NASDAQ and Dave Contemplate Delisting Sirius XM

By  |  Friday, March 19, 2010 at 7:51 am

Oh, the timing. Sirius XM (SIRI) has received a de-listing notice from the NASDAQ for their perpetual and non-compliant sub $1 closing bid price. Well, it just so happens I’m also considering dropping Sirius XM from my digital lineup (again) this week.

My XM annual subscription is up and I’m questioning satellite radio’s value. Don’t get me wrong, I mostly enjoy the programming. In the scheme of things, $15 or so a month isn’t a big deal. And unlike TiVo’s monthly fees, Sirius XM actually provides content. But something about the way they operate leaves me feeling nickle and dimed. Starting with the BS royalty fees. Moving on to the horrid commercial advertising (on non-music stations). Followed by the online streaming upsell… a service that used to be included. To make matters more complex for me, Sirius XM still hasn’t figured out how to actually combine Sirius & XM. My subbed car is XM. My Sonos is Sirius. Never the twain shall meet.

So how much is satellite radio worth? The poll I ran last summer had 400+ respondents, with 41% willing to pay $6-$9/month. I’d go even higher. But let’s bundle everything together in a tidy little package that includes all made up fees and online streaming. But as it stands, I’m not sure I get enough value to carry on. Especially given my daily 90 minute afternoon commute has been replaced with stress-free 10 minute drive.

(This post republished from Zatz Not Funny)

 
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  1. Dave Says:
    March 19th, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    I don’t find the audio quality of XM to be that good. The channels vary from ok (classical) to bad (talk). It’s only useful for real-time programming (news, sports). For music, I prefer an Ipod playing high rate files.

  2. Stilgar Says:
    March 20th, 2010 at 4:34 am

    I’m not sure what you’re expecting from Sirius/XM?

    I just bought a new car that has XM. I’ve found the content to be 95 percent the same as the Sirius programming. If I wanted Stern, NASCAR, the NFL or other Sirius-exclusive stations, I could get them for a few more bucks a month.

    I have not noticed the price increase for the Internet stream, because I was already paying the $3/mo. for the premium quality. When they eliminated the stream included with the service, they also gave everyone the better audio quality. For me, there was no change in my bill. Oh yeah, and they also added more stations to the stream.

    I also don’t understand the complaint of commercials on the non-music stations. You have a talk show host siting in the studio doing a live show for three to five hours; they’re not entitled to a bathroom break? Now if they play ads during canned content like the comedy stations I can see how you’d be annoyed, but anytime I hear ads, they’re during live shows, which I completely understand.

    As far as the de-listing goes, I was surprised to see this news because the stock price graph everyone (including you) show with the story has the price per share around three dollars not that long ago. I knew it had bounced back, but didn’t know that it was below a buck again (it hasn’t been for long), especially considering Sirius/XM posted a profit for the first time in a few years.

  3. mharvey816 Says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    Good luck if you do decide to quit. Sirius XM makes it nearly impossible to contact someone with the authority to cancel your account, and if you do manage to get that person on the phone in under an hour, prepare to have them give you the hard sell to stay, and failing that, disconnect your call multiple times. There’s a reason they don’t let you cancel your account online. You might actually succeed on the first try.