Rumor : Bankruptcy plans are on the Table

TheScionicMan

Last non-Hating Stern Fan
Oct 11, 2008
2,171
93
48
Probably just trying to push the stock price down so he can buy shares for pennies...

Oh, wait...:clueless:



They should call one of their many advertisers that can help you settle debt...
 

Jleimer

Active Member
Oct 30, 2008
1,226
13
38
Sparks,NV
I would think either Chapter 11 where they would restucture the company , or sell it to someone else or Chapter 7 where they would shut down for good.
 

sportboy

Member
Dec 18, 2008
96
1
8
This would not be a total shock. Look at the stock price, Wall street investors have placed a bet that this company is going under.

I have no idea if they will file soon but I do believe over time that they are not going to survive.
 

Casual Fan

Surprisingly nice
Oct 14, 2008
19,024
3,053
163
Roanoke, VA
It would be irresponsible not to have drawn something up. They would probably file Chapter 11, which is reorganization, and not 7, which is liquidation. That would mean selling the satellites, etc.
 

Jleimer

Active Member
Oct 30, 2008
1,226
13
38
Sparks,NV
It would be irresponsible not to have drawn something up. They would probably file Chapter 11, which is reorganization, and not 7, which is liquidation. That would mean selling the satellites, etc.

And that could mean commericals on Satellite , censorship testicular radio style and other things if some testicular radio company were to by it lets say , but if it were to occur I would hope someone like Apple could snatch it up.
 

TVGenius

New Member
Nov 10, 2008
22
0
1
Yuma, AZ
I wouldn't be surprised to see Chapter 11 in the next six months. Throw out some of the high priced talent, keep some of the more listened-to cheaper names, lose some of the sports (likely keep MLB, lose at least NHL, maybe keep NFL and NBA, everything else maybe gone). Merge all channels (creating a duplicate service on both sides). Possibly see some plan to eliminate one set of technology to save long term before emerging from bankruptcy. Expect to see a changed company that tries to appeal across the board to Joe and Jane Sixpack more than to the diehards (those of us who subscribed before 2004) and maybe even see a price cut, or some type of advertising returning to channels to create revenue. Maybe even a two-tiered system, limited channels, all with limited ads, for $7.99 a month, all channels, with the additional ones ad-free and more nichey, for $12.99.

I'm no business major, but that would be my plan going forward. Mind you, I'm looking at this from a strictly try-to-make-a-profit-this-century perspective, as I no longer feel any passion or dedication to what was once XM. In fact, I quite enjoyed putting my Slacker sticker on my truck about a half hour ago. I think the fact my parents are in love with Slacker says a lot about how satrad alienated their listeners, and nobody I know in person has been happy with the changes.
 

Jleimer

Active Member
Oct 30, 2008
1,226
13
38
Sparks,NV
I wouldn't be surprised to see Chapter 11 in the next six months. Throw out some of the high priced talent, keep some of the more listened-to cheaper names, lose some of the sports (likely keep MLB, lose at least NHL, maybe keep NFL and NBA, everything else maybe gone). Merge all channels (creating a duplicate service on both sides). Possibly see some plan to eliminate one set of technology to save long term before emerging from bankruptcy. Expect to see a changed company that tries to appeal across the board to Joe and Jane Sixpack more than to the diehards (those of us who subscribed before 2004) and maybe even see a price cut, or some type of advertising returning to channels to create revenue. Maybe even a two-tiered system, limited channels, all with limited ads, for $7.99 a month, all channels, with the additional ones ad-free and more nichey, for $12.99.

I'm no business major, but that would be my plan going forward. Mind you, I'm looking at this from a strictly try-to-make-a-profit-this-century perspective, as I no longer feel any passion or dedication to what was once XM. In fact, I quite enjoyed putting my Slacker sticker on my truck about a half hour ago. I think the fact my parents are in love with Slacker says a lot about how satrad alienated their listeners, and nobody I know in person has been happy with the changes.

That sounds like a good plan , and that would be interesting to see what happens with it , but right now who knows.
 
