Dave's Download

Subscribers to Combined XM and Sirius Face Confusing Choices

By David LaGesse

Posted: July 25, 2008

Satellite Radio fans will get a lot more choice out of the merged XM and Sirius. Maybe too much, at least initially. The combined companies will be getting creative, partly out of pressure from regulators and partly in trying to broaden their appeal.

Consumers will get to assemble packages of channels for different prices as the companies pledged to offer "a la carte" choices. At the same time, the companies will be combining their offerings, apparently in phases. And all of this will require new hardware, also apparently coming in phases.

Satellite radio offers appealing content, and the changes could attract new subscribers. But it's clear there will be confusion and pain in the transition. All this while there is fast-growing competition for the dashboards where XM and Sirius do most of their business.

The Hold Up

What the heck is taking so long for subscribers to get information on packages? Everyone seems to know stuff except people paying the subscriptions.

I have built-in XM in one car and two mobile receivers currently turned on. I would like to turn one of the remotes off if I can get straight Sirius programming on my built-in XM.

But it looks like that isn't going to happen unless I pay extra. So I have to shut off my awsome built-in receiver and go back to fumbling around with my exrta mobile.

This company's stock has fallen under $1, but there still doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency to take care of, or even inform, existing customers of what's going on. The company doesn't even have useful information on either website. And why are there still two websites anyway? If I don't get some answers soon, I'm cancelling everything.

Joe Maldonado of PA @ Sep 26, 2008 15:12:24 PM

All I know is...

I bought a lifetime subscription to Sirius and then the next year they dropped the NHL. I was hurt, devastated, distraught, there were no words. Well, maybe that's dramatic, but I was mad since I had just dropped 500$ on it and really wanted to be able to listen to hockey primarily on my long commutes home. So, this is good for me as long as I get the NHL back.

ryan of CO @ Aug 27, 2008 01:01:46 AM

Ben

First of all on The Merrit Pkwy there is a choppy signal because of the trees. Howard Stern is not nearly as entertaining as he was in his NBC days. It is not profanity that is funny, it's the absence of it! I am in my early 60's and I like listening to Vinyl rewiwnd, The Pulse, Prime Country and ch 12 used to be Shuffle but now it's something call The Bridge.

ben of NY @ Jul 31, 2008 11:35:50 AM

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Dave's Download

Our in-house gadget guru, Senior Writer David LaGesse, checks out the latest technologies and gizmos, from computer software to GPS systems -- and reports back to you in plain English.


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