[JetBlack]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Commentary/Experts/Markman/Jon_Markman.aspx?msn=1

Sirius Satellite radio has been doing poorly for a while now. Shares of stock have dropped from a peak of $300 to a whopping $3. How many of you have Sirius installed in your cars and what are you going to do when/if it goes down?

How much equipment is involved in those radios?

 

[tsaints1115]

For one the stock was never higher than $60 but that being said I`m not worried because the rival XM is doing worse. Part of the fiscal expense on both parts was having to provide equipment to consumers for two different services. Once the merger is approved the single company can standardize it`s equipment thus lowering costs. With all thats going on Sirius is still begining to run in the black.

Anyway I have three subscriptions,two are portable recievers,while the third is built in with my Alpine head unit. I have had it since fall of 05 and am completely happy with it. I will NEVER go back to terrestrial radio. If you`ve never heard it,try it. Crystal clear reception,no commercials on music channels,only six minute comercial breaks on the talk channels per hour,content you can`t touch on FCC governed regular radio. Should be just your ticket where your at. Idaho doesn`t come across like a high radio content area.

 

[ultraclyde]

What about the merger between the two that is currently awaiting fed approval?

I've got xm, and agree that I'd never go back to regular radio. Unless I don't have a choice. If they do fail, at least I can say yeah, I remember that...it was great.

 

[tsaints1115]

Xm had higher subscriptions because they worked to come on the market quicker while Sirius was slower but took more time to develop equipment. Sirius is the healthier of the two but with the merger they should retain the bulk of the content from each,only shedding duplicate content most likely. With all of the content in one basket and all of the content now also it should become a more profitable company.

 

[Warlock]

Just gone

Well my 6 month free ride from Sirius is over now. My 07 GT came with 6 months free service. I got a letter from Sirius saying that for $51.80 I get 6 more months. Now my radio just says "call Sirius at 1-888-601-6277" when in Satellite mode.

The sound is great, but here in San Antonio the FM stations kick ass and sound great also. I just dont see the benifit unless you travel a lot, in which case you cant beat it. Just for "GP" I will most likley spend the money just to have all the buttons on the radio work. :embarrassed

 

[Pagan]

Well my 6 month free ride from Sirius is over now. My 07 GT came with 6 months free service. I got a letter from Sirius saying that for $51.80 I get 6 more months. Now my radio just says "call Sirius at 1-888-601-6277" when in Satellite mode.

The sound is great, but here in San Antonio the FM stations kick ass and sound great also. I just dont see the benifit unless you travel a lot, in which case you cant beat it. Just for "GP" I will most likley spend the money just to have all the buttons on the radio work. :embarrassed

Actually Wizard, the benefits of satellite radio are many, depending on your tastes.

Like 24 hour uncensored standup comedy. You won't find that on the regular dials! I don't know how many Sirius has, but XM has four channels of comedy, as well as one channel of classic "clean" comedy.

Plus, XM has NHL games, and living in NY it's next to impossible to ever see or hear Penguins games unless it's against the local teams.

Once the merger goes through, you'll be able to hear hockey, football, AND baseball games on the satellite! Sport fan paradise!

Also, being a heavy metal fan, it's pretty much the ONLY place to hear new metal as it's coming over from Europe, and the old classic metal I grew up loving.

Add that to NO commercials on the music channels, and I'll never listen to terrestrial radio again except to get local news, traffic and weather.

 

[zourick]

If the merger goes through then Sirius subscribers will benfit from traffic alerts and re-routes on navigation systems. They will also have enough bandwidth to send video signals. I think its going to make FM radio look like UHF TV after cable came out. I just hope I don't have to buy a new navigation system or new radio to use the service.

 

[hawgman]

Also, being a heavy metal fan, it's pretty much the ONLY place to hear new metal as it's coming over from Europe, and the old classic metal I grew up loving.

I personally subscribe to Sirius, but since I travel so much I frequently rent cars with XM ( that is who the rent car co. that my company uses has a contract with ). I have had plenty of opportunity to compre the two services. With respect to the heavy metal stations ( which is about all I listen to ), I can truthfully say that Sirius blows XM away. Nothing better on the dial than Hard Attack 27.

I just hope that if they do merge they give the subscribers a say in what is kept and what isn't when they start weeding out duplication of station formats.

 

[ducfoot]

I love my Sirius for Hair Nation and Hard Attack, and also will never return to terrestrial radio.
More fun than the FCC will allow and no commercials, have a bit of a problem paying Howard Stern's bazillion dollar salary though....
At least the stock is a buy today.

 

[06 Slvr Bullitt]

I'm an mp3 man myself. I like loading up the Shaker with 1,530 of my favorite songs, television shows and comedy bits. No commercials, no annoying DJs, no monthly costs, lol. I hardly ever listen to FM, so I don't seen any reason to invest in XM or Sirius. The only time I actually do listen to XM when when I turn it to those channels on my DirecTV receiver.

