From an internal Sirius XM Document

Quote:
US Music Royalty Fee Overview
As an ongoing part of our business, SIRIUS XM must pay copyright music royalties to music
companies and music publishers. These royalties have risen dramatically over the past few
years, as a result of decisions of the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). SIRIUS XM has tried to
keep these fees as low as possible but in the end, the company has very limited influence over these payments. The FCC decision approving the merger between SIRIUS and XM allows the company to pass through to Subscribers any federally mandated increases in music royalties that we must pay, since March 20, 2007. The FCC decision allows us to pass through this fee increase to our Subscribers and the company has chosen to do this with the U.S. Music Royalty Fee.

The US Music Royalty Fee will be applied to all music subscriptions that SIRIUS XM offers. The fee will be implemented on July 29th, 2009. The existing Subscriber base will receive this fee on their first billing after this date. The fee will be applied to all satellite plans with music content on a Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annual and all Annual Savings Plans. Lifetime Subscribers, who have purchased prior to July 29th, will never receive the US Music Royalty Fee. Since the online products are not satellite based they will not incur the U.S. Music Royalty Fee. Once the fee is introduced on July 29th, any new activation or conversion will include the fee. As we go through this training, you will gain a better understanding of how this fee is applied and how to explain it to the Subscribers. We will be going through different scenarios so you can understand why we are passing this fee onto our Subscribers, how to diffuse irate Subscribers, and how the Subscriber can truly benefit by adding longer term plans.

A support group of LCR’s will handle Subscribers calling in response to the US Music
Royalty Fee

The below are the XM and SIRIUS Terms & Conditions (T’s & C’s) including verbiage for
disclosing the US Music Royalty Fee. These Terms & Conditions will ensure that the
Subscriber has been informed about the US Music Royalty Fee that will be introduced starting July 29th.

Legacy XM T&C’s:
“OK. Mr./Mrs. _______, you’ve made a great decision. We will renew your service for (Insert plan selection). Your subscription will be subject to the US Music Royalty fee starting July 29th and is governed by the XM Customer Agreement which you can find on our website. Please be sure to read it. Thank you very much for your time today and enjoy your XM Satellite Radio! If we can be of
further assistance, please call 1-800-XMRADIO (800-967-2346). Thanks again and have a great day.”

Legacy SIRIUS T&C’s:
“OK. Mr./Mrs. _______, you’ve made a great decision. We will renew your service for (Insert plan selection). Your subscription will be subject to the US Music Royalty fee starting July 29th and is governed by our full Terms & Conditions which you can find on our website; please be sure to read it. Thank you very much for your time today and enjoy your SIRIUS Satellite Radio! If we can be of further assistance, please call 888-539-7474. Thanks again and have a great day.”
Attached FAQ

Quote:
US Music Royalty Fee- FAQ’s

Below are examples questions you may receive from Subscribers regarding the US Music
Royalty Fee. Use Answers below (as verbatim) when answering questions about why
there is a US Music Royalty Fee or costs associated with the US Music Royalty Fee.

What is this US Music Royalty Fee?
Unlike land based radio, both SIRIUS and XM are required to pay copyright music royalties to recording artists, musicians and recording companies who hold copyrights to lyrics and music.

Why are you increasing your price?
We are not increasing our base price which will remain at $12.95/month for most Subscribers.

Why are you charging me this fee?
US Music Royalty rights were established by Congress and are a product of the copyright ACT, the copyright royalty board which sets the rates SIRIUS XM must pay the music industry has increased the rates dramatically. Unfortunately we can no longer absorb these increased costs.

Who makes up the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB)?
The Copyright Royalty Board consists of three Copyright Royalty Judges who determine rates and terms for copyright statutory licenses and make determinations on distribution of statutory license royalties collected by the United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress. The Board, made up of three permanent copyright royalty judges, was created under the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004, These administrative judges are appointed by the Librarian of Congress

Why does it cost so much?
The Copyright Royalty Board which sets the rates SIRIUS XM must pay the music industry
have increased the rates dramatically. Unfortunately the Company can no longer absorb these increased costs and must pass them on to subscribers as a US Music Royalty Fee.

Is there any way to avoid this charge?
Absolutely, for our Subscribers who previously purchased a long term plan, we will continue to absorb these costs until the next renewal date. If you renew and extend your current subscription before July 29, 2009 we will continue to absorb these increased royalty costs until your next renewal date. I can tell you about some our great savings plans.

FCC Ruling stated you can't raise your price, why are you doing it?
This fee is consistent with our commitment not to raise the base price of specific service plans for three years after the merger. The FCC did however permit us to add this fee to our price beginning July 29, 2009.
18
Version: June 2009
This document contains the confidential and proprietary information of SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio.

How does this relate to the March Increase?
It is unrelated; the US Music Royalty Fee is to recover royalty cost increases that are outside of the control of SIRIUS XM

I just locked in for MRD, why are you increasing it again?
If you purchased a multi-month plan to lock in a lower price or to retain free streaming, the US Music Royalty Fee will not affect you until the next renewal date for the Plan you purchased.

