Dave’s a very bright guy, but there’s nothing clunky about Apple CarPlay. My music library, podcasts, whatever, are right there with big, easy to identify icons.
That might have been a good pitch ten years ago, but not now.
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SiriusXM Changing Direction
- Thread starter Barry
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That might have been a good pitch ten years ago, but not now.
To "fix" what? Once again, what are those digital services doing? Are they offering live & local DJs and playing a curated music list? If not, maybe broadcasters are offering a product for which there's a declining audience. Sirius is basically the same linear business, and the platform doesn't seem to be helping them. People who use digital music services pay for the ability to hear what they want, when they want it without interruption by hosts or commercials. That's not what broadcast radio does. That's why companies in the broadcast radio business are shifting resources from linear to on-demand.
The main thing to know is that Sirius offers a lot of things that broadcast radio used to do. And what is the subject of this thread? That even with over 100 channels and lots of formats unavailable on broadcast radio, they are having trouble attracting subscribers. That should tell you all you need to know. Maybe the problem isn't with formats or live DJs.
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I see your point, Android Auto and Car Play have definitely become more user friendly recently. In fact that's my main incentive for looking for a new car soon!
But it still requires setup so it's not quite the no-brainer of AM/FM of old.
SiriusXM has 33 million subscribers, which seems to be a very decent amount. So there are apparently plenty of people that like their "linear" programming.
But it seems their expenses are so high, that they can't make a significant profit, even if they had more customers. And a large portion of their users are paying sharply reduced subscription fees. Expenses include millions of dollars for building and launching the satellites, costly talent (not only Howard Stern), maintenance of their elaborate broadcast infrastructure,, headquarters in New York and several other cities. So it's certainly not surprising that the articles mention that SiriusXM management is also stressing the need to continue paring expenses.
But it seems their expenses are so high, that they can't make a significant profit, even if they had more customers. And a large portion of their users are paying sharply reduced subscription fees. Expenses include millions of dollars for building and launching the satellites, costly talent (not only Howard Stern), maintenance of their elaborate broadcast infrastructure,, headquarters in New York and several other cities. So it's certainly not surprising that the articles mention that SiriusXM management is also stressing the need to continue paring expenses.
I mean, what...once?
I'm in 104 cars a year. It's dirt simple. Plug my phone into a USB port or connect via Bluetooth. After the first time, the car recognizes the phone. CarPlay automatically appears next to "radio" on the screen. From that point, it is exactly the same thing every time.
I can push "radio" and then "AM", "FM", "SiriusXM" or (on models that lump the presets together) the station I want to listen to.
Or I can push "CarPlay" or "Podcasts" and select the album, song, playlist, Apple Music "station" or podcast I want to listen to.
As we've discussed on this forum before, that subscriber number depends heavily on subscriptions that are free with the purchase of a car (they span from 90 days to one-year).
Very few people who don't have SiriusXM just decide they want it and sign up.
The churn rate (people dropping the service and being replaced by new subscribers) is very high.
Those people are replaced by people who get the subscription with their new car and by those sharply reduced subscription fees you mentioned as a tool to lure defectors back or keep their deals from expiring. It's the hustle required to keep that subscriber count relatively steady that gets expensive.
Ah, the root of so much that's wrong with big business culture. You can build a terrific product to maturity that makes billions in annual revenue revenue -- more than enough for everyone to live comfortably -- but it's never enough for the Wall Street gamblers who scream at you for being some kind of failure if you're not giving them infinite growth forever and ever. Which of course is impossible, but it still leads to all those unaffordable mega-mergers in the name of "growth", the crushing debt that comes with them and the inevitable cost cutting, layoffs and bankruptcies that follow.
That's what drives this country, and now that culture is running the government, so expect to see more of that culture in the coming years.
It's not just greedy people on Wall Street, but also owners of 401K plans. What kind of retirement do you want?
Preferably not the house of cards I can see, combined with Trump's predicted gutting of Social Security.
This follows the enshittification of free sponsor-based AM/FM that made a paid service viable in the first place. People like free but will pay for competition when there's a big enough difference in quality at a reasonable price point.
It might be noted that SXM offers un-announced versions of 60s Gold, 70sOn7 and 80sOn8, the formats you might think would be friendlier to DJs.
And when you get home? Same convenience?
