XM was larger, Sirius was smaller. How is it that Sirius was able to take over XM?

Probably using a leveraged buyout.

Sirius is losing nearly $5 billion this quarter alone, yet the CEO is paid a hefty salary of $5 million. Gee, if I had performed like this when I was working, I’d have been fired.

Welcome to the wonderful world of executive compensation.

Steve

Bring back Cross Country Channel 12

Virtually all the XM channels are now totally f**ked up. There is no inherent sense to this merger. Seems there is some form of anti-trust violation going on here – no competition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Backspin/petition.html

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=40968787535

http://keepersoftheart.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-want-my-backspin-station-on-sirius-xm.html

Kevin Lockett
Bring Backspin Back Movement

However, the actual act of canceling is another story. XM lines are so overwhelmed with people complaining and canceling they cannot keep up.

The arrogance of SiriusXM is overwhelming. They list Channel A = Channel B on the programming list but rarely is there an equivalent. I bought satellite radio to hear an eclectic display of music — not hear the same Sirius playlists recycled a la ClearChannel every 4 hours.

At any rate, when you call XM, you’ll have to tell the first CSR your life sotry as to why you’re canceling. Then they’ll transfer you to the “cancellation department”. If XM doesn’t hang up on you at this point, someone will try to sell you a year at half off. “No thanks, I’d like to cancel.” Then they’ll try to give you 3 months for free. “No thanks, I’d like to cancel.” <– just keep saying that if you enjoy a clean credit rating and no charges on your bankcard. Then, they give you the fine print on the 3 months for free:

If you don’t call back before the end of the 90 days, XM WILL CHARGE YOUR CREDIT CARD AUTOMATICALLY. “No thanks, I’d like to cancel.” How many people do you think XM banks on to forget to call back in 90 days???

The moral of this story… block out about 2 or three hours to get through and just keep repeating “No thanks, I’d like to cancel” no matter how frustrated you will eventually get at the CSR.

Look at it this way:

The service XM provided to me was so incredible, I would have gladly paid (almost double). They respected my ecclectic music tastes.

Since the merger, the ecclectic stations have gone out the window. Therefore, I have cancelled and the new company receives NO money.

XM was the company to go to for music fans. SIRIUS was the company to go to for SPORTS and TALK. Trying to shoehorn everything into a ‘one-size fits-all, lowest common denominator’ package is not a good business strategy. It’s the reason we the listeners bailed from terrestrial radio in the first place.

Insofar as the ‘monopoly’ thing, Mel K. argued to the FCC that it was not a monopoly due to all the music choices — including terrestrial radio and the iPod — that consumers have.

To this end, he is correct. My iPod is reloaded and jacked up into my car’s audio port as we speak. If I can’t get FRED, X-COUNTRY, RAW, SPECIAL X-MAS, or DISORDER (from SIRIUS), I sure in hell can come up with more reasonable approximations that apparently the suits in the boardroom can.

Thanks, Mel K. for the suggestion!

On that’s right! You need to have Sirius.

You can huff and puff but you won’t blow this service down!

#1 Do I think everyone should lose their jobs? Perhaps. I know it sounds heartless, but I speak from experience. I was involved in print media for about three years– worked for a local, small town paper. In three years, I nailed five state and regional awards, was recognized by such entities as ESPN, MADD, etc.

Our paper was bought out by a multi-national (the ever-loving Gannett), and I was immediately dismissed for being ‘too controversial. Amazing thing is, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. A few weeks after I was dismissed, I saw half the hardest workers laid off, with the half NOT laid off shaking in their boots, secretly e-mailing me about how they dreaded the new working conditions, how every Friday or two a few more would be called into the office until our outfit went from 80 employees (including drivers, mailroom staff, etc) to EIGHT.

If these guys are not in it for the customers (XM and SIRIUS both performed a service at one point) and are in it only to serve the stockholders (as this merger indicates, and as was hammered down my newspaper’s throat when Gannett thought it was a grand idea to merge us with the larger newspaper 50 miles away), then they deserve to go under. Better to rip the band-aid off quickly than to make these workers suffer and sweat, wondering if they’ll be next to be called into the office.