 

[tw0scoops123]

Dunno if you noticed, but there hasn't been anything that is doing well on the stock exchange in the past few weeks...haven't you seen the pics of the stock exchange with guys with their hands on their faces on CNN?

 

[Pagan]

I personally subscribe to Sirius, but since I travel so much I frequently rent cars with XM ( that is who the rent car co. that my company uses has a contract with ). I have had plenty of opportunity to compre the two services. With respect to the heavy metal stations ( which is about all I listen to ), I can truthfully say that Sirius blows XM away. Nothing better on the dial than Hard Attack 27.

Yea I've heard that. One of the reasons I'm glad the two are merging. I chose XM because I wanted to listen to O&A in the morning and my Penguin games at night.

Now that they'll merge I'll get the best of both worlds.

 

[Guest]

Where I live we have a handful of FM stations and two AM stations. All but one of them suck and even the one that doesn't suck isn't great. I'm afraid I'll never go back to terrestrial radio again. Plus, when we head out to our hunting cabin in the fall, it's in the middle of nowhere... so all you can pickup is satellite radio. Most of the fishing boats in these parts have either Sirius or XM (though most have Sirius I hear). Without Octane or Hair Nation I don't think I could stand my part time pizza delivery job.

 

[Foolinjected]

Years ago....when satelite TV first came out they're biggest selling point was NO commercials....well anyone who now has Directv or Dish Network knows the commercials are excessive, unless your watching a premium channel. My guess would be satelite radio will eventually go the same way.

 

[davesiar]

I love my Sirius radio, and thought to myself before I bought one, who the hell would pay for radio? Now that I have it, I could never go back to commercial radio. If Sirius and XM do merge , depending on government approval, I think that will be awesome. The only thing I am missing is the O&A show. Oh, by the way, Sirius' stock was at $1.15 about 2 years ago, when I purchased a bunch of it, so it has more than doubled since then.

 

[snowboarder7710]

i have my sirius that came with my 06 f150 and i just recently moved the tuner to my mustang. it came with the 6 months free but it was never cancelled!! the dealer activated it but i guess never cancelled it...it worked before i bought the truck so i never subscribed to anything. hehehe


i had xm in the past, and the sirius rock stations kick butt.....i didnt like the xm one (squizz) played the same thing over and over and bands ive never heard of...probably for good reason though. sirius is a bit better though. i cant wait till they merge, i wanna hear nhl on my sirius!!

but i know if they merge, my free "trial" will probably end. then ill actually resubscribe.

 

[FuzzyDice]

You can count on the merger being approved eventually, especially if it makes sense for the consumer....Washington will not hold that up. And if there is no merger, neither XM or Sirius will survive the way things are now.

 

[JetBlack]

i have my sirius that came with my 06 f150 and i just recently moved the tuner to my mustang. it came with the 6 months free but it was never cancelled!! the dealer activated it but i guess never cancelled it...it worked before i bought the truck so i never subscribed to anything. hehehe

My cable is like that. I had lived here for two years and was not a tv watcher. My Girlfriend wanted to watch Survivor's last episode, on Thanksgiving, I think. We couldn't get it with the rabbit ears I bought, just for this occasion, so she told me to plug in the cable line because her tv gets better reception with the cable in, than out.

I have cable.

I've lived here almost five years now and also have never subscribed to anything.

When it goes out during thunderstorms, I consider calling repair... then remember why I shouldn't do that

 

[zenflow]

RE: XM and Cable

My cable is like that. I had lived here for two years and was not a tv watcher. My Girlfriend wanted to watch Survivor's last episode, on Thanksgiving, I think. We couldn't get it with the rabbit ears I bought, just for this occasion, so she told me to plug in the cable line because her tv gets better reception with the cable in, than out.

I have cable.

I've lived here almost five years now and also have never subscribed to anything.

When it goes out during thunderstorms, I consider calling repair... then remember why I shouldn't do that

That's funny. My apartment is the same way. Ever since I moved here about 3 years ago, my cable has just always worked. If anyone ever comes around asking about it, I'm just gonna say "I thought that was included in the rent." I didn't do anything to the cable lines to make it work. I usually have pretty good luck at little things like that. Won a television at my Senior prom, and a bunch of other raffles. Anyway, back to the subject. I have had XM for about 2 years now and love it. What I like the most about it is that it's a great way to discover new music. I have diversified my music portfolio a lot since I've had it. It's great to no longer have to ask, "what the hell is the name of that song, who sings it?" and do countless lyric searches just to find the name of a new song I discovered. Just glance at the screen and hit the memory button and write it down later. In all honesty though, now that I've had it for so long I really only listen to the first memory bank of channels (10 channels). In the future it would be nice if they let you pick your programming kinda how satellite TV is. That way I could just tailor my channel lineup according to what I actually listen to. I hope satellite radio doesn't go under. I can't stand the radio stations here in the hills of KY. I really doubt both would go under. Sooner or later another company will pop up. There is too much money to be made.