XM relies primarialy on car sales to sell radios & lost a net 17K retail customers 3Q

[S0S]

XM Predicted Car Sales Slump Shouldn't Impact XM

- 11/26 -

DC's XM Satellite Radio expects car radio sales to remain solid even if the most dire projections of slowing auto sales come true. .... relies almost entirely on car buyers for customer growth.

XM lost a net 17,000 retail customers, who buy radios from Best Buy and other retail outlets, in the third quarter. XM expects retail subscriber growth to resume in the fourth quarter due to the typically busy holiday shopping season, but retail sales may decline in the first or second quarter of 2008.Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112600977.html?referrer=emailarticle)
dcrtv.com (http://dcrtv.com/)


:innocent:

[Freitag]

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112600977.html?referrer=emailarticle)
dcrtv.com (http://dcrtv.com/)


:innocent:

If your implication is that the 17K subs lost was due to the suspension mess, 3Q is July-August-September, which is well beyond O&A's return.

[StupidGirlllll]

I never understand S.O.S. threads.. I must be a really stupidgirlllll

[Death Metal Moe]

I think it's just a symptom of a medium that's not doing nearly as well as everyone had hoped.

I want it to succeed but it still seems hard to get people to pay for something they have had for free for so long. And because you need special equipment and you can't just walk around anywhere and receive it, it makes it even less appealing.

[oh_kee_pa]

im far too young to understand why people decided to pay for television. But, I would imagine it was because cable had something on it that people didnt want to miss. Right now, does sattelite really have anything to offer above and what you can get on an every day basis?
Sure, they definetly appear to niche groups, Dylan fans, The Zeppelin Chanel, Howard Stern, O&A, etc.... but there certainly isn't a need for mass groups to feel they need to go and buy a radio.
And, I feel that both sattelite companies advertise horribly, and, like IPODS should generate the advertising to a younger demo... the 13-25 year olds are the people that should be buying the XM radios.
Show a kid running around town w/ an inno, or in his room listening to XM/Sirius. I dont think people look at it as an alternative to and ipod.

[MikeB]

XM is doing some sort of free thing now. I think you get like 12 of their best channels for free one week and another 12 the next week. Problem is you still need people to buy and install units. They need to find a way to get people to try out their internet service first but then again they do not have all the channels on there.

[cupcakelove]

I think the point of the article is that XM relies on car sales for their growth, and that XM is not worried about the slump in car sales right now. Unless they have an exclusive deal with GM, they shouldn't be worried, since American autos are the only ones slumping.

[zentraed]

I think it's just a symptom of a medium that's not doing nearly as well as everyone had hoped.

I want it to succeed but it still seems hard to get people to pay for something they have had for free for so long. And because you need special equipment and you can't just walk around anywhere and receive it, it makes it even less appealing.

I think Sirius and XM combined have over 15 million subscribers. The medium itself is successful, but having two companies compete when they can't really differentiate themselves is what makes it a tough business.

[patsopinion]

xm is doing fine
they had less 17k less growth than last year
no big deal
and feel like they can stay competitive in the car market then cool

the real issue is that they didn't put out a new mp3 player that would have a competitive amount of storage.
but i dont see a good one too far off; maybe a few weeks into the merger they will announce a new one to drive support/stock prices during a rough patch

[conman823]

I don't think a combined 15 million subs is a success, the merger shows how weak both companies are right now I don't care how its spun.

New car sales would be the future of sales, I have an old Roady 2 now in my SUV. When I trade in like 2 months, I will have a factory installed unit and dump my old Roady. Also I see no need to update said Roady because it works just fine. At home and work its internet listening which means my home dock will be trashed too.

I have tried to sell some people on XM, or Satellite in general, but almost all say "I have an IPod". Maybe someone with a new car will try it for a few months, but i don't think it would lead to long term subs. I got it for O&A, I keep it for O&A, R&F, and Rock Stations that I LOVE, but really I could just use my IPod instead.

[patsopinion]

I have tried to sell some people on XM, or Satellite in general, but almost all say "I have an IPod". Maybe someone with a new car will try it for a few months, but i don't think it would lead to long term subs. I got it for O&A, I keep it for O&A, R&F, and Rock Stations that I LOVE, but really I could just use my IPod instead.

the hole pitch for satellite is that the ipod is inheriently flawd in that you cannot expand on the music you already have/exposed to more

i mean 20g of music is fine for some people
but in reality it is such a small fraction of the total music that it doesnt matter
again something that could do both would get me into to buy and would have a shot of legitimately competing for market share

[Recyclerz]

I don't think a combined 15 million subs is a success, the merger shows how weak both companies are right now I don't care how its spun.

