# The Sirius (and XM) "guarantee"



## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

Bear with me a moment. I've been a Sirius subscriber for 4-5 years. Mostly quite satisfied. But I subscribed because of the sports offering, and have stayed mostly because of the great commercial-free music. Anyway, Sirius dropped the NHL a year or 2 ago, and now NBA this year. Since the NBA was on Sirius before the merger with XM, and now "still" available as a part of the Best of XM package, can't one conclude that my receivers which cannot get the XM channels have become obsolete? As a result of the merger my receivers can no longer receive programming that they could before the merger, programming that Sirius claims is "still" available.

I have a lot invested in car, home, and portable devices/accessories. For them to tell me to just buy new equipment is not acceptable.

So they offer this "guarantee" but they don't say what they will do if they can't meet it.


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## ThunderRoad (May 13, 2006)

It's my understanding the NBA deal was signed with XM before the merger was approved. However, it's no different than when I had XM for their NASCAR channel. As they say in their terms and conditions, programming is subject to change. Afterwards, Sirius secured the rights, so I ended up buying Sirius equipment. 

Now if all of the programming went from Sirius over to XM, and all the channels on your Sirius radio went silent, then it would be considered obsolete.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Just what is the guarantee? I'm not familiar with it.


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## minorthr (Mar 18, 2003)

I take it your equipment doesnt work with best of XM. Join the club. The radio installed in our Volvo doesnt work with best of either and we got it in March.


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## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

paulman182 said:


> Just what is the guarantee? I'm not familiar with it.


They guarantee that your existing equipment won't become obsolete as a result of the merger. But they don't state the "or else" part. Anywhere.

Interestingly, they used to have a graphic posted on both the Sirius and XM sites stating this guarantee, but I can't find it. It was there as recently as a week or 2 ago.


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## nj1313 (Nov 2, 2007)

minorthr said:


> I take it your equipment doesnt work with best of XM. Join the club. The radio installed in our Volvo doesnt work with best of either and we got it in March.


I have one of the original Sportster Replay radio...it is useless for any of the XM channels...

Will Sirius replace my radio so it can pick up XM channels , or are they expecting me to shell out more money to get XM channels:nono2: ???

Has anybody heard anything when calling Sirius?


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## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

ThunderRoad said:


> It's my understanding the NBA deal was signed with XM before the merger was approved. However, it's no different than when I had XM for their NASCAR channel. As they say in their terms and conditions, programming is subject to change. Afterwards, Sirius secured the rights, so I ended up buying Sirius equipment.
> 
> Now if all of the programming went from Sirius over to XM, and all the channels on your Sirius radio went silent, then it would be considered obsolete.


I don't believe this is the case, that the deal between NBA and XM was signed before the merger was approved. There is no evidence of that. There is evidence though that it was done well afterwards. Any search will tell you that.

Channels that switched sides as a result of the merger render older equipment obsolete. That's the case here.

EDIT: Sirius stopped posting in their press releases that they were the home of the NBA around June 17, 2008. The merger was given FCC approval the end of July I believe.


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## I WANT MORE (Oct 3, 2006)

nj1313 said:


> I have one of the original Sportster Replay radio...it is useless for any of the XM channels...
> 
> Will Sirius replace my radio so it can pick up XM channels , or are they expecting me to shell out more money to get XM channels:nono2: ???
> 
> Has anybody heard anything when calling Sirius?


I had 2 home tuners, 2 sportsters, and 1 vehicle subscription. I had to replace 1 sporster to be able to receive best of XM and none of them are capable of Ala Carte. Those are the facts.


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## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

I WANT MORE said:


> I had 2 home tuners, 2 sportsters, and 1 vehicle subscription. I had to replace 1 sporster to be able to receive best of XM and none of them are capable of Ala Carte. Those are the facts.


Wonderful! But they're not obsolete!


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## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

Look what I found!

From http://investor.sirius.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=232255

"Following a merger, SIRIUS will be able to offer the best of both services in a mix of programming that can be accessed by existing radios, including such critically acclaimed SIRIUS programming as:

* 100% commercial-free music

* The best sports line-up including the NFL, NASCAR, NBA and college
sports

* Top personalities, such as Howard Stern, with two dedicated full-time
channels, Martha Stewart Living Radio, CosmoRadio, Playboy Radio, and
Blue Collar Comedy channel, among many others"

I *cannot* receive NBA programming with my existing radio! The guarantee has been broken. What will Sirius do about it?


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

pigskins said:


> Look what I found!
> 
> From http://investor.sirius.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=232255
> 
> ...


Let's face it the public, the FCC, and even the Department of Justice were lied to when it came to information about the merger. And back before the merger was allowed to take place anyone I said that to became very upset with me.
But now everyone is starting to see how the merger is really working out for the public and now they are really upset.


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## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

Let yourself be heard!!

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/10/early-satellite.html#more

Let's try to get something out of this mess.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Dolly said:


> Let's face it the public, the FCC, and even the Department of Justice were lied to when it came to information about the merger. And back before the merger was allowed to take place anyone I said that to became very upset with me.
> But now everyone is starting to see how the merger is really working out for the public and now they are really upset.


