What's up with Sirus and XM ?

[SingSing]

I got a new car with SIRUS radio. The hanbook says I need to activate it, So I turned it on, to look for the radio id number. But the radio already is receiving 100s of channels, except the new NBA channels that I was look for.

Does activation just means geting all the channels?

Does the bankrupcy filing means XM/SIRUS will eventually get off the air ?

[edDV]

You probably have a trial period. Talk to the car dealer.

[Number Six]

I think that I read that Dish Network is a major holder of their debt, so it is possible that Dish will eventually be the owner. Either way, I hope that they do not go off the air - I really enjoy the service. I have a Sirius only receiver that I use at home.

[dLee]

I had to buy a new car last fall. My supposedly 3 month trial is still going strong.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would think that the more subscribers they had, the more attractive the company would seem to a prospective buyer.

You probably won't get turned off anytime soon.

I've been enjoying Sirius via Dish - great to have it in the car, too.

Last year, Dish tried to take over Sirius, but was rebuffed. The bankruptcy filing plus no buyer makes it likely that Dish will end up owning it. They're the logical ones to run it.

[FulciLives]

I just got a new car like 3 weeks ago and it also has Sirius XM or whatever it's called. Never had it before. Kinda neat. Especially the comedy channels.

Mine is also supposedly a 3 month thing but it was ON when I got the car.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Epicurus8a]

They probably gave you three months free.

I'm a devoted XM user. One of my radios came with a limited trial period for 70 or 80 channels. Out of curiosity, I waited to see what would happen if I didn't activate the radio. One-by-one the channels started disappearing, so I activated the radio and haven't had any regrets.

DirecTV's parent company (Liberty Media) wrote a check for $530 million to keep the creditors away.
http://www.businessinsider.com/sirius-xm-saved-by-liberty-2009-2

I sincerely hope they don't fold because most local radio stations are programmed by nitwits.

[SingSing]

I think XM bought out Sirus. But they have different receivers, so they are two services under one companies, and you have pay both of them if you want it all ? Are their contents similar or different ?

Sirus also air over the internet for very low fee. That sounds like a great deal to me.

I sincerely hope they don't fold because most local radio stations are programmed by nitwits.

Ah, you mean Clear Channel.

[Epicurus8a]

I think XM bought out Sirus. But they have different receivers, so they are two services under one companies, and you have pay both of them if you want it all ? Are their contents similar or different ?

Sirus also air over the internet for very low fee. That sounds like a great deal to me.

Sirius now controls XM. They offer more-or-less similar services; except for sports programming. And each service offers "the best of..." channels from the other service.

If you are a true fanatic, there will soon be a radio that is capable of receiving ALL Sirius and XM programming. Furthermore, the last time I checked, they both offered lifetime subscriptions* for $400 each.

Here are the program line-ups for comparison. (Print out the PDF files if you like.):
http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/full-channel-listing.xmc
http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=ChannelLineup...=1218563499691


*Lifetime of the radio, not your lifetime. They would, however, permit lifetime subscribers to switch radios 3 or 4 times. (For a small fee, of course.)

[MJA]

As if satellite radio fans, especially longtime XM ones, didn’t have enough to worry about, there’s a juicy rumor going around right now that suggests that Sirius XM prices are going to increase across the board. Ugh.

The rumor started on the Digital Radio Central message board, from someone claiming to be an employee of Sirius XM’s Activations Department. The alleged hikes:

• Online streaming will no longer be free (unless you’re a lifetime subscriber), instead it’ll be $2.99 for most packages, perhaps as much as $8.99 for the Mostly Music and Family Packs

• Each additional radio tethered to your sub will cost $8.99 a month, up $2 from $6.99 a month

Orbitcast’s own Deepthroats have confirmed price increase, though their numbers vary slightly.

In any event, current subscribers will be able to “lock in” current prices (free online streaming, $6.99 per additional radio).

What a terrific merger, right? Unwanted channel changes (and fan reaction), people losing their jobs on the XM side of things, price raises. This is not what I’m used to.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/20/annoying-rumor-sirius-xm-price-increases-this-spring/

oh like one dude said"remember, this is a luxury not a necessity. "

I canceled mine last year

[rhegedus]

Kinda neat. Especially the comedy channels.

Had many chuckles listening to Blue Collar Radio - ended up buyiing a load of James Gregory stuff afterwards.

XM Lithium (was Lucy) is great to rock out to.

[Soopafresh]

I love Howard Stern, although it doesn't help that his $500 million salary was the same amount Sirius had to borrow to make their last loan payment. He did bring millions to satellite radio, however.

[edDV]

I love Howard Stern, although it doesn't help that his $500 million salary was the same amount Sirius had to borrow to make their last loan payment. He did bring millions to satellite radio, however.

If an "employee", Stern would have received most of that $500 million in options or stock, not cash payout. If the company goes down, so do the options and stock. Or a new investor could dilute old stock forcing the value way down.

[FulciLives]

Well I admit I sort of enjoy Sirius XM in my new car but these days ... unlike in the past ... I drive very little. My morning drive to work is like 10 minutes or so and at night maybe a hint longer but not much. Other than the weekends I'm hardly in the car and some weekends I just like to stay home and not be bothered.

So although I enjoy it I'm guessing I will not extend it after the 3 months although if they had a package that included car and home I might go for it but then that would mean some sort of hardware for home and I'm guessing that isn't cheap and I don't have much money to "throw away" these days.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[SingSing]

Here are the program line-ups for comparison. (Print out the PDF files if you like.):
http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/full-channel-listing.xmc
http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=ChannelLineup...=1218563499691

Thank you for the listings. I am now total confused. I denifinitely has a sirus radio, because it has 12 digita ID ( XM uses a 8 digits ID ), but I am getting all the XM channels on my sirus radio !!! like 40 on 4, 50 on 5, Elvis Radio, BBC world news, ...

[satviewer2000]

I also bought a new car, and it had a 3 month free trial of XM radio. You are supposed to "activate" it if you want to subscribe to the service after the 3 month trial period has ended. After 3 months, my trial was cancelled, now all I get is some ads. I live in Canada, so perhaps that's why I didn't get more than 3 months worth of XM. Anyways, in Canada there's just not enough content as compared to my local *free* radio stations to warrant actually paying for a subscription.

By chance, I bought an "Internet Radio" shortly afterwards, and could basically listen to 100's of radio stations (both commercial and amateur) without having to subscribe to anything at all! Sure I couldn't use it in my car, and they weren't exactly the same stations as XM, but they had pretty well the same sort of content, and it was all free. In the car, I can listen to MP3's or the local stations. I think satellite radio will likely die unless they either make it free (ad driven) or drastically reduce the price.