What kind of crazy fucked-up world do we live in where two competitors spend each other to death, dragging their stocks down, to the point where the FCC has no recourse but to allow them to merge.<\/p>\n
At least Sirius knew it was about content.\u00c2\u00a0 The XM’ers had some fancy idea that the word "satellite" was enough to get ten plus million people to sign up for $9.95 a month.\u00c2\u00a0 Is that like "satellite phone", as in the initially failed Iridium?<\/p>\n
The reason I fell in love with XM was the programming.\u00c2\u00a0 There was a passion to the programming not only absent from terrestrial radio, but Internet radio too.\u00c2\u00a0 But did Hugh Panero TRUMPET this fact?\u00c2\u00a0 OF COURSE NOT!<\/p>\n
Talk radio lives on terrestrial.\u00c2\u00a0 Satellite’s niche is music.\u00c2\u00a0 Did Panero sell this?\u00c2\u00a0 Five plus years on, we STILL don’t know what XM stands for.<\/p>\n
Sirius was in the same hole.\u00c2\u00a0 A replica of XM with worse technology and fewer subscribers.\u00c2\u00a0 So, they threw the long ball.\u00c2\u00a0 They got the one certified radio star, the one who could bring his audience with him, Howard Stern.<\/p>\n
Forget the fact that most of his listeners didn’t follow him, Stern saved Sirius.\u00c2\u00a0 He was worth every penny they paid him.\u00c2\u00a0 All the other ridiculous deals?\u00c2\u00a0 With Eminem, and the theme channels like Martha Stewart?\u00c2\u00a0 IRRELEVANT!<\/p>\n
So XM decided to fight back.\u00c2\u00a0 With Bob Dylan.\u00c2\u00a0 Great talent, great show, but you’re building from ground zero, he brings no radio history, no experience, no audience.<\/p>\n
And then XM went hog-wild trying to replicate Sirius’ strategy.\u00c2\u00a0 Signing faux star after faux star.\u00c2\u00a0 Do we really want an Oprah channel?\u00c2\u00a0 Is that what people are clamoring for?<\/p>\n
Well we can debate that, but we do know IT COST A FORTUNE!<\/p>\n
So here’s the skinny.\u00c2\u00a0 XM could have made a deal with Stern and killed Sirius.\u00c2\u00a0 Just that easily.\u00c2\u00a0 But the execs, those in control at XM, were TOO STUPID TO SEE THIS!\u00c2\u00a0 Too stupid to make a preemptive strike!\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe XM didn’t need Howard, but Sirius did!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like the Yankees signing a pitcher so the Red Sox don’t get him.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not a secret strategy, this is BUSINESS!<\/p>\n
But Hugh Panero kept believing that satellite radio was cable.\u00c2\u00a0 Making deals with car manufacturers, employing no sizzle.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, now the TELEPHONE companies are breathing down the cable systems’ backs.\u00c2\u00a0 And satellite TV is also a competitor.\u00c2\u00a0 Proving that you must constantly survey the landscape, SOMETHING THAT PANERO DIDN’T DO!<\/p>\n
If it’s about return on investment, raising the value of the stock for the holders, then Panero failed MISERABLY!\u00c2\u00a0 To the point where his only escape was merging with Sirius.<\/p>\n
As for Sirius…\u00c2\u00a0 They hired Mel Karmazin.\u00c2\u00a0 An ad salesman with a big mouth.<\/p>\n
Yes, XM had the programming professionals.\u00c2\u00a0 People like Lee Abrams.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas Sirius now had a consultant, Walter Sabo, who made the channels sound as bogus and untrustworthy as those on TERRESTRIAL radio, just sans commercials.\u00c2\u00a0 But this difference no longer mattered.\u00c2\u00a0 Because it was all about Howard.\u00c2\u00a0 And Mel.\u00c2\u00a0 Mel was, and still is, Wall Street’s darling.\u00c2\u00a0 He worked the press and investor community like a symphony musician.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas Panero smiled and said everything was under control.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, I don’t play the politics because I’m bad at it, but I’m smart enough to HIRE A LAWYER to do my deals.\u00c2\u00a0 Panero needed a mouthpiece.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, even the new Chairman of XM, Gary Parsons, is a shitty mouthpiece.<\/p>\n
Sirius has the momentum.\u00c2\u00a0 But shitty reception.\u00c2\u00a0 And on the whole, tight playlists and lame patter and production.<\/p>\n
XM has far better reception, and stations that are an oasis in the desert, programmed by people who inspire trust and confidence.<\/p>\n
But Sirius buys XM.<\/p>\n
Make me puke.<\/p>\n
So, you’ve got the Wall Street pundits saying this is good for the listener.<\/p>\n
Hogwash.<\/p>\n
Sure, now you can get Howard Stern and baseball for the same price, but there’s no competition for talent, no drive towards innovation.\u00c2\u00a0 And probably, tight playlists with lame tracks, just like we presently have on Sirius.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, they’re buying XM, AREN’T THEY?<\/p>\n
The dream is over.\u00c2\u00a0 Fumbled by two inept companies.<\/p>\n
Yes, Sirius is inept too.\u00c2\u00a0 It didn’t realize that satellite radio was eclipsed by the iPod and Internet radio in the consumer’s mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Sirius was fighting XM, and ignorant as to its bad value proposition.<\/p>\n
Why is everybody so full of shit, why is everybody incompetent.\u00c2\u00a0 Is this what capitalism brings?\u00c2\u00a0 Mediocrity leading to reward?\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, Sirius and XM were on the road to bankrupting themselves, so they’re rewarded with a pass by the FCC.\u00c2\u00a0 A merger that the rules say can’t happen, will.\u00c2\u00a0 Just so stockholders can breathe a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n
Oh, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have EITHER service.\u00c2\u00a0 You think it’s just like terrestrial, but you pay.<\/p>\n
Soon, you’ll be right.<\/p>\n
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