Not me, Dolly. I have agreed with you all along about the lies.

It doesn't matter very much to me, however. I've got two XM receivers on my account and wouldn't miss them very much at all if I cancelled.


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## tedb3rd (Feb 2, 2006)

The deal is done. XM and Sirius have merged like they wanted. Now, it's FU the customer and go out and buy more equipment (revenue for them) to get what you were 'guaranteed.' It's not their problem. If you don't like it, go to the other satellite radio provider. No wait, HA HA!


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## JClore1950 (Aug 28, 2007)

I received an email stating that for an outrageously high downpayment, and then increased monthly payments, I could have various levels of combined, XM and Sirius programming. Unfortunately, the email gave the impression that the alrge down payment was to what your new monthly fees might total. I had to get this straight via a phone call to XM.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Karmazin lied. I just cancelled my XM subscription today.


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## ThunderRoad (May 13, 2006)

That's why I don't see their ala carte promise lasting very long either. 6.99 per month doesn't provide a big enough revenue stream. They said within 3 months after the close of the merger there would be ala carte radios and plans. Next week will make it 3 months since the close. And what have we seen? One ala carte radio model (on the Sirius side) on the market? None for XM yet. I think that's by design so months down the line they can say "we're discontinuing ala carte due to the fact not enough consumers took advantage of the offer".


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## VaJim (Jul 27, 2006)

pigskins said:


> Channels that switched sides as a result of the merger render older equipment obsolete. That's the case here.
> 
> EDIT: Sirius stopped posting in their press releases that they were the home of the NBA around June 17, 2008. The merger was given FCC approval the end of July I believe.


...this is crazy......the bottom line is that all of these channel belong to Sirius XM and to be fair they should find a way to get make them available to ALL without jerking people around with this 'obsolete' radio issue.


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## Hoxxx (Jun 19, 2004)

pigskins said:


> Bear with me a moment. I've been a Sirius subscriber for 4-5 years. Mostly quite satisfied. But I subscribed because of the sports offering, and have stayed mostly because of the great commercial-free music. Anyway, Sirius dropped the NHL a year or 2 ago, and now NBA this year. Since the NBA was on Sirius before the merger with XM, and now "still" available as a part of the Best of XM package, can't one conclude that my receivers which cannot get the XM channels have become obsolete? As a result of the merger my receivers can no longer receive programming that they could before the merger, programming that Sirius claims is "still" available.
> 
> I have a lot invested in car, home, and portable devices/accessories. For them to tell me to just buy new equipment is not acceptable.
> 
> So they offer this "guarantee" but they don't say what they will do if they can't meet it.


My XM equipment gets the best of Sirius just fine....no worries


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

Hoxxx said:


> My XM equipment gets the best of Sirius just fine....no worries


What XM equipment do you have? My XM equipment is in my car. I don't want Best of Sirius, but for the point of the post lets say I do want it. So I order it only to find out that my car radio won't play it. What happens then?


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

VaJim said:


> ...this is crazy......the bottom line is that all of these channel belong to Sirius XM and to be fair they should find a way to get make them available to ALL without jerking people around with this 'obsolete' radio issue.


They can't afford to do that remember we are talking about Sat. radio. The two companies have different systems just like D* TV and DISH TV have different systems. They may be a merged company in name, but in fact they still have two different systems when it comes to broadcasting.
That is a big reason why I don't think they should have been allowed to merger. It's like trying to make one apple pie, but you had two pies before--one was apple the other was cherry. You can't turn all the cherries into apples to make the one apple pie! I'm sure someone can come up with a less stupid explaination, but that is the best I can do for right now.


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## VaJim (Jul 27, 2006)

Dolly said:


> They can't afford to do that remember we are talking about Sat. radio. The two companies have different systems just like D* TV and DISH TV have different systems. .


...I gotcha....but I hope it's more than affordability. What they should have done is their homework. That is, figure which channels they can do away with (on both sides), which platform they want to base their comapny on and move forward. Then there should be some sort of assistance to help listeners upgrade their equipment. This idea of the best of XM or the best of Sirius makes no sense.


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

VaJim said:


> ...I gotcha....but I hope it's more than affordability. What they should have done is their homework. That is, figure which channels they can do away with (on both sides), which platform they want to base their comapny on and move forward. Then there should be some sort of assistance to help listeners upgrade their equipment. This idea of the best of XM or the best of Sirius makes no sense.


I also think they should have asked for subs input on the stations changes. I know there still would have been no way they could have pleased everyone, but still the subs would have felt that they did play some part in the decision. But no they didn't even let the subs know about the changes in advance :eek2: That is no way to run a company especially one that needs money as much as Sirius XM :nono:


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## YKW06 (Feb 2, 2006)

pigskins said:


> Look what I found!
> 
> From http://investor.sirius.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=232255
> 
> ...


Look at the date of that release. Over a year before the NBA contract was up. Had the merger been approved in a timely manner (no US merger has ever taken as long to be resolved, whether approved or rejected, as did this one), that part of the release would have remained accurate. No one could have possibly foreseen that it would not be.


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