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The speculation continues to grow about Sirius XM and a potential bankruptcy filing.
The satellite radio company has hired advisers to prepare for a possible Chapter 11 filing, the New York Times reports. Without getting too financial, Sirius XM is $3 billion in debt, of which $175 million is due at the end of February.
So what does a looming bankruptcy mean for subscribers? It doesn’t appear as though customers will immediately lose service. But the big names - Howard Stern, Martha Stewart - will likely be forced to take pay cuts or be released from their contracts. How a company that’s never turned a profit can afford to pay Stern a reported $100 million per year is beyond me.
Sirius XM may also renegotiate its deals with Major League Baseball and the automakers, reports Business Week.
Either way, reducing the number of channels will not go over well consumers already upset with higher subscription fees.
EchoStar has reportedly been buying up Sirius XM debt in a bid to take over the company. The set-top box manufacturer might finally get its wish.
I used to love Sirius, but quickly became disillusioned when they angled to acquire XM and gutted their programming. They eliminated all of the unique channels that made satellite radio great (including my two favorites, Boombox and Backspin) and replaced them with the same generic pop and 80s channels that you can get on terrestrial radio. Sure, you don’t have to deal with commercials via satellite, but that’s hardly a reason to stick with them in the age of high-capacity iPods and car audio connections.
I guess with XM they figured “If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me”.
I paid for a lifetime subscription and didn’t realize the “lifetime” may be over soon.
After the merger they announced that they are going to charge monthly for internet streaming, one reason I paid for a lifetime subscription was to avoid having monthly payments….it really stinks.
I love Howard Stern but I’m very disappointed in Sirius.
Couldn’t be happier. Pay to listen to Stern? Pay to listen to Martha the criminal? Couldn’t be happier that this is flushing itself down the toilet.
To each his own, but Stearn’s not worth $1 million, never mind the $100 or so million per year they’ve been paying him. Maybe we’ll all learn we can live without this service .... though I’ll miss my XM.
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Can we now see where greed gets us. Players of sports, Entertainers, CEO’s all demand huge salaries, end result, higher prices for consumers. It then gets to a point where we as consumers can no longer afford what they offer nor can the ownership afford these high wages and then ask for protection under bankruptcy as so many are now doing. When XM and Sirius were working against each other they were offering huge amounts of money to the likes of Stern, the NFL, MLB, NASCAR and others. $100Mil a year for a talk show host is prime example. Sirius was expecting a huge following with Stern and it did not happen. I would hate to see SiriusXM end what is a great service. My hope is they dump the high $‘s thay are paying out for these folks and get back to an affordable service.