for. Of course the $$ was excellent...But as Howard said, it's not always all about the money.

Who would you rather work for...An employer that acts like they're doing you a favor, or one that really appreciates you and is grateful for your services?

It's obvious now that XM screwed up and are paying the price.

Bingo.

 

[slayer202]

$83 million bonus. I'd say he has helped them quite a bit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070110/wr_nm/sirius_stern_dc_5

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: BBock727
...I have Sirius but ive been pricing out cheaper alternatives...

If by alternatives you mean XM then ok. Other than that you don't really have any other choice.

Sure, Sirius is kicking butt......because they count every UNSOLD car with Sirius in it as a subscriber! But I do like a lot of their electronica, XM's isn't that great. Might tell XM I'm thinking of switching to see if I can get a discount too.

Where are you getting this information from? I am sjure XM is doing the same thing for their car subscriptions too.

 

[saymyname]

I think that customer service reps should speak the same language that I am calling in.

That doesn't make me a biggot.

I love XM.

 

[Toasthead]

Originally posted by: Richardito

Originally posted by: cookj
I got in on the 1/2 price XM subscribtion last january. I recieved a letter saying the would automatically renew my sub, so I called to cancel. I talked to one guy, told him I wanted to cancell because I didn't use it very much, then I was transferred to someone else(that spoke better english) , told him the same thing, then he offered me the same half price deal, $77 for a year. Just thought someone else could use this info 🙂

Comments like "that spoke better english" is totally unnecessary and makes you look like a biggot. What is better english anyways? I've lived up North and now in the South and have experienced the different accents. I also travel a lot Internationally and meet a lot of people from other countries that know English. Believe me, much better English is spoken out of this country than in!

your comment makes you look like a moron

 

[BPB]

XM's OK, I've had it for several years. But sat radio to me isn't really that great. We have it for the Old Time Radio broadcasts and sports. Personally I find that when I put any given music channel on I change the station at least as quickly as I do with free radio. There simply isn't a DJ in the country that can play music consistently to my liking. So I end up listening to Old Time, sports, or popping in a CD.

Regarding HS:

He is the biggest star that radio has ever had & no one works harder to entertain his listeners.

How can somebody say that when the guy doesn't even come close to having the largest audience in America? Not in the past, not now, not in the future. He's got a great publicist, sure. But number 1 he ain't. And remember, there was a time when there was no TV, so people would sit around the radio and listen to the likes of Jack Benny. I imagine stars like him had a much bigger national market share of American homes than anybody today because other than movies they simply had no competition. And in the car there was radio or nothing. No Tapes, no CDs, no MP3s, no cellphones to use, just radio, conversation, or silence (if you had a quiet car).

Still, thanks for the tip OP, I think I'll give it a go.

 

[jsalpha2]

OK, read the thread, saw bigot talk, saw Stern talk, did not see phone number or
much details about how to get the low price. Please help. Thanks

 

[saymyname]

Originally posted by: Toasthead

Originally posted by: Richardito

Originally posted by: cookj
I got in on the 1/2 price XM subscribtion last january. I recieved a letter saying the would automatically renew my sub, so I called to cancel. I talked to one guy, told him I wanted to cancell because I didn't use it very much, then I was transferred to someone else(that spoke better english) , told him the same thing, then he offered me the same half price deal, $77 for a year. Just thought someone else could use this info 🙂

Comments like "that spoke better english" is totally unnecessary and makes you look like a biggot. What is better english anyways? I've lived up North and now in the South and have experienced the different accents. I also travel a lot Internationally and meet a lot of people from other countries that know English. Believe me, much better English is spoken out of this country than in!

your comment makes you look like a moron

I can't believe I missed this....

Much better english is spoken outside of this country? Who does this guy think he is!? ROFL

 

[Slickone]

Sirius' sound quality is too bad for me. As bad as AM. I read XM has better SQ, but I've never really listened.

I guess if you only listen to sports and talk, it doesn't matter, but I listen to neither.

 

[breweyez]

Originally posted by: saymyname

Originally posted by: Toasthead

Originally posted by: Richardito

Originally posted by: cookj
I got in on the 1/2 price XM subscribtion last january. I recieved a letter saying the would automatically renew my sub, so I called to cancel. I talked to one guy, told him I wanted to cancell because I didn't use it very much, then I was transferred to someone else(that spoke better english) , told him the same thing, then he offered me the same half price deal, $77 for a year. Just thought someone else could use this info 🙂

Comments like "that spoke better english" is totally unnecessary and makes you look like a biggot. What is better english anyways? I've lived up North and now in the South and have experienced the different accents. I also travel a lot Internationally and meet a lot of people from other countries that know English. Believe me, much better English is spoken out of this country than in!

your comment makes you look like a moron

I can't believe I missed this....

Much better english is spoken outside of this country? Who does this guy think he is!? ROFL

Yup...the guy should have given it a bit more thought. Part of the customers experience is talking to a CSR. I wish the companies would take that into consideration.