Who gets the money?
The US Music Royalty Fee will be used to offset payments from SIRIUS XM to the music
industry

Do you foresee any changes in the fee?
The Copyright Royalty Board sets the fees that SIRIUS XM is required to pay. The fee is
expected to increase by one half percent per year through 2012.

Why did you decide to charge a US Music Royalty Fee rather than adding the increase to
the subscription fee?
The FCC order requires that we detail the royalty increase for our Subscribers

Why is the US MRF taxed?
Under applicable tax regulations, it has been determined that the US MRF is a taxable charge.

I only listen to news and talk radio, so why should I be charged the US MRF?
I understand, however it would be impossible to calculate the US Music Royalty Fee based on individual listening patterns of our Subscribers

You recently increased the price of my second radio by $2.00. Now you are adding a US
MRF of $.97. Isn’t this too much?
The discounted second radio price of $8.99 is still a 30% savings over our standard fee. The addition of a US Music Royalty Fee is necessary due to the dramatic increase in royalties that we have been forced to pay the music industry.

Was I paying this fee previously as part of my subscription price and now am I paying for
it separately?
Until July 29, 2009 the FCC required SIRIUS XM to pay the royalty increases, however the order provided the ability for us to pass along these royalty cost increases beginning July 29, 2009

If I have an A La Carte subscription am I only paying the fee on the music channels?
That’s a great question, SIRIUS –XM is obligated to pay the US Music Royalty Fee based on
the content available in packages, unfortunately we are not able to customize the fee for
individual Subscribers

US Music Royalty Fee- FAQ’s
Is there a way to reduce this cost--can I switch my subscription package to mostly music
You may switch to a mostly music package, which will save you $.45 a month in US Music
Royalty Fees, but if you do that, you will be giving up over xx channels (different for SIRIUS and XM) of great programming. However, let me tell you about some of our great savings plan which will allow you to delay the US Music Royalty Fee for the term of that plan.

I have an online radio subscription; do I pay a royalty fee on that?
No, the music royalties associated with satellite delivery and internet deliver y of music content are different. The royalties associated with internet listening is absorbed in the subscription price

I have 2 subscriptions a Best of and a SIRIUS Everything why is the fee the same on both
subscriptions The US Music Royalty Fee is based on music; the channels included in the Best of portion of your package do not include large amounts of music, so no US Music Royalty fee is due on that portion of your subscription.

Gotta love that huh ?

Nice but the US Royality Fee hasn't been passed yet.

july 29th is when this is supposed to go in effect. Here is a link to Xmfan , an Xm employee leaked it there first http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=103093&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

How can it go into effect when it hasn't been voted on yet?

Check out http://wwww.saveyourradio.com for more info.

Also check out Free Radio Alliance: Oppose a Performance Tax on Radio (http://www.freeradioalliance.org)

I think Sirius already pays this royalty rate now don't they ? Free fm does not pay anything now and they are fighting this bill . sirius and other internet radio stations have been paying these fee's for years. I think sirius is trying to pass this fee of on subscribers as a way for them to make money. I could be wrong though .

Ok I made some calls and this does appear to be LEGIT.

I was confusing two seperate copyright fees as one.

Satellite Radio has been paying these fees since day one, while other broadcasters are now fighting against paying these fees themselves.

this is gonna be fun huh ?

tell'em at DRc hank says hello and broke this to ya ! LOL

Hank I havent heard you call Howard in a few weeks.

I think your the only person Howard hates who makes crank calls.

Congrats. :D

Howard won't take my calls anymore. The hay comment pissed him off . LOL

Ok I am not going to be one of those people like after the last price increase and cry that I am going to cancel, blah blah. But seriously I don't know how much more of this crap I am going to take. I will stay through the end of Howard's contract, but after that I think I can live with CDs, mp3 player, or GASP.... FM radio.

Ok I am not going to be one of those people like after the last price increase and cry that I am going to cancel, blah blah. But seriously I don't know how much more of this crap I am going to take. I will stay through the end of Howard's contract, but after that I think I can live with CDs, mp3 player, or GASP.... FM radio.no need to ever go back to Fm with Slacker , pandora or any of the internet radio stations out there. Hell you could even Stream Howard for free if you knew where to look. Fm is crap and I'm never going back there:)

This whole royalty payment stuff is crap. Yeah, artists should be paid for the use of their work; however, increasing the rate .5% per year is not the way.

What happens if/when Sirius/XM goes under? Then they will get no payments.

This one will finally put the nail in the coffin for me. See ya Sirius...it isnt worth it to me anymore after this.

I have talked to a few people that have tried hammering home to me that this is not a price increase by Sirius XM... but I say it is.

