Mike Temkin

Canceled XM and Sirius Channels Rankling Merged Sat Radio Subscribers (Switched)

Nov 18th 2008 9:31PM Are the changes at XM/Sirius acceptable to listeners?

Are the changes advantageous to advertisers?

Are the changes tolerable to stockholders?

Are the changes in line with the expectations made by the FCC?

Advertiser-supported media, offered at no charge to users, is responsible to its clients for attracting the quantity and quality of audience required to meet their marketing objectives.

Subscriber-based media, though obligated to meeting the necessary requirements to maintain advertisers, also has an obligation to meet and maintain the standards expected by its subscribers. I believe the XM/Sirius merger and their subsequent business tactics have compromised the performance expected not only by its subscribers and advertisers, but also by its stockholders.

I believe the integration of Sirius into the XM service is an insult to all parties involved, but especially to its listeners. Personally, as a long-time XM subscriber, I believe the integrity and ingenuity of some of the XM concepts have been terribly compromised; the XM service has lost the vitality, variety and value provided when originally conceived and offered to subscribers. And I am under the impression that subscribers who preferred and originally chose Sirius also feel that some of the compromises made by the merger lack the original expected standards promised to them when they originally signed up with the Sirius service.

What will happen to Sirius if subscribers become as disenchanted as their stockholders have already become and do not renew their subscriptions? Will the service need to be offered to listeners at no charge and be completely advertiser-supported? Can Sirius afford and support such a model?

If XM or Sirius subscribers had wanted standard broadcast radio formats, they possibly would not have subscribed to XM or Sirius in the first place. I subscribed to XM after being disappointed and dissatisfied with how CBS/Infinity led by Mel Karmazin (now CEO of Sirius XM Radio) was compromising the resources and programming offered by their radio stations which for the most part had previously offered superior content, better execution, respect for their audiences and consistent results for their advertisers.

I suggest Sirius learn from the mistakes made by CBS/Infinity during Karmazin’s tenure. I suggest Sirius not repeat the same types of strategies and tactics implemented by Karmazin which seem to disregard what is best for listeners, advertisers and stockholders. I believe CBS might still be trying to catch up due to mistakes made during Karmazin’s tenure at their company; trying to catch up on quality of product, competitive position, revenue, value of equity and overall profitability.

I understand the need to eliminate redundancy. I do not understand anyone (including the FCC) tolerating Sirius’ complete disrespect of subscription contracts. Maybe the current Sirius leadership is demonstrating the same of lack of good judgement as utilized in the past at CBS/Infinity. Now that’s the type of redundancy that should not be tolerable to anyone, especially to Sirius stockholders.

Maybe Sirius needs to bring back some of the original XM Radio management and eliminate the current leadership. Not all of the previous XM management led with integrity or honesty; but a new board of directors could be careful and perform their proper due diligence and assemble a team of managers, programmers and talent along with sales and marketing personnel to rebuild a superior product.

The unfortunate truth to Mr. Karmazin and his stockholders is that listeners and advertisers could all live without XM or Sirius, unless of course the product is made to be unique and relevant, and thereby possibly irreplaceable.