I was telling a friend that after my free 3 month trial I will sign up for XM at $77/year. This friend told me word is that XM will be going free soon, but I haven't been able to find anything on the internet. Has anyone else heard this?

 

Sure it has to be true. Because XM isn't bleeding money like a stuck pig. They should give the service away and make your receiver obsolete when they go out of business even earlier than they probably will. At $77 a year they are giving it away and losing money on the deal. Hang on and wait for the free deal.

 

What would prevent all existing customers from cancelling their subscriptions, getting refunds on the remaining term, and re-signing up for "free"? They are losing money already, and unless they somehow found a new source of cash, it just wouldn't work for the stockholders. They might have a reasonably long free period for anyone that wants it or something like that, but not free forever (or no end in sight). It would gain lots of subscribers, and probably kill off Sirius eventually (if XM didn't die first...) but they can't operate with no income.

 

If XM goes free, where would they get their money? They don't have commercials on many of their channels, so I doubt commercial revenues would keep them afloat.

 

IF, and that's a big IF, XM will become free, you be certain that each channel will have commercials and that is how they are going to get the money.

 

It makes me wonder, then, how they would expect to keep a subscriber base if they have little to differentiate themselves from FM.

 

Yeah, they abandoned their "near CD quality sound" pitch long ago too AM sounds as good or better as XM for me.

 

I don't know where your friend gets his news, but he sounds like a crack smoker. XM is not going to be free. Maybe cable television will be free some day too.

 

I could only think they are loosing money now. I renewed for the $77/year and they NEVER charge my card for it. It has now been 4 months and I have not gotten a bill or charged on my card for it. Don't know how they stay afloat like this.

Love~
Brooke
P.S. I'm not sure XM is worth the money. You have a few stations you like and while they don't play commericals they play the same songs over and over and over and over again.

 

It sounds like you must be listening to one of the "hits" channels, where they only play the hits. Those channels have a lot of repetition compared to most of the other channels. I'm guessing you're listening to 20, 21, 16, etc.

 

Yes, the Clear Channel stations on XM recently added commercials, but XM added replacement genre channels without commercials to make up for those.

I personally love satellite radio. I was with Sirius from day one until I bought my TL last fall and then switched to XM. I like the music channels, but on my drive to and from work usually listen to one of the cable news or business channels. You can't get that with FM.

 

Ditto

 

I only play stations 11,16,17,121,226 at least I'm getting it free for the year

Love~
Brooke*

 

free XM? You are on crack... free cable and direct tv too! What planet are you from? Does the word capitalism mean anything. Yeah it will be free...Santa will bring it to your door.

 

I lke having XM when I want to listen to the stock guy, news or the comedy channel, but for music the sound quality is as comparble to AM stations, the FM side sounds much better.... so I'm not sure if I will be renewing it, I have to hear Sirius and compare the quality..anyone has done this yet..? compared them?..thanks

HEK aka Hector

 

I noticed on some of the hit channels, they have commercials now. They are marked with a "cm" on the end. so at least they tell u that those stations have commercials, but what ever happened to "commercial free music"?

as for xm going free, i dont think that'll ever happen, but i bet more commercials r on their way.

 

I think your friend got his information from the Howard 100 news or the Onion

 

my friend bought his TL in November, and his XM is still running free....

 

Here is something to ponder...I bought my 04 TL in Feb of 2004...Up until this point XM has been completely free of charge...Go Figure...2+ years???

 

Unlike FM, you are able to listen to the same channel or group of channels from coast to coast. That in itself is a +.

The top 20 genre channels due tend to repeat quite a bit. The censorship on it is what drives me nuts. Once Sirius release a direct link, I am all about it.

Working in car stereo, I listen to XM 8-11 hours a day. I do enjoy the fact that there are limited commercials on certain channels, but I don't listen to FM because I hate commercials.

As for it going free, NO WAY. They owe to much money, unless they went to having all commercial channels to pay for it( which would make them more money), there is no way this will happen. So if you want it(OP), buy it, if not, don't. I dont see them going out of buisness, they are partnered with another Sat. Radio company, that offers it in South America, Asia, India and many other countries. Not to mention the Clear Channel connection!!! Only the largest radio owner in the US.


Jason

 

ive noticed that too. ill have too give them a call.

 

yeah i hope so will call soon

 

Its funny because usually when I go to a different channel in the hits section, I hear the same song I just heard 2 channels away, but now instead of repeat songs, its repeat commercials!

 

The reason there are commercials on some of the music channels is because those channels are controlled by Clear Channel and the contract with XM specifies those channels can have commercials. In order to keep their "most commercial-free channels" claim, XM added music channels to "replace" those controlled by CC. They're not really replacing them, but they play the same music, but commercial-free.

 

And this isn't exactly new news. XM sent a mailer out about this maybe 3-4 months ago. They had a news story on their web site about it.