Up until now Sirius XM has been paying these royalty fees as part of the $12.95. However in July they are no longer paying those fees, forcing the users to pay them. So they are not lowering my bill to $10.95 a month then charging me $2 extra for the royalty fees. Instead Sirius is keeping the $2 which they were using to pay these Royalty's.

To me thats a price increase from Sirius XM.

I have talked to a few people that have tried hammering home to me that this is not a price increase by Sirius XM... but I say it is.

Up until now Sirius XM has been paying these royalty fees as part of the $12.95. However in July they are no longer paying those fees, forcing the users to pay them. So they are not lowering my bill to $10.95 a month then charging me $2 extra for the royalty fees. Instead Sirius is keeping the $2 which they were using to pay these Royalty's.

To me thats a price increase from Sirius XM.Another price increase in only afew months time . they are hrting for money and i can't wait to see the next quarterly report . Next year they have more dept due and i don't think liberty will be in a position to help them . Take them over yea but definatly not help them .

They can stick it.... $15 a month for audio in my car. I'll choose the cheaper options. By the time my sub runs out I'll have my new deck in the car with bluetooth(lots of music on my phone) and a USB port on the front. Can't believe how cheap they are now...

Any idea how Canadian subscriptions are going to be affected? Will the Canadian XM/Sirius companies be passing along a similar fee?

They can stick it.... $15 a month for audio in my car. I'll choose the cheaper options. By the time my sub runs out I'll have my new deck in the car with bluetooth(lots of music on my phone) and a USB port on the front. Can't believe how cheap they are now...My 2008 Milan came with six months of free Sirius and SYNC. Guess which one I can't live without and which one I can? (Hint: other than the cost of the media, it's free!)

Listening to Sirius in the car always sounded like it was coming through a corrugated tube. Music from SYNC sources sounds as good as the original source, even via the Bluetooth Audio feature on my Motorola RAZR V3xx. Sorry, Sirius, but even at $6/mo, I would pass. At current prices plus another $2/mo? :(LOL.

Just talked it over with my husband and we are closing our SXM account in July before this latest increase occurs. I've had XM since October 2003. Used to love it. Now, it is a shadow of its former self, but still has some value. But who increases prices while decreasing quality and expects to keep customers? Evidently Mel does. I can live without it.

I now declare XM/Sirius dead. This price increase will hurt them more due to no revenue coming in as sub drop their service.

Their is no real need for sat radio any more as more and more in car internet radio will be offered.

Time to do away with the sat radio forum lets us all pry for the death of sat radio

Hmm, I also wonder how this will affect D* & E*, since they BOTH carry music from SXM... ;) ;)
Wonder if this will force them to consider carrying a different audio service, or will they figure out how to pass this down to the TV subs. :rolleyes:

I now declare XM/Sirius dead. This price increase will hurt them more due to no revenue coming in as sub drop their service.

Their is no real need for sat radio any more as more and more in car internet radio will be offered.

Time to do away with the sat radio forum lets us all pry for the death of sat radio

Internet radio is still years away. I'm not a believer in this technology.. coverage is too spotty.

Blame congree on this one. The past two years, they were paying 6% of gross revenues as their royalty rate. This year it went up to 6.5%, next year 7%, 7.5% in 2011, and 8% in 2012 when the rates expire.

Sirius XM is not in the financial position to swallow these costs.

I will also be cutting my service off here shortly. I had signed up for that $77 a year deal. I can't remember when I did it. I've been looking out for monthly charges on my credit card bill as when this runs out and it goes to the normal monthly rate I was planning to cut it off anyway. It seems like I hear newer more popular songs on FM radio. That's the first issue I have with it. I don't want to hear a ton of old stuff or a ton of stuff I've never heard of that I've never heard of for a good reason and that's because it sucks.

The few stations as I mean a few as there are only 6 or so I listen to and most I don't listen to much.
Anyway, the few I listen to seem to edit the songs. If I'm going to listen to edited music I minus well hear it on FM. I am not going to pay to hear edited music.

The next problem I've had is it's gotten to where it's a ton of commercials. It seems like it has just as many if not more commercials than most of the local FM stations. It used to not be like this. This is a huge deal breaker for me.

Honestly I find myself thinking FM is better every time I turn it on. The only nice thing I can find is that it shows you what song and the artist info of what's playing. I'm not going to pay $13 well now $15 a month for that. Sorry.

Honestly, I do listen to it some but not a lot. When I do listen to it I just listen to it because it's their. Most of the time I have most of the songs already on my iPod or they are either new and I'm getting ready to purchase them on iTunes. Usually I have the songs though and just listen to them on XM instead because they are there. I'd rather have $15 a month in my pocket though and turn the iPod on.

FM seems to be better to me if I want to hear new music anyway and doesn't have many if anymore commercials. The same edited music so it doesn't bother me either way there.

I've never loved XM. Back when Sirius and XM were seperate I used both and thought Sirius was a ton better. I just used XM because it was what came in the Accord we have and I didn't want to modify it for Sirius. However, they are the same now anyway and I'm finding it to be getting worse and worse and the price keeps going up.

