It's Official - XM Price Going UP!

[Scott Greczkowski]

There is a rumor floating around with a photo of a document that states that as of April 2nd the price for XM radio will be increasing from 9.95 a month to $12.95 a month.

The letter also states that as of April 2nd, XM online and Opie and Anthony become a few service.

The big question is, is this letter real? Ziggy from XM411 said it ideed was real, but then later removed the letter and the thread entirely. Why was it removed?

Below is a copy of the letter. We here at SatelliteGuys will dig hard to find out what the story is.

 

[dalec21]

definately a unique mystery, seems strange that as many people post on
the different boards that only one person has gotten a letter ..


..dale

 

[korsjs]

i guess it was only a matter of time before the raised rates. sirius is already around 13.00 and will probably go up when stern comes aboard.

 

[Juan]

Not if you have a "lifetime" subscription

 

[thiggin2]

Not if you have a "lifetime" subscription

You know I thought about that way to go but then I found out if the radio dies and its out of factory warranty that "lifetime" sub. doesn't transfer to the new radio, it will only transfer if the radio was covered under a factory warranty and the way most electronics last these days I didn't want to waste my money and take that kind of gamble.

 

[korsjs]

You know I thought about that way to go but then I found out if the radio dies and its out of factory warranty that "lifetime" sub. doesn't transfer to the new radio, it will only transfer if the radio was covered under a factory warranty and the way most electronics last these days I didn't want to waste my money and take that kind of gamble.

that was my big thing as well. i heard that if your unit is stolen, that you would have to produce all the police reports. if you drop it and break it you are out of luck. if it was trasferable, i would do it.

 

[charper1]

Seems that XM would be adopting the Sirius pricing scheme. Include all your music services and online stream at one price - $12.95. If you add up those services from XM now its near $16 so that can be spun as a price decrease, leaving Playboy as the only a' la' cart option, which I see dying off anyway.

 

[charper1]

Seems that XM would be adopting the Sirius pricing scheme. Include all your music services and online stream at one price - $12.95. If you add up those services from XM now its near $16 so that can be spun as a price decrease, leaving Playboy as the only a' la' cart option, which I see dying off anyway.

Is it just me or does some of the fonts look different or pasted in throughout the letter? I can't see why anyone would need to fake this info, but just asking.

 

[thiggin2]

Is it just me or does some of the fonts look different or pasted in throughout the letter? I can't see why anyone would need to fake this info, but just asking.

Yea it does look kinda funny but its probably just because its scanned and uploaded a few time and that makes it look not so good.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Is it just me or does some of the fonts look different or pasted in throughout the letter? I can't see why anyone would need to fake this info, but just asking.

The funny part is Ziggy (Who I believe works for XM, at least that is what I remember his ID badge saying when he was working at the XM booth at CES) CONFIRMED the increase, and he not only confirmed it on XM411 but also on Opie and Anthonys Wackbag.COM.

Over the weekend he removed those posts.

I know O&A are soon to be part of the regular package. I also know that they are ramping up their straming service to handle a lot more listeners, so this increase would not surprise me.

 

[Stargazer]

I would also not be surprised if there was a price increase. Its not like those consumers would get mad and switch to Sirius because the price would be the same. XM sees how they are still acquiring probably just as many subscribers at the $13 price as they are at the $10 price that it would not hurt their business but actually increase the revenues substantially.

 

[Chris Walker]

This will badly hurt XM, the only reason most people pick XM over Sirius is because it's cheaper. Not a good move on their part especially if Sirius stays the same price.

 

[charper1]

Look at it again, and compare apples to apples. If you take all the Sirius offerings & online streaming service and do the exact same for XM (minus playboy), Sirius is $12.95/mo and the exact same offerings from XM is currently $15.98/mo. XM offers a low level basic service that Sirius doesn't offer, that removes he popular high voltage XM channel AND the online streaming service; that is what is $9.99/mo. They also closed the Liquid Metal channel permanently.

 

[charper1]

Look at it again, and compare apples to apples. If you take all the Sirius offerings & online streaming service and do the exact same for XM (minus playboy), Sirius is $12.95/mo and the exact same offerings from XM is currently $15.98/mo. XM offers a low level basic service that Sirius doesn't offer, that removes he popular high voltage XM channel AND the online streaming service; that is what is $9.99/mo. They also closed the Liquid Metal channel permanently.

 

[Juan]

You know I thought about that way to go but then I found out if the radio dies and its out of factory warranty that "lifetime" sub. doesn't transfer to the new radio, it will only transfer if the radio was covered under a factory warranty and the way most electronics last these days I didn't want to waste my money and take that kind of gamble.