Oct 29, 2008
422
7
18
I wouldn't be surprised to see Chapter 11 in the next six months. Throw out some of the high priced talent, keep some of the more listened-to cheaper names, lose some of the sports (likely keep MLB, lose at least NHL, maybe keep NFL and NBA, everything else maybe gone). Merge all channels (creating a duplicate service on both sides). Possibly see some plan to eliminate one set of technology to save long term before emerging from bankruptcy. Expect to see a changed company that tries to appeal across the board to Joe and Jane Sixpack more than to the diehards (those of us who subscribed before 2004) and maybe even see a price cut, or some type of advertising returning to channels to create revenue. Maybe even a two-tiered system, limited channels, all with limited ads, for $7.99 a month, all channels, with the additional ones ad-free and more nichey, for $12.99.

I'm no business major, but that would be my plan going forward. Mind you, I'm looking at this from a strictly try-to-make-a-profit-this-century perspective, as I no longer feel any passion or dedication to what was once XM. In fact, I quite enjoyed putting my Slacker sticker on my truck about a half hour ago. I think the fact my parents are in love with Slacker says a lot about how satrad alienated their listeners, and nobody I know in person has been happy with the changes.

Ya know what.....none of that changes the crappy customer service, the difficulty some people have installing, difficulty getting a signal, high priced equipment, etc, etc, etc. The title of the thread is the future for this industry. It is just a matter of time.......
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
9,434
149
63
Louisiana
Well you know I have turned lots and lots of people on to sat radio and this so called issue of people having a hard time installing, difficulty getting a signal honestly only applies to folks that are total idiots. None of the folks that I know ever had those difficulties and most of them did really nice clean installs. In regards to high priced equipment, last I checked no one is forced into buying the higher end equipment, they have tuners as cheap as $30, so that argument doesn't hold water.

This isn't to say that folks don't ever have equipment problems and that reception in homes doesn't take a bit of effort it most certainly does. I think the issue here lies more with lazy people than the service itself. This is afterall SATELLITE radio so yes you may need to get that antenna outside at home and instead of throwing the antenna under your seat or on your dash and then getting poor reception isn't a Sirius issue that is a end user issue. Fortunately it seems that most of the customers have enough since to do proper installs.

It is my opinion that what is hurting sat radio is all this debt and the perception that the industry will surely fail. Yet my Gauge which isn't anything but watching stock in stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Walmart indicate to me that radios are still being sold as are subscriptions.

The poor customer service is really more about the crappy outsourcing companies than Sirius itself. They really need to look at these companies they outsource too and make sure they are providing a better level of care.

I do feel if Sirius can get the money to get through this year with all this debt coming through, then they will be just fine. You naysayers, have been saying this shit about Sirius for 8 years now and they are still here.
 

radsatdaily

Member
Dec 7, 2008
73
0
6
www.RadSatDaily.com
Agreed!

Well you know I have turned lots and lots of people on to sat radio and this so called issue of people having a hard time installing, difficulty getting a signal honestly only applies to folks that are total idiots. None of the folks that I know ever had those difficulties and most of them did really nice clean installs. In regards to high priced equipment, last I checked no one is forced into buying the higher end equipment, they have tuners as cheap as $30, so that argument doesn't hold water.

This isn't to say that folks don't ever have equipment problems and that reception in homes doesn't take a bit of effort it most certainly does. I think the issue here lies more with lazy people than the service itself. This is afterall SATELLITE radio so yes you may need to get that antenna outside at home and instead of throwing the antenna under your seat or on your dash and then getting poor reception isn't a Sirius issue that is a end user issue. Fortunately it seems that most of the customers have enough since to do proper installs.

It is my opinion that what is hurting sat radio is all this debt and the perception that the industry will surely fail. Yet my Gauge which isn't anything but watching stock in stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Walmart indicate to me that radios are still being sold as are subscriptions.

The poor customer service is really more about the crappy outsourcing companies than Sirius itself. They really need to look at these companies they outsource too and make sure they are providing a better level of care.

I do feel if Sirius can get the money to get through this year with all this debt coming through, then they will be just fine. You naysayers, have been saying this shit about Sirius for 8 years now and they are still here.
 

Jleimer

Active Member
Oct 30, 2008
1,226
13
38
Sparks,NV
Well you know I have turned lots and lots of people on to sat radio and this so called issue of people having a hard time installing, difficulty getting a signal honestly only applies to folks that are total idiots. None of the folks that I know ever had those difficulties and most of them did really nice clean installs. In regards to high priced equipment, last I checked no one is forced into buying the higher end equipment, they have tuners as cheap as $30, so that argument doesn't hold water.