I don't think satellite radio is a way of the future. I've been wrong before and may be this time but my guess is I'm not going to be.

I have a one year sub and contemplated ending it in July when it was up. I am now convinced that I will. Between the iPhone and some commercial free subchannels on my car radio, I think I have plenty to listen to. Thanks for making the decision so much easier.

It's not like the 2 bucks are going to kill my budget. My expectation from the merger was that this was going to be an improved product and the savings generated by streamlining costs was going to keep the prices at bay for a while. Instead, they water down the music channels and bump me by 4 bucks in the last 6 months. If the product was improved, then maybe I'd stay. I'm simply not going to pay more for less product.

XM was $9.95 when I signed up. That's almost a 50% increase over 5 or 6 years. Which I might not mind if the service hadn't dropped so dramatically in quality. They dropped half of the formats I enjoyed, and watered down the rest of them. Their playlists used to be huge and they never had any DJ chatter...now the playlists are almost as pathetic as commercial radio.

I think at this point I'm only paying for Ron & Fez. It's sad, and I blame Mel Karmizan. He's a fool who's still stuck in the olden days of commercial radio. As soon as Lee Abrams left XM, I knew it was the beginning of the end.

Hey Sparks...maybe you out to add Mel to your Avatar....

no need to ever go back to Fm with Slacker , pandora or any of the internet radio stations out there. Hell you could even Stream Howard for free if you knew where to look. Fm is crap and I'm never going back there:)I've been enjoying slacker every since scott brought it to light on this forum and have just been waiting for howards contract to end before i cancel sirius:(

I really can't listen to reg radio anymore. I am with Sirius until it ends. It helps that I have one lifetime radio (which really paid for itself in a little over 2 years). I also pay for one radio in addition to my lifetime. If I need to cut corners, I will cut that radio out. But hell, with all of the money I waste on other crap, I still think it is a good deal. I work 2 jobs and when I drive home I want to hear what I want to hear.

I dont listen to SiriusXM for the the music. I suppose thats a big deal for me. In the mornings it's Opie & Anthony. In the afternoons, it's Mad Dog Radio and ESPN Extra broadcasting the Michael Kay Show out of NYC. Roadtrips, it's the comedy channels and baseball games. Very happy with it.

Doesn't look like much good has come from the Sirius/XM merger.

I had enough of them anyway.
I will be leaving them after my year is up.

Joe

what about someone who sing up for lifetime ? Nothing is going up for them is it? I'm I going to get another bill , sorry didnt read through everything .

Thanks!

I had enough of them anyway.
I will be leaving them after my year is up.

Joe

Same here. 2 current subs ending in August. Already notified them and they tried to throw me 6 months free if I renewed. Thanks but no thanks. Plus here in the L.A area with so many HD-Radio stations, I can't complaint since I installed an HD-RADIO in my car last year.

Gotta do the same now on wife's 2007 Ford Edge. HD-R

Blame congree on this one. The past two years, they were paying 6% of gross revenues as their royalty rate. This year it went up to 6.5%, next year 7%, 7.5% in 2011, and 8% in 2012 when the rates expire.

Sirius XM is not in the financial position to swallow these costs. Sirius has been paying these rates all along. And the 6.5% is no where near the $1.98 they are charging customers for these royalty fees.

I could see if Sirius dropped its rates and then added in the royalties again, but to charge the royalties then keep the price the same is nothing more then a rate increase no matter how you look at it.

what about someone who sing up for lifetime ? Nothing is going up for them is it? I'm I going to get another bill , sorry didnt read through everything .

Thanks!lifetime won't be effected right now . this is a cash grab they want you to get the lifetime to get that cash up front . This increase will make alot of the month to month and annual subs cancel or get the lifetime . Once there are only lifetimers left guess what they will get you too . If they dont charge more right away the will take something away to save money .

holy crap this is crazy... making me seriously consider dropping sirius...

I have been a Sirius customer for several years. This will be it for me, to much for to little. Back to the free airwaves. Until they figure out a way to charge (tax) us for that! Woops, they already do..our taxes pay for all the Gov't regulation. FCC etc. :(

Looks like I quit Xm at a good time. Dropped them about 3 or 4 months ago when they went up on the second radio fee. I loved having sat radio but all this extra increases in fees continuing to go up is stupid. They must want Sirius/Xm to fail really bad. It's really a shame though, the concept of sat radio is a good one , but as usual GREED for $$$$$$ has to bear it's ugly head. I've said it before in regards to DISH; that all those extra fees add up and people will decide in bad economic times -LIKE THESE- that they can do without it . After all Sat tv and more important Sat RADIO is a luxury , not a neccessity.

