Legal Commentary

Sirius-XM solution - IMHO

By David Canton

There are rumours in the press about possible bankruptcy/restructuring for Sirius-XM satellite radio.  It seems that one of the problems is their rather pricey deals with content providers.

Another problem, in my view, is that the service simply costs too much for consumers.   I have Sirius in my car, and like the service, but am undecided whether I will renew it when it comes up soon.   My reason?  - the monthly fees are too high.  And their fees are based on a per radio basis.  So if I have a car, and my spouse has a car, we have to pay for it twice (except for a minor discount).  And if we decide to have another receiver to listen to in the house or on the patio, we have to pay yet again.   One could always get around that by streaming it over the Net - but apparently they are now going to charge extra for that too!

Surely satellite radio is one of those things where their marginal cost of a new customer is minor, and where lowering their price significantly would increase their customer base enough to more than make up the difference. 

Full post as published by eLegal Canton on February 12, 2009 (boomark / email).