# A Price Increase for Sirius?



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

Given the recent news that XM Satellite Radio plans to raise its monthly rate for service from $9.99 to $12.95, could a price increase be in the future for Sirius? 
Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, speaking before the Bear Stearns Media Conference Wednesday, stressed that the company has not made a decision concerning a price hike. However, given the XM move, Karmazin said, "It opens up all kinds of options for us. One option is, "can we raise our prices?"

At the moment, Sirius charges $12.95 a month.

Karmazin said Sirius' content is "superior" to XM's offerings, and passing along a rate increase wouldn't appear to be much of an issue. But if the Sirius monthly price stays the same, the CEO said "that would be a huge advantage for us."

Karmazin said of the XM price hike, "I couldn't think of anything better for us than that occurring."

http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

IMHO, Sirius would be dumb to increase their price at this time. Many times folks that I've talked to said they would pick XM because it was cheaper. Back before XM stopped having commercials on their music channels I could see spending the extra dollars on Sirius but with both service sans commercials XM became more attrative. At least give it a year (after Howard makes the move) and see how things are looking before talking increase.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

I agree..... A company with a 20% market share needs to get at least a solid third of the market before it thinks about squeeziung more money out of the subscribers.


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

The reason why XM raised their prices particularly to $12.99 was due to that being the same rate as Sirius therefore they felt as if they could get away with that. They were already cheaper than their competition Sirius therefore they had some room to increase the rates. This would be different in Sirius's situation in that they are now the same price as XM and if they would increase their price then their price would be higher. By remaining the same price they would be able to seem to be on a more level playing field. A lot if not most people shopping for satellite radio dont know of the differences between XM and Sirius.


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## speedy882001 (Dec 17, 2002)

If Sirius is even thinking of raising prices, they need to start thinking about tiered pricing. At a minimum a basic package and an everthing package. That way only the people that want all the new programming could pay the extra. About 80% to 90% of what I listen to is the basic music channels.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

Maybe The Sports Pack For 3.99 A Month


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## MarkA (Mar 23, 2002)

Give me Sirius Gold, KidStuff, Elvis, Spirit, Praise, the country stations (all the 30's), FOX News, and WSM and the new NASCAR when it's added and I'd be happy..

A basic "pick 20 channels for $10" or something package would be great!


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

They are making such a small amount off of each subscriber that I do not think they would do it because most may take the smaller package therefore causing them to have less revenue.


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## chrisk (Jun 6, 2004)

If Dish went from charging me $40 to $52, I would drop them even if Direct was charging $52. Hitting customer with that big an increase "Just becasue that is what the competition charges" would make me leave just on principle.


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I think its more about them thinking that its only a $3 increase rather than a 30% increase. Even at a $1 rate increase that would be 10%. Hopefully they will not increase the rates that often. I would think that they would keep the rate the same for a while before increasing it to $15.


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## Joe C (Mar 3, 2005)

speedy882001 said:


> If Sirius is even thinking of raising prices, they need to start thinking about tiered pricing. At a minimum a basic package and an everthing package. That way only the people that want all the new programming could pay the extra. About 80% to 90% of what I listen to is the basic music channels.


I agree with this also. I only listen to the music channels and occasionally Fox News. I don't care about NASCAR, Howard, NFL etc.


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## Nikos09 (Oct 6, 2004)

Joe C said:


> I agree with this also. I only listen to the music channels and occasionally Fox News. I don't care about NASCAR, Howard, NFL etc.


Back when I was looking at both services (before Howard, NFL, and NASCAR), I had a hard time getting myself to buy into spending the extra $3 a month for Sirius. XM was cheaper and had basically the same stuff, not to mention a few more options on the receiver front as the industry leader. I figured I would give the industry a year or two to work things out and go with the "Wal-Mart" version of the two. (I'm so cheap sometimes)

Now, with these new contracts and the raise in the price of XM, I have no excuse not to chase my NFL dreams, catch a race or two and please my dark side with a little Howard. Money, it seems, is no longer an issue.

Now I just have to convince the wife.... :nono:


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## deraz (Sep 25, 2004)

Nikos09 said:


> Now I just have to convince the wife.... :nono:


Off topic, but if you need to convince the wife of something that costs about the same as a pizza, then it's time to trade her in.


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