I didn't see anywhere in that document what to say when people call in and say they want to cancel as their first statement, only stuff that would be from people who didn't here about it until they see it on there bill. Ive been trying to cancel my subscription for 2 radio's since dec each time I try they offer me a 2 or 3 month credit. I'm good till mid july so I 'll try to cancel then, again. This is no way to run a business. I had only started a subscription in sept, added another radio in nov and called to cancel in dec. Either they really really like me or there business plan is to raise rates ,see who pays and give credits to cancels and keep there subs numbers high. This is what you do when your going out of business and looking for a buyer....Oh:rolleyes: they already got bailed out by liberty so I don't think I'll get anymore credits:(

Not to offend anyone, but you had to be pretty crazy to think that XM/Sirius merger was for the customers. It's good ole' USA business practices: Screw you whenever possible.

One day, when XM/Sirius is so (further) in debt, they'll cry. The government will throw a few of your $Billions at them. Then, they'll file for bankruptcy and the government will own 60% of it. Then it will be no better than anything else that is government.

And so ends XM/Sirius as a viable company. Early adopter here, too much increased too soon. Can't trust or anticipate when the next 'you've got to be kidding me' moment comes from this company. Here's something to think about: a company this size had to do sample testing running various price increases through their test groups (if they didn't, the company's worse off then any of us suspect). You know those tests came back negative for this (thus the 'it's not us increasing your bill; it's the MAN') cheat sheet fed to the CSR's. And they decide they have to do this now, not after xmas, but now.

Time to sell what stock you may have left in this, Mel's not going to pony up another infusion.

What a shame. I'll miss much of the talk, having more than one public radio channel especially.

How is the merger working out now? Oh to pull the wool over one's eyes.....

The continued unfortunate outcome of the Sirius/XM merger will hopefully be something that people don't forget...but probably will.

This one will finally put the nail in the coffin for me. See ya Sirius...it isnt worth it to me anymore after this.

I agree 100% I have 3 sirus radio's (1 for each vehicle & home) I will cancel them all if there are anymore rate increases because it's not worth it.

What will this mean for E* and D*? Will the providers raise our rates in January?

Sirius has been paying these rates all along. And the 6.5% is no where near the $1.98 they are charging customers for these royalty fees.

I could see if Sirius dropped its rates and then added in the royalties again, but to charge the royalties then keep the price the same is nothing more then a rate increase no matter how you look at it.

This is complete and total BS! I was an early adopter of XM and a huge supporter, but they have just about beaten me down.





While I do agree with XM passing on the additional royalty rate increase to the customers, I don't agree with the amount they are passing along. The additional fees are 6.4 cents.

Even if they were to charge us the full 6.5% royalty fee instead of just the increased amount, that still only comes to 84 cents per month. They are pocketing the remaining $1.14, which is NOT a tax or fee. They were authorized to pass along royalty rate increases, not additional fees.

I don't see how they can charge extra.

Musicians wanting a bigger piece of the pie. Not shocked since no one buys albums anymore. They have to get revenue stream somehow.

What will this mean for E* and D*? Will the providers raise our rates in January?

Yes not January it will be in Feburary

I dont think its the Musicians. I belive its the major Labels who are greedy and corrupted. And dont forget the RIAA.

This is a shame, as I've always loved my Sirius subscription. I'm still looking at keeping it, though, since it's the only place I can get live Champions League & Premier League soccer, plus other out-of-market sporting events. If my iPod could somehow provide that, then I'd be out the door.

I never got sat. radio. In the past month I have become addicted to Pandora (via internet on my Blackberry) You can customize music to be played anyway you want (fav. artists, genre etc.)
It is "free" altho i assume there will be ads at some point. You can avoid ads by paying $36/yr. I pd.just because i think it is well worth the money. I think a provider of a worthwhile service i use should be paid.

Slacker radio is also a good alternative for music. I think you can also add conventional radio stations.

You can't customize sat. radio to your ind. tastes.

...mike

Damn. I wish I'd bought the lifetime subscription 3 years ago when it was something obscenely cheap like $299 with a new vehicle, but at this point I'm not going to sub lifetime because I don't think they'll be around much longer with crap like this... guess I'm canceling when my prepay runs out in July.

I'm going to keep XM at least for another year[at least] and see what transpires.

This is it for me, 4 radios I'm going to cancel them all. This increase will mean my bill went up 10 bucks in the last couple of months.

By-By Sirius/XM, I'll just load up my IPOD with more music.

Hey Sparks...maybe you out to add Mel to your Avatar....

Good idea...at least Charlie has been trying to improve DISH lately, if a bit haphazardly. He's not actively ruining a good product.

Time to look at a Rhapsody to Go or Zune Pass.

I called to cancel yesterday and decided to stay. I was offered $77 for a year on the primary and $4/month for 5 months on the second.

I guess this will just be my June ritual. I'll check back in 2010....

Internet radio is still years away. I'm not a believer in this technology.. coverage is too spotty.

