Big names, big challenges for satellite

McCall may consider himself an expert
on radios and listeners and his opinion may apply to the youngsters,
but the over 50 set cannot find anything to listen to on the local "free" radio stations and are very happy with the minimal fee charged to listen to some "good" music besides rock and rap. The music you get on the satellite stations also is commercial free as well and you don't have to listen to some guy who sounds like he has been locked in the closet for hours, yelling in your ears.

you present a very one sided short term view of a very large audio/video industry thats driven by controled content rights..

clear channel is also making the move to paid national formats along with some other paid consumer services.

If you honestly think satellite audio and video has failed or will fail you are missing the large picture.

video service has been in the works for years sirius is only offering what auto companys have asked them for based on independant studies they performed with consumers

You are an educator. LMAO...Do you "spin" like that in class? LOL

Your take on satrad seems a little unresearched to say the least.

OH! you are from Depau..?? that explains it.

I love Sirius satellite radio. Especially, the commercial-free music, Fox News Channel, and the Blue-Collar Comedy Network Channel. I've never searched out H. Stern's channel. I like Sirius so much that I put a portable unit in my GM vehicle which came with XM satellite capability.

The article is not 100% accurate or why would Sirius Radio give Howard Stern almost $300 million in stocks as a bonus over the last 12 months. Who is the Professor Jeffery McCall, from DePauw University is he a hired gun to write negative articles to hurt the Satellite radio industry? A New York reporter was fired for doing just that. Writing for his paper but collecting a fee as a consulate to the radio industry. He wrote negative articles and people believe them as them as the truth until he was outed. Indystar may want to pursue add money from radio station and use articles like this as filler. The truth be damned! Professor McCall, do you work for testiclar radio too? Clear Channnel and CBS radio maybe doing everything it can to hurt the satellite industry but it won't. With all the paid for negative price, it is war for add dollars but like HBO the public is winning. In one year the satellite listerners grew from a total 7 million to 14 million. Howard Stern recieved two bonuses on top of his pay for bringing in record number of listers when he started he brought in @2 million new listeners and additional $2 million after 12 months.@6,000 people a day are signing up. Good for him. it is worth the 43 cents a day. With almost no commericals. God Bless American and the Satelite radio.

It is good to see that someone has finally seen through the haze and hype to examine two companies heading for a review from the justice department, Bankruptcy division.

Thanks for a great article.

McCall, I'm not sure how you can hold a job as a professor. Do your research on the subjects you write about.

This is the worst attempt at writting a "good" article I have seein in my life.

You got it all backwards..

If you listen to free radio, its 5 min music and 5 min commercials without the varity of jazz,country, blues rock etc, etc, etc,. .50 a day is well worth it. With hd radio the commercials are still present.Your arguement is old stuff. The ipod is the biggest competetion.

Gee, I guess this guy wasn't on the "Deans" list. LOL

Who paid you to write this article? The NAB?

What's even worse is the mflynn idiot who knows absolutely nothing about sat radio. He is a used-car salesman.

ROFLMAO

The article is a hodgepodge of what makes radio appeal to people by comparing apples and oranges, and mistaking so many influences that have nothing to do with what is fundamentally wrong with satellite, it would take a three semester course to correct but I'll try.

Sat's main problem was trying to imitate the rise of radio in the 20's and 30's, which was mostly show and personality driven. If XM had stuck to pure music in a variety of forums, they'd have reproduced the AAPL model with the added level of something prerecorded music can't give, sponteneity in the form of a show.

The only reason they embarked on a Hail Mary ascension into sports and celebrity hell, is that the passive adaptation model, OEM placement in cars, was being trounced by XM, so SIRI embarked on a series of overpriced celebrity buys in order to capture the fuzzy dice aftermarket radio crowd, pretty much all that was left to SIRI. XM, whose claim to fame was superior satellite and radio technology and market penetration, fell into the spell of high priced talent, and postponed profitability three times, instead of sticking to the passive adaptation OEM placement model.

XM goes into 4M cars this calendar year, and six million next year, and now has a campaign to capture about 2 of 4 million used cars of those whose subscriptions lapsed after the car sale.

For those adults seeking a show, especially the growing boomers trailing off from state to state, the aspect of having continuous coast to coast stations, and weather, and news, and sound of tv broadcasts of weather and news, is the adult equivalent of the mastabatory experience called the IPOD.

Yes the stocks have fallen, but those of us who know better feel it is the windup for the pitch, and over the next 36 months, XM will be hitting home runs while SIRI, edging further and further towards bankruptcy, will fall the wayside, especially after Howard Stern either bankrupts them with the next contract, or retires at 56 36 months from now.

"The highly trumpeted and expensive Stern launch by Sirius satellite radio was supposed to turn around the struggling industry.It hasn't."
Fact: Sirius Radio had 600,000 before signing Stern. Stern celebrated his first year at Sirius this month; same month Sirius announced they have over 6,000,000 listeners.
I beg of you to visit the Math Department, as you have exposed your brain power in this article, and have them tell you how the signing of Stern impacted Sirius Radio. I believe, and this is debatable, that Stern also helped XM get more listeners. He raised the awareness of the whole Satellite Radio Industry; a sudden increase in subscriber growth, for both companies, can support my claim.
And if you consider a company that has grown yet another 82% after years of 100% growth a slow down, then I rest my case. Then there is the 6 million original projection for this year, but even if you take 6.3 million upgraded target then you have a growth projection that is off by about 5% in its target for the entire year.
"Although prominent personalities brought attention to satellite radio, research analysts largely believe audiences still can't tell the difference between the two services."
Stern, NBA, NFL, Nascar,.. vs. Oprah and MLB. Sirius has no commercials on their music channels, while XM does on some. This statement is almost as bad as the first one you made.
"Most music formats and talkers are available via free radio."
Help me out but I'm not sure I can listen to Oprah, Martha Stewart, Stern, Opie and Anthony on free radio. Where should my FM or AM dial sit at?
"Most new satellite radio owners now come through car purchases with factory-installed sets, but about half don't continue as paid subscribers once their free trials end."
Specify which radio company you are talking about as you artcile may affect some less intelligent investors. Sirius OEMs' are still in their trial periods for the majority of their vehicles, hence their chrun rate is very low.
I will stop there. I can pick at just about any sentance and prove you wrong with actual facts and sources; something you article doesn't offer. I must say that you aren't a very good writter, and if you believe in stuff you wrote, you aren't a very bright person. I hope next time you attempt writting a decent artcile you will do more research and cite your sources.