2 — about ‘these foreigners’. I deal with Charter Communications, Virgin Mobile, and Geico insurance. I cannot tell you the pleasant experience of dealing with these companies’ USA call centers, where during the conversation, we can make small talk about whatever’s going on in the US. It beats the hell out of the time when a CSR from INDIA (for Belkin) hung up on me in frustration because I did not know the definition of the word “Sey-Bley” a word somewhere in his script that apparently he couldn’t pronounce.

I had to laugh that when I called up XM to cancel, and expressed it was due to the cancellation of FRED and that DISORDER was not going to be brought over, the CSR enthusiastically read from her script. I had to patiently explain to her about the lack of Goth, Electronic music, etc., that the new playlist sounded like it’s coming from a Wal-Mart compilation CD. The CSR admitted she did not know what Goth or Wal-Mart were. I need a person I can relate to, a person that cares on the other end of that line, not someone two weeks out of ELL class that cannot understand my culture.

3 — Do I wish for listeners that do not feel screwed to be cut off? No, but it makes no sense for both stations to merge into a plain-vanilla listening experience because some research or chart says thats what people want. Those people that want such already have that experience on free AM and FM radio.

Mainstream music fans, sports fans, talk fans, etc., will soon fall off the wagon because so much of what they want is available for free.

Satellite was about serving a host of rag-tag underserved markets (spanish speakers, goth fans, electronic fans, fans of old-time radio and Christian radio, kids radio, etc). While these niche markets on their own could not survive commercial radio, together under the satellite umbrella, these listeners became special.

I remember that the head of Sirius said that the merger would not create a monopoly because of the plethora of options out there, including terrestial radio and the iPod. He doesn’t know how correct he was, as last weekend I purchased an input jack to run my iPod through my car’s stereo. The money I am saving on my subscription is starting to buy me a lot iTunes.

Just look up ‘XM SIRIUS merger complaint’ on Google. I am not the only one doing this. Judging from threads like these, it seems like I am only one in an exodus of many.

#1– the whole purpose of a merger is to merge, consolidate, and try to operate more cheaply. Many good folk — personalities, programmers, techs and such — are already out on their bums thanks to this ‘merger’ — all to help boost the stockholders’ bottom line

Granted, but does that mean that everybody should lose their jobs? That makes it sound like you think it should be an all-or-nothing layoff policy, in which case most mergers would never happen.

#2 — the most jobs would probably be lost to the overseas customer service reps. When I called to complain about my subscription, I was put on hold three separate times and connected to three separate accents. These CSR’s are being paid slave wages anyway. It’s not like we’d be hurting the family down the street.

Wow. So it’s OK for people you don’t know or feel are being underpaid to lose their jobs? Why not just say “those foreigners” while you’re at it?

Instead, how about letting them decide if their jobs are worth keeping.

#3 — In a capitalist society, failure happens. What the merger has done is take the markets both XM and Sirius originally courted — the ecclectic music lover, foreign language speakers, among a host of other ‘fringe’ consumers not being served, and created an outlet for them. Now it seems with the merger, the ‘fringes’ are being cut left and right as the boardroom seems to be eyeing the mainstream market — you know, the market already served by free, terrestial radio, with no need to pay for what is already available.

Yes, failures happen, but why does that make it OK to wish failure upon somebody — especially when the failure would have ramifications on more than the decision makers?

I agree that the cuts are probably being made for business reasons, but so what? If people don’t like them, they stop subscribing (but I hope they’ll let Sirius/XM know why they’re stopping). If enough people stop subscribing, the company will fail, but again, why wish that on them?

As for music, I don’t subscribe, but I understand why people are upset. However, this isn’t exclusive to satellite radio. The local rock station in San Jose (KSJO) that had been around since I moved to California in 1983 got turned into a Spanish language station a few years ago as a business decision. I didn’t wish the company to go out of business (although I do occasionally flip off their vans when I see them :D).

However, satellite radio is about more than music — it has talk (like Howard Stern, who is immensely popular whether you like him or not) and sports, too. It’s also for travelers who wanted have their favorite stations no matter where they went, regardless of format.

Do you really hate Sirius/XM enough to not only wish people out of work but to cut off other listeners who don’t feel screwed? “If it’s not good enough for me, nobody should have it….” What kind of attitude is that?

Steve