Agreed. I gave up Sirius last November, and have been listening to streaming internet radio from my cellphone in my car almost exclusively since then. Since I commute through an urban area my experience has been pretty good. The few times I have left Sprint's EVDO coverage area I have found myself listening to my MP3 collection, FM, or a low-bandwidth streaming station. Not too bad overall, but true nationwide wireless broadband is still several years away, and is essential for mobile streaming to become widespread.

What would be GREAT is if you could get a satellite radio subscription as a subsidized add-on to your cable, satellite, or broadband bill. If SXM could work out some partnership deals THAT could be the salvation of the industry.

wOw

Is it too late to get a life time sub?

I don't understand the logic that said a satellite TV merger between DirecTV and Dish was disallowed because it was "anticompetitive" while a similar merger among the two main satellite radio players was allowed. And I suspect that the people who warned against the Sirius/XM merger because it created a satellite radio monopoly are saying "I told you so"....

what a load of crap.. greedy people..

Well the reality is that I'm listening to something on Sirius at least 4 or 5 hours a day. Even when it goes up to $15 a month, it's still less than I used to spend on CDs or iTunes before I subscribed. So it's still a good value for me. If this small increase makes it less likely that they go out of business, I'm good with it.

Just adds more credence to why I didn't renew my sub with either company. Have a GM car and Ford truck. Different systems. When they merged, they still wanted to gouge me full price for both systems. Told them no way and went back to FM and CD's. They still burn up my phone every day until I blocked it and now they call the cell. Next time they call I am going to get out the boat horn and see how they like that.

I will cancel mine too.

I too had XM when it was around nine dollars a month. I let my XM radios sub lapse after it was time to renew. I had 4 radios on that sub then, feeling it was time for a change and in October last year I got a Sirius Radio for my classic car, it has just the factory AM FM radio in it and I want to keep the car factory so I wanted to try another satellite radio service, it was time for a change!

I love the fact that I can drive to Florida or some other way off state and still hear my favorite channels without having to find new ones when the station went out of range.

So far, other than some of the XM stuff that moved over, the programming is about the same on the music channels. Stuck in the same songs over and over again. The talk radio is a bit different, I do not care for Howard Stern, but the comedy is a nice change.

If I want to hear the same songs over and over the IPod will do the same thing with the “repeat all” function. It is truly sad for there is so much potential for satellite radio and believe me we are not seeing it right now!

:mad: Was shocked to see that they are charging now for the internet stream now. What is up with that! That should be free with subscription pricing, it used to be but the sample rate sucked but you could listen at work.

:confused: I pay about $49 dollars every three months for just one radio! I got an email the other day where they are promoting a free second car radio with vehicle kit, just sign up for the first months and a $15 activation fee. That will shoot my bill if I decided to do that to $69 dollars give or take every 3 months just for 2 radios on Sirius programming! I was paying cheaper price when I was over on XM with 4 radios.

I truly have not been overly impressed with either service to tell you the truth, having XM for over 5 years and now Sirius, and then the merger! I feel this will be the demise of them both. Truly they will be around for awhile yet but I can see subscribers dropping like flies!

I understand the US Music Royalty rights thing, being in terrestrial broadcast radio for over 20 years we had to pay the licensee fees to ASCAP & BMI to use music on the air! But don’t compromise the service! I too pay for satellite radio for the fact I want un-censored material if so choose to listen to it, no commercials is a plus, the internet streaming thing was a good thing now since you got to sign up for the everything package I too wonder if I will continue my service in October!

I will be the many there in this post that will load up the IPod and just go with that in the car. Starting to be a cr:rant:ck, this is more than the cheapest satellite television channel package that is offered! What are they thinking here? I will say the subscribers will start dropping service when their contracts expire and since it is not going well with price increases and the service, I say they will be hurting more than they were months ago before the merger!

We subscribers are about fed up with this! I can start listing to regular terrestrial radio again! No problem there!


My two cents :rolleyes:!

K E V I N
http://morehead.webng.com/ftabman0_avitar-cordoba.gif

Sirius and XM are one now and charge the same price.

I was considering continuing satellite radio (had XM 3 years), but when introduced to slacker, I decided not to renew. Last month I drove a 2200 mile trip with slacker, it worked great. I used the device so it had the music stored on it.

Essentially with slacker you get the music, with super deep playlists. You give up the live feeds, but I can live without the live feeds for $$/month. There still is free talk radio on AM when I want a change. Satellite radio is on the cable TV track now in raising prices.

I don't understand the logic that said a satellite TV merger between DirecTV and Dish was disallowed because it was "anticompetitive" while a similar merger among the two main satellite radio players was allowed. And I suspect that the people who warned against the Sirius/XM merger because it created a satellite radio monopoly are saying "I told you so"....


One was the attempted merger of two already profitable companies that would have created a monopoly. The merger was denied and both continue operations. The other was a a merger of two unprofitable companies that everyone thought would go under without a merger and might anyway in spite of the merger and the monopoly it created.

