Official Slacker Forums

[XM Refugee #9]

Reports are coming out that SirusXM may file for bankruptcy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/techn ... io.html?hp

I was going to hold onto 2 radios. One for the car on long trips and another
at home to listen to news/talk.

[BillD3818]

Reports are coming out that SirusXM may file for bankruptcy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/techn ... io.html?hp

I was going to hold onto 2 radios. One for the car on long trips and another
at home to listen to news/talk.

Yep, I just read that.. Too bad.

I'm also reading the past week or so the CSR's have been making ridiculously low offers to subs who want to cancel. A couple bucks a month to stay on.

So if true if anyone is interested you may want to give them a call. If they file for bankruptcy they'll still be in business, but of course they could fold at anytime and you may lose your money. But if you can get a deal for $24 a year or something like that it maybe worth the chance.

[xyzzy]

Reports are coming out that SirusXM may file for bankruptcy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/techn ... io.html?hp

I was going to hold onto 2 radios. One for the car on long trips and another
at home to listen to news/talk.

Hope it's not too long of a trip, otherwise the signal might go dark before you arrive at your destination.

OK, that was mean. But hey, I'm still a bit ticked off over what they did to my beloved XM!!

[MikeV]

They'll go BK and Dish will buy 'em up at fire sale prices... they already own much of Sirius XM's debt...

[XM Refugee #9]

Hope it's not too long of a trip, otherwise the signal might go dark before you arrive at your destination.

OK, that was mean. But hey, I'm still a bit ticked off over what they did to my beloved XM!!

Sad thing is that if they go dark any content I have saved on the XM2GO will expire.
Video Killed the Radio Star and Mel Karmazian keeeled Satellite Radio.

XM is dead.

Long Live XM.

[BillD3818]

They'll go BK and Dish will buy 'em up at fire sale prices... they already own much of Sirius XM's debt...

Moe and more that's the way it's looking.

The word this morning is Ergen made another pitch to bail SXM out and restructure it, of course he'll only do this if he can get control of SXM.

Right now it looks like SXM only has 2 choices. File for Chapter 11 or let Ergen take over. Either might save the company, or not.

[buckeye96]

I hope Ergen takes the company over. He can't do any worse than Mel has and maybe he can bring it back to what I loved about SatRad. Mel turned SXM into terrestial radio and hopefully someone can turn it back to a content rich, listener driven format.

[BillD3818]

I hope Ergen takes the company over. He can't do any worse than Mel has and maybe he can bring it back to what I loved about SatRad. Mel turned SXM into terrestial radio and hopefully someone can turn it back to a content rich, listener driven format.

IMO be careful what you wish for. From what I've been reading many think Ergen intentions for SXM may not be good.

Of course this is all speculation. But many think Ergen just wants SXM equipment OR to drop the audio service and to use their equipment for something like Mobile Video.

[Jon]

He could decide to take the repeaters and bandwidth off their hands to create mobile video. Or he could decide to make SiriusXM another division of Echostar, buy it up, renegotiate contracts, and possibly even dump content that he deems costs too much. Then run it as a music service available as a bundle for Dish Network subscribers, as well as new subscribers.

[LifeIsABeach]

This is my first post. Just wanted to say hi to everyone. Got an email from XM this week that my 3 year subscription is up for renewal next month. Couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Yesterday I ordered an 8GB G2 (and free home dock) from Slacker and a screen protector from Zagg. As soon as I get it and it is up and working I will be cancelling my XM subscription. I have had XM ever since the original SkyFi came out and currently have a MyFi. Will miss what XM once was, but it is time to move on.

[KTMCDO]

with the possible BK of sirius/xm slacker might see a huge increase in listeners hope
the servers can handle the influx


i have had the g2 for awhile now and still love it

[Jon]

Does anybody know if Slacker is going to offer mlb/nfl on it's service. :

For Gods sake, I hope not. Have you seen what happened to XM and Sirius when the switch from focusing on music to providing every content under the sun? Ah, just a hint, they will be bankrupt by years end.

I pretty much echo these sentiments. If you are into sports (I've never been LESS into sports than I am now, although I'll catch the occasional game on TV) Internet and Satellite TV offerings provide a much better outlet for your enjoyment. Slacker is, and should remain, all about the music. If they'd like to do like Flycast and offer on-demand podcasts somehow, I could see that working, but for the most part, music is the reason I, as well as others, am here.

[BillD3818]

The ONLY sport that plays ( pun intended) well on the radio is baseball.

I never understood why Sirius and XM paid such big money for NASCAR, and golf on the radio. Football is a very popular sport, but it's a TV sport, not radio.

Anyway even though baseball is a great game for the radio XM vastly overpaid for their MLB package. I love baseball, and would love to see Slacker someday carry baseball games, but only if they could afford it and only if they could get it at a reasonable price.

[rskolin]

IMO be careful what you wish for. From what I've been reading many think Ergen intentions for SXM may not be good.

Of course this is all speculation. But many think Ergen just wants SXM equipment OR to drop the audio service and to use their equipment for something like Mobile Video.

