This whole music channel thing has got me thinking...

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

With the satrad ratings I have seen there are 2 observations that I thought were appearant:

1. Stern was the most listened to channel on either service. On the Sirius side it was even more lopsited with no music channel really pulling in heavy numbers. All the Sirius listening seemed to be skewed to Stern.

2. XM's music channels all were their draw. There was no one channel which was a big draw on XM like Stern was for Sirius but most of the music channels each had fairly substantial number and usually more than their Sirius counterpart.

With both of these observations (and although Sirius XM does not use arbatron their ratings service likely would have told them the same thing), why would they decide to keep the Sirius music channels and kill the XM ones? In most cases the Sirius talent costs more money (more high profile at least to Mel). Why not keep the XM music? It seems to me that whoever is running this company is making arbatrary decisions without much thought put into it other than cost cutting.

 

[SISO]

If there is one thing I've learned over the years it is that Sirius corporate is not very smart. But, if I were to pick their brains I'd say one or more of these are behind their reasoning:

1. Sirius music is more hit-based. This will sign up more people than XM's music.
2. We kind of bought XM, so let's keep ours.
3. Since we're handling all of the financial/business stuff in New York we might as well do the music up here too. This way we can eventually shut down XM's DC office to save money.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

3. Since we're handling all of the financial/business stuff in New York we might as well do the music up here too. This way we can eventually shut down XM's DC office to save money.

Which is also kinda fucked. XM owned their headquarters. Sirius leases theirs in prime New York real estate (and the rates to match). Not sure if they will realize any cost savings in this regard.

 

[Fergz99]

1. Sirius music is more hit-based. This will sign up more people than XM's music..

Prior to Stern XM was killing Sirius and the draw was the music and baseball. Sirius' programming philosophy since Sept 2005 has been terrible. They have gotten rid of unique and interesting music for things like the abba channel and super shuffle.

Sirius used to have options for folk, funk, punk, steel drum, jazz, swing and the list goes on. These were all dropped for more rock and single artist pay off channels.

If the up coming changes are like these I will be canceling all 3 subs that I have now. 2 XM and 1 Sirius. Good sports won't be enough anymore.

Stern has given up, the music has too many repeats and the playlists are too shallow. There are also too many artists played on channels that don't fit the genre and far too much crossover. When you have an entire channel playing Bruce Springsteen or the Rolling Stones why are you continuing to play them on 6-7 other channels ? Sirius' music programmers don't have a clue.

I could have sworn that Mel said to congress that we wouldn't be losing any of the programming we currently are getting. If they replace XM's music Sirius' then I have lost programming I was currently getting.

 

[DAB]

If there is one thing I've learned over the years it is that Sirius corporate is not very smart. But, if I were to pick their brains I'd say one or more of these are behind their reasoning:

I could not agree more, these folks are darn sure not famous for making good decisions. This one is certainly questionable at best.

If there are a lot of folks out there on the XM side the feels like Fergz, this potentially could be disasterous.

 

[MikeV]

I've already spoken with my subscriptions... three XM radios cancelled. When XM's music channels have higher ratings than other XM programming, and they get the boot for Sirius' inferior music programming, it not only shows how mindless upper management is but infuriates us customers in the process.

I'm sure we're not the only ones who realize this. Anyone else that had XM for the music - which according to the ratings must be a significant number - will likely be canceling and looking elsewhere for their music programming.

 

[Tgajr]

I've already spoken with my subscriptions... three XM radios cancelled.

Why did you cancel already? This is still all rumor and you dont even know what the changes might be like.

 

[limegrass69]

Actually XM's higher subscriber numbers had less to do with baseball, and more to do with significantly higher OEM auto installs. In fact, prior to Stern, almost all of XM subscriber base was automobile based. Sirius had a higher aftermarket presence. Stern was a game changer in that people actually started to go out of their way to find Sirius.