It seems like they took the estimated operating costs and divided it by the number of subs, then set a plan to raise the sub cost to the amount needed. This will never work, every time they raise prices they will lose more subs. They were doomed when they went over $9.99. The economy is just too weak to get the subs over $10.

I was considering continuing satellite radio (had XM 3 years), but when introduced to slacker, I decided not to renew. Last month I drove a 2200 mile trip with slacker, it worked great. I used the device so it had the music stored on it.

Essentially with slacker you get the music, with super deep playlists. You give up the live feeds, but I can live without the live feeds for $$/month. There still is free talk radio on AM when I want a change. Satellite radio is on the cable TV track now in raising prices.I love Slacker too , I use it at work and home on the web. In the car i have my Zune and there are about 10,000 songs on it and my own playlists and plenty of podcasts . Sirius thinks there are no threats to them but there are. The live feed thing was never a big deal for me and i have talkitive dj's . So the decision to cancel was pretty easy for me and it's been 3 years since I've had Sirius and everything is a ok . The G2 kicks ass by the way, i plan on getting one sooner or later .

I actually cancelled XM way back when Music Lab and Luna were thrown off the air. At the time AOL Radio was still streaming it online and I could get X-Country and Beyond Jazz through that service for free. When that was no longer possible (and X-Country and Beyond Jazz were thrown off the air after the merger) I was looking for a new place to get music. That search ended when I got the iPhone. Slacker, Pandora, AOL Radio, Flycast, Last.fm and numerous other web apps that stream music, talk, and anything else you could possibly imagine, including scanner frequencies on Wunderradio.

I have found that most anything you wanted to listen to on satellite radio is available from other sources. I had cable, so the retransmission of FOXNews, CNN, etc wasn't really an issue. The music on services like Slacker is light years ahead of the playlists on SiriusFM. And you have the killer app with Slacker and Pandora, which is interactivity. YOU choose what songs are played, not some PD who has a favorite artist he likes to beat to death.

Even for as many times as I thought about coming back to satellite radio, something always happens that makes me change my mind. After all this, I can't see ever going back unless there are some wholesale changes made, in the management structure, playlists, DJs, personalities, the whole ball of wax.

You can add me to the list of ex-Sirius lisners. They were on my short list when they increased the additional receiver fee (in my case, I had two additional receivers) and this latest stunt did them in.

I am quickly becoming hooked on Slacker and plan to order a G2 with a FM transmitter by the end of the month

:rant:It is getting old to keep seeing threads on people saying bad things about sirius radio. If you do not like what you are paying for just go on with your life. If you look at most of threads on the web it is the same people going from one thread to the next. Just look at this thread:eek: Cable and satellite TV raise prices every year. So this is what you do. Rabbit ears for you TV, And go back AM@FM radio, and yes HD radio and i pod. Sirius and xm will be fine. I know the big stock man cramer said Sirius is dead. We will see. Do not let the door hit you on the way out. You know the old saying(EVERYONE HAS A ---- HOLE me to.;)

I cancelled at the start of this year, it was a major adjustment going back to local, but I have survived. While local radio does have its issues, I have also seen some changes since the last time I was listing a few years back.

I have been debating getting the internet radio tuner/reciever I have seen for the house? anyone have one, what are your thoughts

I have an internet radio and for now, I am keeping my SiriusXM subscription. I like them both. I received an Aluratek Internet Radio for Christmas. It works flawlessly on my wireless network. Finding stations is a snap and the quality for most (but not all) is good. The Aluratek's speaker is not as good as it could be but really, that's the only downside for me.

:rant:It is getting old to keep seeing threads on people saying bad things about sirius radio. If you do not like what you are paying for just go on with your life. If you look at most of threads on the web it is the same people going from one thread to the next. Just look at this thread:eek: Cable and satellite TV raise prices every year. So this is what you do. Rabbit ears for you TV, And go back AM@FM radio, and yes HD radio and i pod. Sirius and xm will be fine. I know the big stock man cramer said Sirius is dead. We will see. Do not let the door hit you on the way out. You know the old saying(EVERYONE HAS A ---- HOLE me to.;)

I totally agree with you Jappleboy. I'm going to keep my subscriptions mainly because I like the sports that are offered. Unlike for JonE, for me there are numerous items on Sirius that are not available elsewhere that I love to listen too. Just remember bad news travels 4 times as fast as good news, so I'm really not suprised by those who are complaining on this forum.

I'm not going to renew when my annual subscription expires in July.

I know I'm canceling this month. My receiver is on it's last legs anyway and I'm not dishing out more money for new equipment. I'll spend that money on a Slacker radio instead.

I called to cancel and they gave me $10 credit for a month. I'll stay another month and then call to cancel again. It's just getting to expensive too justify keeping.

Xm sub since 05, same credit card also, guess what credit card expired this month, and so will my sub i dont plan on updating my card info. I can spend 15$ a month on 6 diff radio apps on my iphone, and get virtually unlimited chans. If i take a road trip some day i may give them 1 month, at a time but untill then ill save my 200$ a year. RIP XM, perhaps one day you will be resurected by a real person and not a prick that likes to go from company to company and ruin everything good about it... Whats MTV stand for again??

