AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

XM Radio Raises Rates

Effective April 2, XM Radio will raise its basic monthly rate to $12.95, the same as arch-rival Sirius. You can still get a lower rate if you opt into a long term contract.

From a business point of view, this seems to be a bonehead move by XM. XM has Sirius on the ropes. XM has a vastly larger subscriber base, and the lead seems to be growing. Sirius has made some high stakes bets on adding high priced content such as Howard Stern. As I have written about before, The promised pay out to Stern alone is significantly more than Sirius's net worth. If XM would have just continued with its price advantage for another year, I think Sirius would have been history, and XM would have the market to itself.

The increased price for XM makes Sirius a much more viable contender. For the same price as XM, Sirius gives you NFL football, NPR, Stern, and more commercial-free music. XM gives you Major League Baseball, Big 10 football (go Purdue), Opie and Anthony (never heard them myself), and more channels over all. Likely you will end up going with whichever service is available on your car. I got an XM Roady2 in December. If I would have known about the change in price, I probably would have gotten Sirius in order to get NFL and NPR.

XM Satellite Radio to Raise Monthly Fee by 30 Pct