A Sirius Rumor? Echostar to Buy Sirius?

[Scott Greczkowski]

A Sirius Rumor? Plus XM's Numbers
Provided by our friends at SkyReport.COM

Rumors (and we do mean rumors) are circulating that EchoStar is eyeing Sirius, and may be putting together a bid for the satellite radio service.

While some on the editorial staff have received suggestions about a potential bid, there are others contacted by SkyREPORT who have said this is the first they have heard of such talk, or even dismissed the rumor as nonsense. For the record, DISH said it doesn't comment on rumors, and Sirius didn't return phone calls concerning the issue.

On a completely different topic, but one related to satellite radio, XM reported that it ended the third quarter with more than 900,000 subscribers (and that's no rumor). The XM details can be found at SkyRETAILER: http://www.skyretailer.com.

 

[A_Noland]

Looks like they(xm) might make that Million sub mark by the end of the year.

Why would Echostar want Sirius?

 

[Stargazer]

Because Sirius, with the lower sub counts, would be MUCH cheaper to buy than XM in which is a bit more successful. If Dish started selling Sirius as well having their retailers for Dish Network selling them, then I am sure they would take off pretty well and play catch up while offering some promotions.

 

[dlsnyder]

If I could get a deal on Sirius programming added to my Dish bill I would be very likely to take the plunge myself. Currently I don't sub to either XM or Sirius and would be hard pressed to justify the extra expense, even given my four hours or so on the road each day.

 

[dlsnyder]

Has anyone heard anything else about this?

 

[sampatterson]

Does that mean if Echostar buys them, then we will have satellite radio receivers that reboot or don't work!

 

[JBKing]

"Jumping Jack Flash, it's a ......"

<downloading information..............>

"....... gas gas gas"

 

[BobMurdoch]

Hell, I'd love it just so they could share costs by uploading some or all of Sirius's feeds to our music channels and ditch the useless ones we have now. Other than Tropical Breezes, Roadhouse, and 7890s the song selections are awful. Hot hits has hardly ANY hot hits, and all of the other channels are filled with Ktel rejects.

I'm an XM subscriber and I can see that XM is running away with the game with their great Delphi SkyFi product (I'm not sure how the Roady will do. but there are LOT of them on sale at Best Buy). XM has an 80% market share right now, and I don't think Sirius is going to be able to turn that around anytime soon. The higher monthly fee (albeit with less commericals), and lack of compelling hardware (the new Kenwood looks OK but it is still too small a display) hamper it. Add in the fact that GM is backing XM while Ford is backing Sirius and Ford's weaker sales have hurt Sirius's potential market. Hertz may help Sirius get some exposure, but there aren't that many cars equipped with it yet that I've found (XM has a similar deal with Avis).

Besides, what brain surgeon gave Pamela Anderson a RADIO show on Sirius? Like her fans like her for her voice. (Probably also explains why Playboy Radio on XM hasn't taken off either)

 

[Guest]

Well Dish would have to lower the price in order to compete with XM if they want to stay the low price leader. I can see it now: the first satellite radio dvr with constant reboots to get it to work.

 

[alfbinet]

I am a Dish 6000 owner. Have had it for about two years...I think I have had to reboot it may 2 or three times during that time. I have more problems with my Microsoft software for God's sake.

 

[Nick]

The only way you will be able to safely do a complete power-off reboot with an EchoStar r/u Sirius receiver installed in your car will be to pull over to the side of the road, open the hood and remove the battery cable for 10 seconds. Much safer than searching under the dash for that fuse-link tucked up behind the air duct while doing 90 mph down the freeway.