I need to call them for both my truck and my wife's van, as I would love to get it back. I have not had it in the van in like 2 years.

 

Hey all,

I'm a 2nd Gen owner and just spotted this thread. I recently finished a Financial Accounting class where we had a group project to analyze a company to determine if it were a worthwhile investment. We happened to pick Sirius XM Radio, and our conclusion was that it's not only a lousy investment, but that the company will be DEAD in 5-10 years.

Sirius had close to $1 Billion in debt maturing in 2009; the stock price hit an all time high of $62/share in 2000 to barely treading $1/share this year. Sirius has a hard time trying to get new subscribers because people are flocking to alternatives like HD-Radio, MP3 players, podcasts, services like Stitcher, and Wi-Fi. The company partners with automakers in an attempt to hook new car buyers with "free" service of 6 months to 1 year and then hits the customer with sticker shock at renewal (ie $450/year).

Good luck with the equipment if there is a problem. Sirius will claim it's an issue with the manufacturer (ie Blapunkt, Kenwood, etc) while the manufacturer will say it's a problem with Sirius.

My advice - Save your money and look into some of the alternatives I've mentioned.

 

Wow....who knew? Great info...thanks!

 

450 bucks I just got my bill 55 bucks plus including tax. I told them I really had no use for it and they will not quit you can almost name your own price.

 

That's because the company is desperate to keep subscribers, which should be a red flag. Our group was only able to analyze the company based on the 2008 Annual Report because the 2009/2010 reports had not been published (they weren't available until after March of this year). One member in my group has a Jeep and was quoted at $450/yr to renew -- she dropped it.

Sirius XM is having trouble renegotiating debt because credit is tight. The company has seven satellites in geosynchronous orbit over the North American continent that are not insured, are over 10 years old, and are in need of repair. Guess what? It isn't possible to send a repairman up there, and building/launching new satellites is extremely expensive.

The future is Internet radio, using an MP3 device, and even WiFi. Ford is working with Microsoft to turn automobiles into mobile WiFi platforms. Sprint and AT&T are gearing up to dump over $1 billion EACH to upgrade their infrastructures for 4G networking, and Google has spent the last decade buying what's called "dark fiber" in order to make the entire US broadband capable.

Satellite radio is going to go the way of the Model T.

 

For what Sirius costs (at least some of us), it's well worth the price for the service. At under $5/month it's hard to beat and if you're only committing for 6 - 12 months, you don't stand to lose much if they truly go under.

From an investment standpoint, I'm assuming you were analyzing Sirius as a longterm hold position? B/c I've made money off that stock a couple of times. It might have been risky, but was well worth the reward... Just this morning it's up 11% in premarket - with volatility there is money to be made by day traders and short term investors.

 

Our project was for both long-term hold analysis and analyzing the company's health. Sirius XM is on its deathbed and there is no way I would recommend this stock to anyone unless he needed a diverse portfolio to have a loss help offset serious gains in other stocks. Of the over 8 billion shares authorized, Sirius XM has about 45% outstanding.

 

There are always varying opinions about stocks, but I think I'll take professional analyst reports over that of a student project

 

renewed for 5 months today.
total: $24.67 after taxes etc.

 

We didn't do anything different than any professional would have done. We had to analyze debt ratios, inventory, cash flow -- the works. That's what happens when you're in a finance class -- learning the concepts and using them.

I just report the news, I don't make it up. If anyone here wishes to subscribe, then have at it; however, I will say that you've been duly warned.