Saturday, February 21, 2009

Sirius XM Radio News

About a week ago, GolfBlogger posted some thoughts regarding Sirius XM's serious financial troubles. This concerned me on two levels: one, I subscribe to XM Radio and two, I subscribe to Dish Network. Why is Dish Network in the picture? Well, Sirius XM had apparently held talks with Dish Network/Echostar/Charlie Ergen as a possible way to bail themselves out of some of the debt they are in. In fact, I think some of the loans Sirius XM had to pay could be traced back to Echostar/Charlie Ergen - I think, I'm not up on all the financial stuff. Anyway, Sirius XM did find funding from Liberty Media (Discovery Channel and Direct TV) and they now have a chance to save their company (they need to get rid of overpriced talk radio personalities though).

So, great news for me: I still get my XM Radio and Dish Network isn't buying into the company which would no doubt have increased my subscription price there.

Bad News for me: Dish Network just raised my subscription rate by $5.00 a month. Wonder how much they would have raised it if they had become even more entangled with XM Radio. You'd think I could get a price break since Sirius XM is now able to pay those loans. That's cash back into Dish Network's pocket. Or maybe just Charlie Ergen's. Again, I have no idea who owes who what, except that I now have to pay more.

Any Direct TV customers out there reading this? Will your subscription prices go up?

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