What I have noticed with Sirius is insiders getting 100's of million dollars every year. And dilution like the recent 40M shares a common theme.
Even if the business made a dime, the insiders would take it.
The shares outstanding will hit a mind boggling 1.7 BILLION this year for a company that loses a billion a yr.
Most will cancel after trial, so can you really call this a good business plan?!
Of course not. BANKRUPTCY coming.

Both XM and SIRI announced that they will post 2005 4Q CFBE. Together they have almost 14 million subscribers. SIRI posted 80% sub growth this year alone. All the while free radio is losing listeners.

The far out idea of people paying $0.50 per day to listen to music when they can listen to commercials for free?

Mr. McCall, pay no attention to the ones here who are bashing your very accurate and informative article. Most of them suffer from the sour grapes syndrome, with many of them having invested in Sirius stock and now upside down in their investment.

You raise valid points about why there will never be a merger between Sirius and XM, but it seems like some of the Sirius investors do not know what antitrust law is or why we have them in place to protect consumers. A merger between the only two satellite radio providers is bad for the consumer, because a sole provider who has unregulated control over subscriber fees could really stick it to the man.

You should also know that Stern got a bonus not only this year, but last year as well. Total cost over a five year period for Stern could very well top 1 billion dollars. Siruis is also adding NASCAR to their lineup this year, with Karmazin once again overspending for content. Many of these deals do not make good business sense because they allow for little to no room to make a profit and after all, being in business should be about making a profit.

Thanks for the great article and one in which you were able to leave your emotions at the door before you wrote it. Sure wish some of the people who bash you could do that. There is so much to see when you're not wearing rose colored glasses or lack side vision because you're wearing blinders.

Thanks again.
Joe

XM has 7.6 million subscribers and SIRI has 6 million subscribers. 13.6 million people are wrong and this Academic from Depauw, who probably never had a real job in his life, is right.

Give me abreak.

That certainly was a one sided view. In just a few years sat. radio has almost 15 million customers. Some of those have 2 subs like myself that does not show on the sub count. Don't you think that you should have mentioned that it is the fastest growing technology including the cell phone. It is just the beginning. The comparison of the year before should be noted that it was Howard Stern's first year joining sirius so of course it was going to be tough for the 2006 numbers to compare with the year before. Sirius went from 600,000 to 6,000,000 in a year and half. It may not be important to you, but don't you think it should be mentioned as a journalist. Seems like a bash to me when both sides are not mentioned

The professor does a pretty good job bashing satellite. What he does not address are the millions like me who think $13 a month is a decent price to pay for hearing the breadth of music I enjoy and NOT having to listen to commercials. There's more people like me willing to do that than the prof is willing to acknowledge.

There are numerous incredibly stupid moments in your article that lead me to believe you just might be a shill for terrestrial radio.

The growth of Sirius Satellite Radio has been actually quite amazing. They had 600,000 subscribers when Howard Stern signed his contract,and now after only one year of Howard Stern on the air, Sirius has 6.1 million subscribers! According to the Wall Street Journal, Stern needed to bring in only 1 million new subscribers to make it a good deal for Sirius. Clearly he has done this and a whole lot more. Yet you quickly dismiss him for not "turning around the industry". I think he has and satellite radio will continue to grow because it's far superior to regular radio in the same way that cable tv beats old-time rabbit ears antennae tv.

You claim radio's success has been in it's "local identity". Hogwash! That's the same lame reasoning that radio execs told Howard Stern when he tried to syndicate nationally in the mid-90's. Howard mentioned to them that people don't care if David Letterman or the Tonight Show is local, they just want to be entertained! Of course Howard was right and he went on to have an extremely successful national show in over 60 markets coast to coast!
My satellite radio gives me weather and traffic not only locally but for most major cities in the country. Great for everyday trips and well as long road trips.

You claim that "most music formats and talkers are available via free radio".
Clearly you are wrong and that's exactly why people are switching to satellite radio. I can't get uncensored comedy on regular radio. I can't get commercial free music on regular radio. I can't get the diversity of musical styles on regular radio. Add in the NFL, Nascar, and political talk and conversation on almost every subject imaginable and you have a service that leaves regular radio in the dust.

Since buying my satellite radio I never listen to regular radio anymore. I have no reason to. Wake up and join the revolution!

I love how deadmeat69 starts off sounding like he has an expert opinion on the industry but by the end of his comments you realize he's just MCalls equally idiotic brother who is unable to be objective because of those 100 shares of XM that are going to make him rich.

This topic certainly brought in a lot of out of state insterest going by IP address. That is somewhat curious. Maybe everyone just has wonky IPs like mine, since I live in Indianapolis and it says I'm in Ohio.