A Article by Orbitcast asking if Mel should resign as Sirius XM CEO
- Thread starter Jleimer
- Start date
No. The stock price and condition of the company is not entirely his fault. The economy and other situations are more at fault, canning Mel would probably kill it faster.
No. I would be in favor if we could can the FCC and DOJ and NAB people who draged out the merger to bleed Sirius of all it's money.
No
Mel inherited a bunch of bad deals that Joe made, AND even though the opinion on here is mixed, he DID pull off the merger, which, many, many people thought would be unpossible to maneuver. Plus, I know that Mel can be a very savvy business man, and can tighten the belt when he has too, and he will!
Mel inherited a bunch of bad deals that Joe made, AND even though the opinion on here is mixed, he DID pull off the merger, which, many, many people thought would be unpossible to maneuver. Plus, I know that Mel can be a very savvy business man, and can tighten the belt when he has too, and he will!
Mel is a guy that understands management and marketing in the radio industry as good as anyone.
He is bashed by many for his cost cutting and marketing focus (as opposed to programming some would argue). However, I am not sure how you deal with the financial reality of the radio business without cutting overhead.
If anyone has the capability to turn the ship around, it is him.
He is bashed by many for his cost cutting and marketing focus (as opposed to programming some would argue). However, I am not sure how you deal with the financial reality of the radio business without cutting overhead.
If anyone has the capability to turn the ship around, it is him.
let's be honest, most people have satrads for commercial free music. has the commercial free music gone away? no. i don't see any real programming changes in fact that have been negatively impacted since the merger, with the exception of the nba which was something out of his control. i don't fault mel for merger taking this long. i don't fault mel for the american auto industry (who has the contracts with sirixm) going into the tank with a horriffic business plan. i don't blame mel for the american economy for going into a recession for a year. through every step of the way mel has been handicapped from serious (no pun intended) growth from factors that are out of his control. merger got done finally so when the economy begins to recover more people are going to get radios. i think more needs to go into the television advertising budget to get that subscriber base to increase, but that can wait until things stabilize first.
i'm not surprised that siri stock is so low. we are in a deep recession. everyone's discressionary spending is down and right now it doesn't make much sense for some people to pay for something they get for free in their cars.
i'm not surprised that siri stock is so low. we are in a deep recession. everyone's discressionary spending is down and right now it doesn't make much sense for some people to pay for something they get for free in their cars.
I don't know, he sounds totally whacked-out to me...This is what Mel posted in the comments section of the above article:
Mel K said:
:right::scratch:
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
I can't say I understand the radio business....but I would say that something like Sirius is so unlike radio in some many ways that maybe his concept of radio is what really fucking things up so badly! Can't say for sure, but I hope that he leaves cause I know that I and many others are about to if he doesn't!
I think Sat Radio would have long ago failed if it has not been for Mel. When Mel came to work in this industry he gave it great credibility. Love him, Hate him it doesn't matter that is a fact.
If anyone can save this thing I think it is Mel. I read the stuff people type about him all the time, most of it is just whinny pissy crap because they aren't happy because their favorite channel was taken away. Well I am sorry but hard decisions had to and will continue to be made. We either go for the ride in hopes that it will stabilize and get better or we jump off and move on to what we feel suits our lives better over sat radio. I for one continue to support sat radio and Mel.
Mel indeed inherited a lot of very, very, very poor decisions by Clayton and his crew of consultants. Mel himself as much as he likes Stern said he would not have paid Stern those kinds of bucks. But the deal was done and he had to make the best of it. Most of those deals were already done when Mel came on board. Just like video, Mel I can tell you is not a fan of backseat video, but again contracts were signed, promises were made, he couldn't just drop it. Many said this company wouldn't last a year, then the next year it was said they wouldn't last much longer. Mel comes along and now Sat Radio has been kicking for 8 years now. Still hasn't made a freaking dime because of all the poor decisions made by both companies early on.
The other part of this Mel gets the merger done, it was necessary rather we want to believe that or not, it was. No one could foresee that gas prices were going to sky rocket and that car sales were going to hit an all time low, that eventually the economy as a whole was going to go into the toilet. Mel expected he would get investors or would be able to refinance or get additional loans to keep things going. But with things the way they are they may not be able to get loans or refinance the huge debt they have. I don't see this as being Mel's fault. I think if anyone can work out loans and or file for protection and keep this company going. Sirius XM has the very best man for the job already on board.
All this whining and crying about loss of channels, I understand that, but none of that really matters if this company doesn't stay in business. If folks are so darn displeased that they simply can't get beyond this and see no value in sat radio beyond these channels that were loss, then by all means cancel. I am just hopeful that there simply aren't enough of you that it is going to make much difference in the long term. Most of you will be back, because we want to think about Slacker, iPods and other avenues as being as good or equal to sat radio. But the fact is, it's just not (my opinion of course).
If anyone can save this thing I think it is Mel. I read the stuff people type about him all the time, most of it is just whinny pissy crap because they aren't happy because their favorite channel was taken away. Well I am sorry but hard decisions had to and will continue to be made. We either go for the ride in hopes that it will stabilize and get better or we jump off and move on to what we feel suits our lives better over sat radio. I for one continue to support sat radio and Mel.