New car sales would be the future of sales, I have an old Roady 2 now in my SUV. When I trade in like 2 months, I will have a factory installed unit and dump my old Roady. Also I see no need to update said Roady because it works just fine. At home and work its internet listening which means my home dock will be trashed too.

I have tried to sell some people on XM, or Satellite in general, but almost all say "I have an IPod". Maybe someone with a new car will try it for a few months, but i don't think it would lead to long term subs. I got it for O&A, I keep it for O&A, R&F, and Rock Stations that I LOVE, but really I could just use my IPod instead.

the hole pitch for satellite is that the ipod is inheriently flawd in that you cannot expand on the music you already have/exposed to more

i mean 20g of music is fine for some people
but in reality it is such a small fraction of the total music that it doesnt matter
again something that could do both would get me into to buy and would have a shot of legitimately competing for market share

I agree with Pat's opinion on why satellite radio should be seen as an enhanced version of the iPod (especially the newer Inno/Helix units) but the problem (business-wise) is that most people just want to here the same ol' crap from their youth over and over again, be it Baba O'Reilly on the "classic" rock stations or Give It Away on KROCK, making satellite's most compelling feature something that only a fraction of the market is interested in much less pay for.

I disagree with conman that 15 million is a failure. Admittedly, a big fraction of that number is people with new cars that may not renew their subs but I think that XM and Sirius could have had a profitable little duopoly if they had not succumbed to the late boom internet business model of throwing away the boatloads of cash that Wall St. was handing out, chasing more growth at any cost. Especially nuts were the contracts to the "talent" that made no business sense - Stern is obviously the biggest but also Martha Stewart, Oprah, etc. We'll have to see if a merger (if they can get it through) with Mel Karazin in charge preserves enough about what is good about the medium to keep it viable and doesn't ruin it with too much advertising.

[Fallon]

The Inno is awesome, but in no way compares to a real MP3 player. Their is just not enough space given to put a lot of your own music on it. I have mine at 100% XM recordings since it's not a feature even worth using.

After the merger they need to come out with something huge. A affordable portable that gets great live reception and has all kinds of storage for media.

[chubbyknuckles]

the hole pitch for satellite is that the ipod is inheriently flawd in that you cannot expand on the music you already have/exposed to more

i mean 20g of music is fine for some people
but in reality it is such a small fraction of the total music that it doesnt matter
again something that could do both would get me into to buy and would have a shot of legitimately competing for market share

Don't you feel the great initial pitch of satellite radio, being fcc free, and unregulated, with NO interuptions and no commercials, was just such a huge set up? I mean I listen to the xm music stations and songs are bleeped, as if they were on reg radio. Plus no commercials is a lie, sure it's not the same as reg radio but they are still there. And by far i love satellite its a huge boost to the medium creatively, but just not marketed right.

[patsopinion]

The Inno is awesome, but in no way compares to a real MP3 player. Their is just not enough space given to put a lot of your own music on it. I have mine at 100% XM recordings since it's not a feature even worth using.

After the merger they need to come out with something huge. A affordable portable that gets great live reception and has all kinds of storage for media.

i know corporate could fucking care less about what i think but

microsoft's mp3 player is eating it hard right now on the open market
with xm added to the zune it could be a great product with a built in niche market for microsoft to build their mp3 customer base

the thing already has wifi, 30gs, a radio tuner, and will play vids and they still cant fucking give it away (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Microsoft-Zune-30GB-Digital-Media-Player-Brown-882224274593/sem/rpsm/oid/165775/catOid/-12952/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)

[conman823]

i know corporate could fucking care less about what i think but

microsoft's mp3 player is eating it hard right now on the open market

cant fucking give it away (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Microsoft-Zune-30GB-Digital-Media-Player-Brown-882224274593/sem/rpsm/oid/165775/catOid/-12952/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)

First of all if corporate was smart they would read board like this. (i'm looking at you CBS radio)

Microsofts MP3 player is eating it right now because of an over flooded market. IPod is like the fuckin most Titan thing in the world. Microsoft owns a huge chunk of Apple, hence a chunk of IPod. Microsoft also will leave a product on the shelves thats losing $$ because the over all company has big $$ to waste. (i.e. X-Box)

[conman823]

Don't you feel the great initial pitch of satellite radio, being fcc free, and unregulated, with NO interuptions and no commercials, was just such a huge set up? I mean I listen to the xm music stations and songs are bleeped, as if they were on reg radio. Plus no commercials is a lie, sure it's not the same as reg radio but they are still there. And by far i love satellite its a huge boost to the medium creatively, but just not marketed right.

