Ok it’s about money. But I know a lot of you are dissatisfied with what is going on too. I’m just upset because during the whole merger process we were promised more options, more content, and better pricing. I don’t see any of this happening. I’ll stop voicing my opinion in this forum if it’s really upsetting everyone. That is not my intention. I just thought this forum was a great place for us customers to discuss issues we are having with the service along with other things. I’m not telling anyone to agree with me, I’m just seeing if anyone out there does.
Lot of people on here seem to get so offended when people like me are a little dissatisfied. It’s like your life depends on this service. It’s a little strange.
Who is telling you not to voice your opinion? Not me. This is a tough time and if you figure out how much SIRIUS XM has spent to get this service up and running it really is a service that should be about $25 or $30 per month when you figure in all the costs, maybe more if they didn't have any ad revenue on talk channels. They are offering that service essentially BELOW cost and have hoped for a long time that eventually there would be enough subscribers to get past that point. Well at this point they do have a business, one that seems to be making some money but they have all this huge amount of Debt Payments they have to make. This is the year they have to pay all that off and once this horrible year is over the company can once again reinvent itself but it seems for now taking care of the their financial needs is the ONLY way to survive.
If you ever did love the company, like I do. Trust me when I say this is the time they NEED you more than ever. They will pull out of this and management might change down the road and they will be able to have an established industry. A method of delivering music and content like no other. Content is important and for this year the spending on content can't really go up since they have to focus on paying off the debt. But just imagine what happens when the big contracts they signed when they didn't have any leverage begin to run out. Like the Oprahs and the Marthas. There is no doubt those contracts won't be renewed for anywhere near the same amount of money, leaving them with millions left over. But that time hasn't come yet, but when it does it will bring more to the subscriber. They had to fork out way more money for content to launch, but soon they will be able to get things at a better value and offer more for subscribers. But again this year they have to pay off debt.
Lots of people stick with things that seem to be not very successful for a long time. Hell I live in Chicago, and in this town the Chicago Cubs haven't won the World Series in decades. But that doesn't stop people from buying incredible amounts of merchandise and money on tickets. People want to support them and show their support. This is a trying time and things we've known for a long time like brands like Chrysler may go away. But Satellite Radio is not something I could live with going away. Pandora seems like a service that tried hard but may be going away. It seems they are adding advertisements onto their service now.
For those of you that believe that mergers are bad for the consumer and from a business standpoint I tend to agree, just think if Satellite Radio went away. Then would Slacker have to be as competitive? Maybe not. At least for the time being until someone else came along and challenged them.
Anyway I'm ranting on, but it seems you are pissed at SIRIUS XM. It's just my guess based on your passion and frustration you would be far more pissed if they went away!