The "lifetime" fee is equivelent to about 3.5 years of service..which compares to (cost wise) to xm's 5 year plan. Is xm's 5 year plan transferable? #.5 years didnt seem to be that much of a risk

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It's official now...
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050228/dcm030_1.html

XM Satellite Radio Expands Basic Service and Announces Price Changes Effective April 2; XM Offers Existing Subscribers Unique Opportunity to Lock in Current Rate for Up to Five Years
Monday February 28, 10:12 am ET


WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XM Satellite Radio, the nation's leading provider of satellite radio with more than 3.2 million subscribers, today announced that it is expanding its basic service package, and that the monthly subscription price for XM's basic service will increase to $12.95 beginning April 2, 2005. XM is also offering existing customers the unique opportunity to lock in the current $9.99 monthly rate with a one-year prepaid plan and deeper discounts with a two, three, four, or five-year prepaid plan until April 2.
(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050228/DCM030 )
(Logo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/XMSATLOGO )
The price change will not affect XM's Family Plan, which allows XM subscribers to add up to four additional subscriptions for $6.99 a month per radio. Beginning April 2, XM's expanded basic service will include the Internet service XM Radio Online, which offers more than 70 channels of XM music and talk programming (previously $3.99 per month), and the High Voltage channel, featuring the talk radio duo Opie & Anthony (previously $1.99 per month).

Since the national launch of XM Radio in November 2001, XM has dramatically expanded its channel lineup from 100 channels to 151 channels. XM has converted all of its music channels to a commercial-free format and invested heavily to add 21 traffic & weather channels, 16 channels dedicated to Major League Baseball, nine college sports channels, and XM Public Radio, featuring legendary journalist Bob Edwards, among other channel additions. This is the only price change since XM's 2001 launch.

Hugh Panero, XM President & CEO, said, "XM's growth to date demonstrates that the potential for satellite radio is far greater than anyone anticipated. This new pricing approach will help fund future technology development, enable us to offer more attractively-priced radios and maintain our programming excellence. Together, these initiatives should result in XM exceeding its current target of 20 million customers by 2010. Most importantly, XM is instituting the pricing change in a way that adds value to the basic service and provides existing customers the opportunity to lock in the current lower monthly rate -- a unique opportunity rarely offered by subscription entertainment services, including satellite radio, satellite television and cable television."

About XM Satellite Radio

XM (Nasdaq: XMSR - News) is America's number one satellite radio service with more than 3.2 million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, DC, New York City and Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame, XM's 2005 lineup includes 151 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: 67 commercial-free music channels, featuring hip hop to opera, classical to country, bluegrass to blues; more than 60 channels of premier sports, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and 21 channels of the most advanced traffic and weather information for major metropolitan areas nationwide. XM was named Best Radio Service at the 2004 Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards. Popular Science recently chose XM products for two prestigious "Best of What's New 2004" Awards. As the Official Satellite Radio Network for Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Exclusive Satellite Radio Service for NASCAR, as well as the Official Satellite Radio Service for ACC, PAC-10 and Big-10 collegiate football and basketball, XM Satellite Radio is the industry leader in sports radio programming, offering thousands of live sporting events each year.

XM, the leader in satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Volkswagen/Audi, is available in more than 120 different vehicle models for 2005. XM also is available in Avis, National, and Alamo rental cars. XM is the exclusive in-flight entertainment service for AirTran Airways, and will soon be available on JetBlue flights. Consumers can experience XM over the Internet through XM Radio Online at http://listen.xmradio.com. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, please visit http://www.xmradio.com.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements in this press release include demand for XM Satellite Radio's service, the Company's dependence on technology and third party vendors, its potential need for additional financing, as well as other risks described in XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.'s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 3-15-04. Copies of the filing are available upon request from XM Radio's Investor Relations Department.

 

[dalec21]

oh well, lets hope it works out for the best .. ...

want to bet which way the market will go? say by close of business tommorrow..
Dale

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I say XM stock will go up.

More money = less time to break even.

 

[dalec21]

I will take the opposing view merely for the sake of argument
(though I may not be convinced of it)48 hours may be a liitle quick

30% increase is an act of desparation, it will get an immediate increase
in cash flow / revenue .. but long termwhat will it do to subscriber growth
$9.95 is a major price point .. without growth ..

I honestly dont know and may not guess well .. but I think it will be a major
impact on new subs

cant believe how much it has gone up already .. ..

maybe we should just bet on how high it will rise
Dale

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

XM's management has a problem. The announce a price increase after the announcement comes out that they are losing NASCAR, and a few weeks before that they AXED XMLM (XM Liquid Metal) without warning to its subscribers, just to ask Major League Baseball (and they said to add MLB they would not need to remove any channels)

Everything I like about XM is going away. Today they really killed XM Channel 152, by dropping the Shannon Burke Show and replacing him with a taped version of the Tony Kornheiser Show from an AM Station in Washington DC (This show is a SPORTS show). A few weeks ago they cut out two hours from Shannon Burke and 1 hour from the Phillips Phile to add a TAPED version of the G Gordon Liddy show.)

So now they are forcing everyone to pay for O&A no matter if they want them or not, and also they are also forcing people to pay something for online streaming. Seems as though XM forgot their name was XM SATELLITE RADIO.