I don't think it was a huge set-up, most of what I listen too is 99.9% commercial free and unedited. There is going to be edited content, thats why theres XL channels and Channel blocking is available. Not everyone wants to hear cursing in there music. Its a far cry better than FM.
if your talking about commercials during O&A well then that was a lie. Ultimately salaries need to get paid, but it was overkill on XM before they even went to CBS. I imagined when the boys needed/wanted a break they would play some music.
i think satellite was marketed good at the beginning it just all goes back to the whole paying for the radio end of it. I think in new cars its a feature that people don't mind paying for just to say they have it. At my house we use it inside during dinners and when i have friends over and they love it. they won't buy it cause they drive like 10mins total a day, but they think its great.

that said, What if satellite made a home "Boom-box" radio and THOSE units got a discount price? I think subs would go up and the units would sell.

[conman823]

I disagree with conman that 15 million is a failure. Admittedly, a big fraction of that number is people with new cars that may not renew their subs but I think that XM and Sirius could have had a profitable little duopoly if they had not succumbed to the late boom internet business model of throwing away the boatloads of cash that Wall St. was handing out, chasing more growth at any cost. Especially nuts were the contracts to the "talent" that made no business sense - Stern is obviously the biggest but also Martha Stewart, Oprah, etc. We'll have to see if a merger (if they can get it through) with Mel Karazin in charge preserves enough about what is good about the medium to keep it viable and doesn't ruin it with too much advertising.

I agree that it was nuts throwing away money on B.S. contracts like that.....at a total of 15 million subs. Don't forget that number was smaller before those contracts were handed out. I think Stern was a huge draw, but i also think they just threw money at him like he was fuckin god. I bet today you would have the same number of subs and more profit in there pockets if they would have thought before they acted.

After the merger satellite needs a portable unit that will at least dent IPods market. Its gotta have clear reception, a song selecting feature, and be affordable to 16-45 market. Also lower monthly costs would help.

[scottinnj]

XM did zero advertising over the summer-which is strange because that's baseball season, and I didn't see any commercials for the service until the playoffs. That kind of silence has to hurt sales.
I know the same thing happened to Chevrolet. A lack of advertising while the imports hawked their hybrids hurt Chevy for a long time last year, when practically the only thing you saw on TV from Chevy was a pickup truck commercial. Sales went down and are now just starting to become competitive with Toyota once again now that the alternative fuels ad campaign is being seen on the TV and heard on the radio.

[pennington]

A big part of it, too, is people are waiting to see what happens with the merger and what new equipment will come out. Frankly, who knows if the combined company can succeed with all that debt.

I'll bet they're just hoping a big conglomerate (like GE, CBS, or Clear Channel) will buy them out. Then all the big owners will cash-out and leave.

[conman823]

A big part of it, too, is people are waiting to see what happens with the merger and what new equipment will come out. Frankly, who knows if the combined company can succeed with all that debt.

I'll bet they're just hoping a big conglomerate (like GE, CBS, or Clear Channel) will buy them out. Then all the big owners will cash-out and leave.

Nah, Don't you know they have HD RADIO, those secret channels between the channels. It keeps me up at night thinking theres more commercials between the channels the commercials are on.

[S0S]

Nah, Don't you know they have HD RADIO, those secret channels between the channels. It keeps me up at night thinking theres more commercials between the channels the commercials are on.


Does anyone have a HD Radio? I don't expect an unbiased answer on the Ron & Fez site but still does anyone have any interest or knows someone IRL who does?

conman823 has a fine taste in Avatars.:thumbup:

[conman823]

Does anyone have a HD Radio? I don't expect an unbiased answer on the Ron & Fez site but still does anyone have any interest or knows someone IRL who does?

conman823 has a fine taste in Avatars.:thumbup:


Go over to the New York Radio Message board they talk about HD Radio like the Christ child is being born on it.


In an unrelated topic, my friend has your avatar in tatoo form SOS.

[PapaBear]

The best thing about HD radio is the amazing life-like picture.

Seriously, though. What's the point? So it sounds better. That doesn't make the content any better.

[conman823]

The best thing about HD radio is the amazing life-like picture.

:lol:

Talk about a shitty sell point.

"HD Radio, when the 657 channels in the NY Metro area don't satisfy your need for commercials."