After these 2 price increases this year, I'm trying to decide exactly how much hearing Howard every morning is really worth to me. I just bought a new car and I will have to spend $300 to add Sirius to my car (frigging Mazda). I think I am just going to pass.

I think its interesting that the music industry is really striving to reel in their money in a time when everyone is low on money. congress should have known better than to let that pass.
I think everyone needs paid but how much is the question.

Looks like sirius xm may be trying to profit a little for handling the collection of the fees for
RIAA (Retarded Ignorant Audio Anarchists).

Its amazing how a few people can ruin such a good thing.

Just wait until the socialists pass the performance tax on terrestrial stations.
You think you get to hear the same 10 songs all day on fm radio now...you will get to hear the same 5 songs out of those 10.

Just pure BS is all it is. I like sirius xm, abit they need to add some special events and concerts or something every now and then.. Maybe get some new management.

everyone in this country has gotten so greedy with money...its what got our economy in its current situation to begin with. Just like the "speculation pricing of the oil"....Hey maybe it will work for radio and tv too...

It is not the fees from RIAA that brought about this increase. The real reason for the increase is that Sirius/XM needs to make up lost revenue due to a decline in their customer base.

I just got my email notice about the Royalty fees. It will total just undre $4 a month for me. (3 radios). I am upset enough already that I was promised no prices will change when the merget happned. Well... they raised the prices on a few things that effected me enought that I am now paying almost $6 more per month. I love my XM, but this may be the last straw. I know the Royalty fee is not an XM thing, but it still counts toward my subscription to the XM service.

I like how they got around "not raising subscription fees" but just passing on their bills.
i wonder what my customers would do if....I told them that "hey...I am not raising your monthly service bill but I am passing my payroll costs onto you". In 90 days I will be passing my insurance costs onto to you also but I am not raising your bill. Ha Ha...it cracks me up in this country how people can beat a dead horse into things that does not resemble a horse anymore.

I got my water bill and my payment was posted to them 3 days before the "late fee assesment date" and they still charged me a late fee. I was on the phone raising hell.
Its not my fault they let our 90 year old water mains go without maintenance and now that the water lines are breaking under the streets on a daily basis that i should be ripped off with a late fee. Hey I will get some big water tanks and put them in the ground out back and catch rain water from my gutter downspouts. I don't need their expensive water.

this is just an example how these companies are trying to screw everybody because they are hard up for money. Hey when I was not making much money I was NOT out trying to cheat and take off people to get more. I did the best I could and found an honest way to make it..

I cancelled six weeks ago after the increase was leaked. Four weeks ago, they emailed me a special for $6.48/month for six months. Three weeks ago, they emailed me a special for $4.99/month for six month. I went back last week.

I wonder what they would have done if I would have waited another couple of weeks.

Canceled today. No hassles. The good service on the cancelation means that if the company gets its act together I could consider coming back, but it would take quite a super long term deal with some serious programming improvements to get me back. I will be looking for the prorated refund I was quoted to show up on my credit card. I canceled primarily due to this royalty fee cash grab because it was the last straw. I still have SXM music on D* if I want to listen to the music channels at home, but I doubt I'll bother with the shallow playlists we now have.

Canceled today. No hassles. The good service on the cancelation means that if the company gets its act together I could consider coming back, but it would take quite a super long term deal with some serious programming improvements to get me back. I will be looking for the prorated refund I was quoted to show up on my credit card. I canceled primarily due to this royalty fee cash grab because it was the last straw. I still have SXM music on D* if I want to listen to the music channels at home, but I doubt I'll bother with the shallow playlists we now have.If it's music you want i would suggest a Slacker G2 for your car or just sub to podcasts for whatever new music you want to discover. Satrad to me has run it's course , it was good in the begining and it helped me escape Fm the way Internet radio helped me escape SatRad . Jam on my friend :)

If it's music you want i would suggest a Slacker G2 for your car or just sub to podcasts for whatever new music you want to discover. Satrad to me has run it's course , it was good in the begining and it helped me escape Fm the way Internet radio helped me escape SatRad . Jam on my friend :)

I agree Hank. I forgot to mention that we just got a nifty FM transmitter/charger for the iPhone for use in the car from Griffin. I usually carry at least 50 hours of podcasts plus all my favorite music with me on the phone. Also my husband has his favorite music on his phone. I have MLB at Bat on the phone, too and it streams remarkably well in the car. I've already tried it. So when we are on a long drives together, we are golden. The car would have been where we missed XM the most, but we made sure we had an alternative before we canceled.

Right now I'm streaming the program I listened to every morning on XM at home. Too bad for XMs bad business and programming moves. I loved it in its day and there was a time I couldn't have lived without it, but no more. Thanks Hank and best wishes. :)