This isn't to say that folks don't ever have equipment problems and that reception in homes doesn't take a bit of effort it most certainly does. I think the issue here lies more with lazy people than the service itself. This is afterall SATELLITE radio so yes you may need to get that antenna outside at home and instead of throwing the antenna under your seat or on your dash and then getting poor reception isn't a Sirius issue that is a end user issue. Fortunately it seems that most of the customers have enough since to do proper installs.

It is my opinion that what is hurting sat radio is all this debt and the perception that the industry will surely fail. Yet my Gauge which isn't anything but watching stock in stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Walmart indicate to me that radios are still being sold as are subscriptions.

The poor customer service is really more about the crappy outsourcing companies than Sirius itself. They really need to look at these companies they outsource too and make sure they are providing a better level of care.

I do feel if Sirius can get the money to get through this year with all this debt coming through, then they will be just fine. You naysayers, have been saying this shit about Sirius for 8 years now and they are still here.

I am one of those people that hopes it will get through ok , but right now I am just not sure about the company. It is that perverial $ 64,000 question.
 
Oct 29, 2008
422
7
18
Well you know I have turned lots and lots of people on to sat radio and this so called issue of people having a hard time installing, difficulty getting a signal honestly only applies to folks that are total idiots. None of the folks that I know ever had those difficulties and most of them did really nice clean installs. In regards to high priced equipment, last I checked no one is forced into buying the higher end equipment, they have tuners as cheap as $30, so that argument doesn't hold water.

This isn't to say that folks don't ever have equipment problems and that reception in homes doesn't take a bit of effort it most certainly does. I think the issue here lies more with lazy people than the service itself. This is afterall SATELLITE radio so yes you may need to get that antenna outside at home and instead of throwing the antenna under your seat or on your dash and then getting poor reception isn't a Sirius issue that is a end user issue. Fortunately it seems that most of the customers have enough since to do proper installs.

It is my opinion that what is hurting sat radio is all this debt and the perception that the industry will surely fail. Yet my Gauge which isn't anything but watching stock in stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Walmart indicate to me that radios are still being sold as are subscriptions.

The poor customer service is really more about the crappy outsourcing companies than Sirius itself. They really need to look at these companies they outsource too and make sure they are providing a better level of care.

I do feel if Sirius can get the money to get through this year with all this debt coming through, then they will be just fine. You naysayers, have been saying this shit about Sirius for 8 years now and they are still here.

Apparently I live in a bubble then. Frankly I don't really care enough to get into it anymore. I could care less what happens in the end. What I say does not really matter anyway.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,670
1,837
113
All contracts would be thrown out. I wonder what this will do to programing like Howard, MLB, NFL, etc...?

There's probably a LOT of people out there who will walk from satellite radio the day Howard walks. If Howard walks, satellite radio better have something HUGE up it's sleeve (a lot of commericals?) , or else there's nothing for anyone. (If Howard didn't sign with Sirius, there's no doubt in my mind that XM would still be around, but nowhere near the 18-20 million subscribers that the combined company has now.)

What they probably need to do is re-negotiate the sports contracts and the various "other talk" contracts such as Martha, Oprah, etc. Isn't Oprah something like $50 million? And how much is she actually ON her channel? Re-negotiate to something like $10 million and save $40 million a year. It's not like she needs all that money. And it's not just Oprah, either. How much does SiriusXM have to pay for channels like Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, and the other audio of TV channels?


IMO, Howard didn't "kill" the company. The overpriced contracts did. If you do the math, Howard's contract is paid for through the subscribers he brought in. Is anyone else pulling their weight?

As contracts come up for renewal, re-negotiate for a lower price.

Let's say the average customer pays $300 a year. (11 months x $12.95 a month is$142.45. I'd guess that most subscribers have multiple radios.) $142.45 times 6 million is $ 854,700,000.

I think we can safely assume that Sirius XM is pulling in the money hand over fist. The problems are as follows:

1) Sirius XM has to pay the over-priced contracts to talent that may or may not be pulling their weight.

2) They also have to pay to maintain the satellites which is probably a lot more than any of us realize.

By several accounts, Howard went to Sirius because they swept in with more money while XM was "back at the drawing board" or "thinking about things" or whatever the line was.

It's interesting to note that Sirius.com and XMradio.com have very few (if any) ads on their websites. Why is this?