Mel indeed inherited a lot of very, very, very poor decisions by Clayton and his crew of consultants. Mel himself as much as he likes Stern said he would not have paid Stern those kinds of bucks. But the deal was done and he had to make the best of it. Most of those deals were already done when Mel came on board. Just like video, Mel I can tell you is not a fan of backseat video, but again contracts were signed, promises were made, he couldn't just drop it. Many said this company wouldn't last a year, then the next year it was said they wouldn't last much longer. Mel comes along and now Sat Radio has been kicking for 8 years now. Still hasn't made a freaking dime because of all the poor decisions made by both companies early on.
The other part of this Mel gets the merger done, it was necessary rather we want to believe that or not, it was. No one could foresee that gas prices were going to sky rocket and that car sales were going to hit an all time low, that eventually the economy as a whole was going to go into the toilet. Mel expected he would get investors or would be able to refinance or get additional loans to keep things going. But with things the way they are they may not be able to get loans or refinance the huge debt they have. I don't see this as being Mel's fault. I think if anyone can work out loans and or file for protection and keep this company going. Sirius XM has the very best man for the job already on board.
All this whining and crying about loss of channels, I understand that, but none of that really matters if this company doesn't stay in business. If folks are so darn displeased that they simply can't get beyond this and see no value in sat radio beyond these channels that were loss, then by all means cancel. I am just hopeful that there simply aren't enough of you that it is going to make much difference in the long term. Most of you will be back, because we want to think about Slacker, iPods and other avenues as being as good or equal to sat radio. But the fact is, it's just not (my opinion of course).
DAB, good summation. I lost my #1 channel (punk), and my #1a channel (The Bridge) is still the red-headed stepchild of sat radio. So I should be pissed, but I can't help but agree with your words.
Mel is good for sat radio - The Business - which sometimes doesn't coincide with sat radio - The Entertainment - but in reality you don't get the latter without the former, which something that everyone should consider before regretting a channel loss. Personally, my only regret is the NAB was allowed to stretch the merger crap out to the point where the debt just may be too much for Mel or anyone else to save either The Business or The Entertainment.
Mel is good for sat radio - The Business - which sometimes doesn't coincide with sat radio - The Entertainment - but in reality you don't get the latter without the former, which something that everyone should consider before regretting a channel loss. Personally, my only regret is the NAB was allowed to stretch the merger crap out to the point where the debt just may be too much for Mel or anyone else to save either The Business or The Entertainment.
IdRatherBeSkiing
Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Good summary DAB. I think that if they kept the channels people are whining about they would be doomed. Niche channels have never sold enough subs to justify their bandwidth. In an ideal world bandwidth and channel numbers would be infinate. Not the case here. I also think his negative flack would be attributed to anybody in the role he is in.
This may make me come off as a complete moron that should know better, but...
What is the story behind the blue jigsaw piece that Mel always wears on his suit?
What is the story behind the blue jigsaw piece that Mel always wears on his suit?
Really? Really? We have 5 country stations. 5. We have only 2 hip hop stations. 3 Dance stations (if you can even count them as dance). If I wanted to listen to single artist I would use my MP3 player, not my sat radio. When I was first a subscriber there were a number of formats that aren't on now. Reggae, Punk, Trance, Breakbeat, Old School Hip Hop, etc. These might not matter to you if you didn't listen to them, but try this for a week. Take your 2 favorite stations that you listen to the most and don't listen to them for a week. Now try to find something that replaces what you want to listen to.
Mel is turning satrad into a terrestial radio format without the commercials. I want Sirius to succeed, in fact I have had a sirius subscription since 2003. I loved having the WIDE VARIETY of music on tap with no commericals. That variety is slow slipping away. Alot of the stuff now on sirius, I can get on regular radio, so why amd I paying for it?
Mel's latest interview shows how out of touch he is.
MediaFile Blog Archive Mel says lost Sirius/XM channels worth every penny - to bottom line | Blogs |
“You as a subscriber, though you may miss your channel, you need to make sure we make money because you want us to be around so we can invest in programming and we can provide you with all these services,†said Karmazin.
No Mel, we want you to be around because you provide a product that is worth purchasing. We want you to be around but only if you provide value and substance to us, the consumers.
Really, Really? What market do you know of that has single artist radio stations? Sat Radio has adjusted channels before and then eventually adjusted them again, this happens. Just as FM stations change formats. While I can see that some channels and genres have been cut back even drastically, one has to consider what were they looking at when they made those decisions. I have no idea. I wish everyone could have kept their favorite channels that we could have 15 channels in every genre, but the fact is there is just not enough bandwidth.
There is also a lot a whole lot more stuff I can't get on local FM that is on Sirius too. So you choose to look at the glass as half empty, while I look at it as half full. I don't see Mel as being out of touch at all in that interview, I think he is being straight up honest.
We could all come up with our plans about how to slice and dice the channels. But your plan would only satisfy you, it may piss me off. Someone else's plan may make you happy or it may make me happy. I just don't see how they can possibly make everyone happy. Sure, I think I would have done the channel changes a bit differently, but I also know that would have just pissed off a different batch of subscribers. It is a no win no matter how you slice it.
I think that has something to do with supporting autism research or something along those lines.