You may be right, but SiriusXM still has millions of subscribers that Ergen may have an interest in keeping. Perhaps a satellite radio/TV package?

[rskolin]

This is my first post. Just wanted to say hi to everyone. Got an email from XM this week that my 3 year subscription is up for renewal next month. Couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Yesterday I ordered an 8GB G2 (and free home dock) from Slacker and a screen protector from Zagg. As soon as I get it and it is up and working I will be cancelling my XM subscription. I have had XM ever since the original SkyFi came out and currently have a MyFi. Will miss what XM once was, but it is time to move on.

Welcome to Slacker! You'll love your G2.

[BillD3818]

IMO be careful what you wish for. From what I've been reading many think Ergen intentions for SXM may not be good.

Of course this is all speculation. But many think Ergen just wants SXM equipment OR to drop the audio service and to use their equipment for something like Mobile Video.

You may be right, but SiriusXM still has millions of subscribers that Ergen may have an interest in keeping. Perhaps a satellite radio/TV package?

That's possible. In the last week I've read about 1/2 dozen reasons Ergen might want SXM. Some of those opinions were good, like what you mentioned. But some reasons were were not good, like breaking the company apart and using the equipment for his TV empire.

[MikeV]

If Ergen/Echostar were to buy out the company, here's what I speculate would happen...

1. Dish drops any other music services that they carry over their Satellite TV service. Sirius XM becomes the sole music content provider over Dish Network. Cost savings realized, by not having to pay the other music service(s).

2. 50MHz of SiriusXM spectrum is split in half. Half goes to a music/radio offering, the other half goes to mobile video/telematics/data services. Timing of this step would likely make or break success. Keep in mind that the satellite transmission systems of both services are still separate, and there's still only one receiver out that can receive and decode the feeds from both systems. New hardware would likely be required on all fronts, however with half the bandwidth available to video, you could see 20+ good quality video channels being offered for reception anywhere in the country, and no roof rack mounted $1k+ antenna required. Traffic and weather data services, among other things, would remain also.

Obviously no one here knows for sure what will happen. But I'm not going to worry myself with it at this point... Slacker's where I am, and I'm quite content!

[Burner]

Yep, I just read that.. Too bad.

I'm also reading the past week or so the CSR's have been making ridiculously low offers to subs who want to cancel. A couple bucks a month to stay on.

So if true if anyone is interested you may want to give them a call. If they file for bankruptcy they'll still be in business, but of course they could fold at anytime and you may lose your money. But if you can get a deal for $24 a year or something like that it maybe worth the chance.

I canceled a couple of weeks back, and actually found it odd they didn't try to offer me any deals. I had heard the stories of offering 3 months free, etc, but they just asked why I was canceling and ended the service. My thoughts were that maybe they had stopped the special offers (I wasn't going to re-new irregardless).

[Burner]

IMO be careful what you wish for. From what I've been reading many think Ergen intentions for SXM may not be good.

Of course this is all speculation. But many think Ergen just wants SXM equipment OR to drop the audio service and to use their equipment for something like Mobile Video.

I've been reading some of the same things. The satellites Sirius XM uses are already in good orbits, and supposedly can be used to broadcast about anything. Echostar may be trying to get a hold of the satellites, use them to add more HD content to Dish Network, and totally do away with Sat Rad. While this is only speculation, the cost of sending satellites up into orbit must cost hundreds of millions if not over a billion per satellite. If Dish Network can get it's hands on 4? satellites it can use for it's TV service at a fraction of the cost of launching new ones, why wouldn't they?

[BillD3818]

And now there's Liberty Media..BTW this John Malone owns a whole bunch of stock in DirecTV. Interesting stuff.

Sirius XM Holds Talks With Liberty Media
February 11, 2009, 6:55 pm

Liberty Media, the media company controlled by John C. Malone, is in preliminary talks with the satellite radio giant Sirius XM Radio, people briefed on the negotiations told DealBook.

A deal between Liberty and Sirius XM could throw a wrench in takeover plans by EchoStar, the television satellite company that has been acquiring Sirius XM’s debt.

The high drama comes at a critical time for Sirius XM, which faces $175 million in debt payments that will come due on Feb. 17. The company is unlikely to be able to meet those obligations.

Mel Karmazin, Sirius XM’s chief executive, has been locked in talks with Charles W. Ergen, his counterpart at EchoStar, these people said. The two men are said to not get along, and Mr. Karmazin has rebuffed Mr. Ergen’s advances before.

While EchoStar’s proposal to Sirius XM is unclear, it may be no better for the satellite radio’s company’s bondholders than a bankruptcy filing, people close to the company said. Sirius XM hired advisers several weeks ago to prepare for a potential bankruptcy filing, which could come within days, these people said.

It is not clear how advanced the talks between Sirius XM and Liberty are, but any potential deal between the two could spark a bidding war with EchoStar. Because EchoStar holds a large portion of Sirius XM’s debt — a majority of the $175 million due on Feb. 17 and part of a $400 million tranche that comes due in December — it may have an upper hand in any such negotiations.