Essentially. Though I usually don’t continue listening to the same thing when I get home. I didn’t with radio either. But yeah, I could continue to play via my phone ‘s speaker, pop in AirPods or cast my device to either my desktop Mac or my TV.
I would think the bigger barrier to CarPlay/Android Auto use in vehicles would be just general use of the system. My ex-wife, who is more than a decade younger than I am, hates CarPlay because she finds it distracting and feels like she has to take her eyes off the road too much to use it. She prefers regular Bluetooth and using her phone's voice controls.
Personally, I use the voice controls and Bluetooth in my car unless I'm traveling and want/need another app or have passengers. I have an older SUV (which I bought from the ex when she moved to Europe and no longer needed), and I put an aftermarket CarPlay in it. My girlfriend loves it and wants one for her 2012 model car. Since her birthday is also Christmas Day, I know what one of her presents this year will be!
SXM has taken $3.467 billion in impairment charges this year, and $3.36 million of this was in Q3. The Q3 charge was due to Liberty revaluing SXM's goodwill asset value immediately prior to the split-off of Liberty Sirius XM Holdings Inc. ("New Sirius") from Liberty that was completed September 9.
The impairment charges are entirely non-cash in nature.
SiriusXM Q3 revenue down 4%
US pay-radio operator SiriusXM has released its Q3 results, reporting revenue of $2.17 billion (€2bn), a 4 per cent decline on the same period a year ago.
advanced-television.com
Revenue is beginning to trend lower for the company, and that is certainly cause for some concern. When adding back non-cash expenses, though, the company continues to produce significant positive net income. Yahoo Finance calculates a "Normalized Net Income" figure that excludes one-time unusual items. You can see below that for the trailing 12-months ended September 30, 2024, that number is impressive, equaling $1.452 billion on $8.799 billion of revenue.
Terrestrial radio companies dream of being able to generate the levels of positive net income and free cash flow that Sirius XM generates.
I meant to say $3.36 billion (not million) above. Apologies for any confusion my typo may have caused.SXM has taken $3.467 billion in impairment charges this year, and $3.36 million of this was in Q3. The Q3 charge was due to Liberty revaluing SXM's goodwill asset value immediately prior to the split-off of Liberty Sirius XM Holdings Inc. ("New Sirius") from Liberty that was completed September 9.
The impairment charges are entirely non-cash in nature.
SiriusXM Q3 revenue down 4%
US pay-radio operator SiriusXM has released its Q3 results, reporting revenue of $2.17 billion (€2bn), a 4 per cent decline on the same period a year ago.
Revenue is beginning to trend lower for the company, and that is certainly cause for some concern. When adding back non-cash expenses, though, the company continues to produce significant positive net income. Yahoo Finance calculates a "Normalized Net Income" figure that excludes one-time unusual items. You can see below that for the trailing 12-months ended September 30, 2024, that number is impressive, equaling $1.452 billion on $8.799 billion of revenue.
Terrestrial radio companies dream of being able to generate the levels of positive net income and free cash flow that Sirius XM generates.
Everybody's different. The number one reason cited for why people want CarPlay is ease of use. It's voice-controllable via Siri.
Smart man.
The trades are reporting that IHeart has made a major redesign of its radio streaming app. The goal is to make it simpler to use in vehicles, and more similar to tuning a conventional car radio. This includes station presets, and a scan function. Perhaps they are addressing concerns such as the ones mentioned above, that streaming in a vehicle is not as simple as tuning an AM/FM radio.
It has also seemed to me IHeart for quite some time that IHeart has been aiming to compete with satellite radio, by offering all sorts of similar niche music channels. Some have similar names, such as Country Outlaws, Yacht Rock Radio, and Deep Cuts. Around 50 of them are commercial free. And of course they emphasize that everything they offer is free of charge.
From RadioInsight
It has also seemed to me IHeart for quite some time that IHeart has been aiming to compete with satellite radio, by offering all sorts of similar niche music channels. Some have similar names, such as Country Outlaws, Yacht Rock Radio, and Deep Cuts. Around 50 of them are commercial free. And of course they emphasize that everything they offer is free of charge.
From RadioInsight
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This deserves its own thread before it takes over the SXM discussion here.
Good idea.
It's great to hear that at least one company is beginning to get it. Good for iHeart!
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