As for Stern?.It should have been a big sign that people really don?t want to pay to hear him. Yes there are people that got Sirius because that?s where he went. But the numbers that they expected were never met. I think Sirius had better push the fact that they have NFL.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: breweyez

Originally posted by: saymyname

Originally posted by: Toasthead

Originally posted by: Richardito

Originally posted by: cookj
I got in on the 1/2 price XM subscribtion last january. I recieved a letter saying the would automatically renew my sub, so I called to cancel. I talked to one guy, told him I wanted to cancell because I didn't use it very much, then I was transferred to someone else(that spoke better english) , told him the same thing, then he offered me the same half price deal, $77 for a year. Just thought someone else could use this info 🙂

Comments like "that spoke better english" is totally unnecessary and makes you look like a biggot. What is better english anyways? I've lived up North and now in the South and have experienced the different accents. I also travel a lot Internationally and meet a lot of people from other countries that know English. Believe me, much better English is spoken out of this country than in!

your comment makes you look like a moron

I can't believe I missed this....

Much better english is spoken outside of this country? Who does this guy think he is!? ROFL

Yup...the guy should have given it a bit more thought. Part of the customers experience is talking to a CSR. I wish the companies would take that into consideration.

As for Stern?.It should have been a big sign that people really don?t want to pay to hear him. Yes there are people that got Sirius because that?s where he went. But the numbers that they expected were never met. I think Sirius had better push the fact that they have NFL.

Jesus Christ, you can really tell the HS haters because they pull all kinds of sh!t out of their ass. People don't want to pay for HS? Then how did Sirius go from ~300K subscribers to over 6M in a little over a year. Sirius was in business waaay before HS announced he was moving. Why all of a sudden a spike in subscriptions? Coincidence? Not by a long shot. And the numbers Sirius expected were never met? Why did HS receive an $80M bonus then? I'll give you a hint, it's because the numbers exceeded their predictions and it was mainly due to HS. It's as simple as that. Read up...

Sirius pays Howard Stern $83 million stock bonus

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius Satellite Radio paid shock jock Howard Stern a bonus worth nearly $83 million on Tuesday for surpassing subscriber goals set in a 2004 contract that had already turned heads with its $500 million compensation package."

And yeah, people DO want to pay for HS. He's better now on Sirius than he ever was on terrestrial radio.

 

[breweyez]

They were expecting subsriptions to be way over 10 million. If fact stern was pissed off that more people didnt join, and made several coments about it. He signed a very lucrative contract, and that is why hes getting paid like that. I guess you can really tell who worships stern around here.

 

[cuttergallery]

Originally posted by: breweyez
They were expecting subsriptions to be way over 10 million. If fact stern was pissed off that more people didnt join, and made several coments about it. He signed a very lucrative contract, and that is why hes getting paid like that. I guess you can really tell who worships stern around here.

Looky here...Another person who doesn't know what he's talking about. Where are you pulling this 10 million figure out of? Thin air? Your ass? No way did ANYONE believe subs would reach that # by now.

Also...Howard was not pissed off at all. That news report was completely false & anyone who read the actual published article knows he was speaking w/ tongue in cheek. Pulling sentences from printed stories, out-of-context, is a dirty tactic often used to cast people in a bad light. Howard was very annoyed that false report got so much run in the press.

 

[BPB]

Lets see. Sirius is now up to a little over 6 million subscribers. There was what, 300,000 when he joined.

500 Million dollar deal over 5 YEARS.

Total MONTHLY from the 6 million subscribers is:

12.95 x 6,000,000 = $77,000,000

$77,000,000 x 12 months x 5 years = 4.6 BILLION they will make, if they never got another subscription again over the next 5 years.

The deal with Stern has already paid for itself, hince that they finally got into the PROFIT column in for 4Q of last year. Its all profit from here on out.

Here what the NY Times said a little over a week ago:

Today, thanks in part to the outsize radio personality, the Stern Effect has increased Sirius?s base to about six million subscribers, up 80 percent from one year ago. XM has increased its numbers by more than 30 percent, ending 2006 with 7.7 to 7.9 million customers.

So, if Sirius went up 80% after Stern went on board, then that means they had well over 3,000,000 subscribers when he started. 3,333,333 subscribers times 180% is 6,000,000. So your numbers are way off. Add to that fact the assumption that 100% of added customers where Stern related is way off base and the numbers fall even more. Personally I know folks who joined for the NFL and couldn't tell you what channel Stern is on. So a little honest thinking is in order here. Also, Sirius went up 80% for $500,000,000 just to one guy! XM's went up 30% without spending an equivalent dime, and they had a much larger base from which to begin.

Also from the Times:

XM has exclusive arrangements with General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan and Porsche. Sirius has similar alliances with BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Kia and VW-Audi.

Let's face it, more and more cars ship with it installed whether or not the buyer wants it. I would bet dollars to donuts that most new subscribers sign up because their new car has it, not because of Stern, the NFL, Oprah, or anything else. No doubt Stern had a big effect 12 months ago, but from what I've read it's over, and some business analysts think he helped XM almost as much because sat radio in general got lots of free press due to him.

I guess you can really tell who worships stern around here.

Jezz, HS fans defend him with a strength any religious zealot would envy....

 

[jmgonzalez]

I called them after the 3 month free trial and immediately told the lady who answered that I wanted to renew my account and wanted to pay $77 for the year.

She had no problem putting the order through.

 

[breweyez]

its amazing how many grand poobahs of the stern fan club visit this site. How is bliss by the way?