XM has big OEM deals with GM, Honda/Acura, Toyota, etc. Many of the mass market vehicles. Sirius has deals with Ford and Chrysler, plus many of the higher end auto makers like Mercedes and BMW; but those guys don't sell nearly as many units as XM's partners.

Plus with GM and Honda's stakes in XM, they are putting the satellite radios in just about every car built. Still to this day, you see Sirius radio as an add-on in many cases. Only Ford has really been pushing the Sirius product in any way (and that's mostly in the Lincoln/Mercury models, which don't sell very well).

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Actually XM's higher subscriber numbers had less to do with baseball, and more to do with significantly higher OEM auto installs. In fact, prior to Stern, almost all of XM subscriber base was automobile based. Sirius had a higher aftermarket presence. Stern was a game changer in that people actually started to go out of their way to find Sirius.

XM has big OEM deals with GM, Honda/Acura, Toyota, etc. Many of the mass market vehicles. Sirius has deals with Ford and Chrysler, plus many of the higher end auto makers like Mercedes and BMW; but those guys don't sell nearly as many units as XM's partners.

Plus with GM and Honda's stakes in XM, they are putting the satellite radios in just about every car built. Still to this day, you see Sirius radio as an add-on in many cases. Only Ford has really been pushing the Sirius product in any way (and that's mostly in the Lincoln/Mercury models, which don't sell very well).

Until Stern, XM had a pretty good retail sales. After the Stern bubble, retail pretty much dried up for both providers (XM slightly more).

 

[limegrass69]

Until Stern, XM had a pretty good retail sales. After the Stern bubble, retail pretty much dried up for both providers (XM slightly more).

During the holiday season prior to Stern coming on, Sirius radios and related equipment were not plentiful in retail channels. Some Radio Shack stores were sold out. I think the demand was underestimated. You never had a situation like that with XM.

Once the merger came into the picture, after market retail sales for Sirius and XM likely dried up due to the uncertainty of receiver interoperability.

 

[blacknoi]

Once the merger came into the picture, after market retail sales for Sirius and XM likely dried up due to the uncertainty of receiver interoperability.

And the sad part is, its still killing retail TODAY.

Other than 1 sirius-based a la carte radio, all the other ones are essentially obsolete already, right? ...including the brand new XMp3 player... I can't even justify buying that anymore.


I would hope that once the new radios come out, retail sales will come back a bit.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

During the holiday season prior to Stern coming on, Sirius radios and related equipment were not plentiful in retail channels. Some Radio Shack stores were sold out. I think the demand was underestimated. You never had a situation like that with XM.

Once the merger came into the picture, after market retail sales for Sirius and XM likely dried up due to the uncertainty of receiver interoperability.

Actually, during the Stern period was XMs best retail period. The buzz around Stern spilled over. Sirius did outsell XM but XM did very well during that time. Then it all dried up.

 

[limegrass69]

I did not know that about XM. I am glad Stern came along and helped bump satellite radio more into the mainstream.

 

[MikeV]

Why did you cancel already? This is still all rumor and you dont even know what the changes might be like.

I think the layoffs and known statements of some XM channels being replaced by Sirius channels speak for themselves, in addition to the removal of some niche channels on both services. I don't need to hang around for another couple of weeks to find out what isn't very hard to see now.

 

[down4six]

When you have an entire channel playing Bruce Springsteen or the Rolling Stones why are you continuing to play them on 6-7 other channels ? Sirius' music programmers don't have a clue.

Amen, I was just thinking that. :bigthumbup:

 

[limegrass69]

It'$ hard for $iriu$ programmer$ to have a clue when $iriu$ i$ receiving compen$ation for airing the $ingle arti$t channel$.

 

[Pinball Wizard]

XM music is pretty much over for me. They gutted my favorites, Chans. 5 & 60. I cut one subscription & I will probably stop another one soon. I am keeping one going for my younger daughter who likes Chan. 20. My wife likes Chan 6 & we will see what happens with that on Nov. 5.

We liked the live announcers interacting with the listeners over the telephone. Music spooled from a computer doesn't cut it for us.