Recently, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio announced several post-merger subscription plans. While it’s good to finally have some idea of what will happen regarding subscriptions when and if the merger goes through, these plans leave me wondering if the merger is really as good for the subscriber as Mel Karmazin and Gary Parsons would have us believe.
Currently, a subscription to either satellite radio service is $12.95 per month for the first radio. Each service offers family plans, adding subscribers to add additional radios at a discounted monthly rate per radio. Keep that in mind as we take a look at these plans and see what they offer versus the cost of a current subscription.
Option 1: A La Carte Pricing
In a move which will undoubtedly please FCC head Kevin Martin, plans have been announced for two levels of a la carte pricing, which will be available about a year after the merger goes through. You may be asking yourself why this would require a delay. This is because the a la carte options would require new radios which have yet to be developed. So, right off the bat, you have to factor in the cost of new equipment for your home, car, or both.
The first a la carte plan would give the subscriber 50 channels from either XM or Sirius. Additional channels and packages will be able to be added for as little as $0.25, and the companies guarantee that the subscriber would not pay more than the current $12.95. Let’s hope this is true, because as it stands now, the XM sports package looks to be $6, and the Sirius sports package is $5. If you want Howard Stern or Opie and Anthony, you’re going to pay $6 and $3 respectively.
For $14.99, subscribers can receive the A La Carte II package, which gives you 100 channels, and will apparently allow XM subscribers to pick from some of Sirius’s content, and vice versa. This almost looks attractive, until I realize that right now with XM, I pay $12.95 and get about 170 cahnnels, and a Sirius subscriber pays the same $12.95 for about 130 channels. Somehow, I don’t see this plan being too well-received by current or potential subscribers.
Option 2: The Family-Friendly Option
There will also be a “family-friendly” plan offered at $11.99. You’ll receive all of either XM’s or Sirius’s content without the explicit channels such as Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, or music and comedy channels which play material with language which might be considered offensive. For an additional $3, XM subscribers will be able to add select Sirius channels, and Sirius subscribers will be able to add select XM channels.
Option 3: Keep what you have Now
Both companies have also said they will offer subscribers the same package they currently have, at the same $12.95 price. While this looks good in theory, most of us who have kept up with merger news and who follow satellite radio in general wonder how long this will last. Beyond the price, there are the channels to consider. Both services have a top hits station. both have similar classic rock, arena rock, hair band, country, jazz, blues, and classical channels. Part of the purpose of this merger is to make the new company profitable and to save the company money. Many of us believe that this will result in the elimination of duplicated channels. The question is, who will lose more of what they like? XM subscribers, or Sirius subscribers? At that point, which subscription plan will be the best bet for a current subscriber who is happy with what he/she has right now?
Option 4: Mostly Music
For $9.99, subscribers can subscribe to Sirius Mostly Music or XM Mostly Music. this will naturally be a music-intensive subscription without the majority of the news, talk and sports content. This isn’t a bad idea if you’re someone who just likes the music channels, and doesn’t care to hear about world events or a baseball game. I could see this being popular with many folks.
Option 5: News, Talk, and Sports
Also for $9.99, you can choose a news/talk/sports package from either service. Sadly, it doesn’t look like it allows for combining programming from both services. So, if you want MLB, NHL, and NFL, it looks like that won’t be happening right now.
Option 6: Everything Plus Select Channels
For $16.99, subscribers can get either XM Everything or Sirius Everything, plus ten select channels from the other service. This plan looks almost attractive until you realize that you’d be paying an additional $4 for ten extra channels, with no guarantee as to how many of them you’d actually like. I might like this plan better if it gave me close to a third of the Sirius line-up instead of only ten channels. As of right now, it is not yet known with ten XM or Sirius channels would be included in this package. As of right now though, it again looks like the exclusive sports content from either service would not be included in the plan.
Though I can see the benefits for some current and potential subscribers in these plans, I personally believe the merger has a long way to go before I will be convinced it is a good idea. Right now, from a value perspective, it appears a subscriber who wants both XM and Sirius content now or after the merger would still be better off paying the $25.90 base price to be a dual subscriber.
