More Fees For Satellite Radio
Today an email came across my desk that was reported to be a memo given to Sirius XM employees. I looked at it and thought it was a joke, then I looked into it some more and did some research online and found that broadcasters were fighting a “broadcast tax.” I took that information and put it together with the leaked Sirius XM memo and again dismissed that memo as being fake.
I was wrong.
Then something told me to investigate more so I sent out emails and called people I knew at Sirius XM and while no one would verify that the memo was real they confirmed that the information in that memo was real. Starting on July 29th Sirius XM customers will need to pay a US Music Royalty Fee. This fee will be $2 for the first radio and 97 cents for each extra radio on your account.
Now the folks I spoke to at Sirius XM who wish to remain anonymous wanted me to pass along that this is not an increase from Sirius XM, this is a pass through fee that goes directly to pay these royalty fees.
According to the assumed leaked memo “The FCC decision approving the merger between SIRIUS and XM allows the company to pass through to Subscribers any federally mandated increases in music royalties that we must pay, since March 20, 2007. The FCC decision allows us to pass through this fee increase to our Subscribers and the company has chosen to do this with the U.S. Music Royalty Fee.
The US Music Royalty Fee will be applied to all music subscriptions that SIRIUS XM offers. The fee will be implemented on July 29th, 2009.”
Now what confused me when I read this memo was that regular broadcast stations are now fighting these fees, as they have never had to pay them, while on the satellite radio side of things the satellite radio companies have been paying them all along.
For me while I can understand why Sirius XM is going to be passing along these fees, yet up until now Sirius XM has paid these fees as part of their base rate. With Sirius XM no longer paying these fees and the consumer paying for them directly I don’t see Sirius XM lowering their monthly cost to the consumer to make up for the difference.
No matter how you look at things, if you are a fan of Satellite Radio, it looks like your bill is going up yet again. For many of us we will just grin and bear it as we know that its still better then listening to good old FM radio.
To read the unofficial leaked document please see http://tinyurl.com/m5equj
Have a great weekend everyone!
Boo Hoo commented:
I don't care what they charge unless it's over 30 bucks a month. Try listening to what you used to listen to before Sirius for two weeks, or anything else for that matter, even your own stuff off a play list. Heavy commuters know one thing for a fact, you cancel Sirius and you start pulling your hair out, then you sign up again.
PO'd commented:
We'll it's official...just got the letter the other day in the mail. I will be done once Howard leaves. Enough is enough they new this was coming since 2007 but never prepared anyone for it or tried to ease into it. In the mean time they are signing new people like Rosie etc for Millions of dollars. Seems to me like they have plenty of profits & assume we won't cancel because we're hooked. Guess again.
cudBwrong commented:
There's a principle here. They're not supposed to increase rates now beyond certain cost increases. The costs are going up 0.5 per cent and the rates are going up 15 per cent. Why can't they adhere to the terms of their agreements? Who enforces these terms?
Don't Panic commented:
I would wait and see if this is true first before making a judgement and decision...
rey commented:
the only thing keeping me from canceling siriusxm is for the sports,comedy and classical channels. the rest of it has turned into garbage IMO. not only has the selection of music been poor but the sound that wasn't even that great on these music channels to begin with is even worse today. FM sound quality is better than this. it shouldn't be. i have two radios with siriusxm. i might remove at least one for now because of their price increases. it's getting ridiculous and more difficult to find a reason why i should pay these monthly fees to siriusxm.
Countdown to Howard commented:
One and one-half years left and addios Sirius/XM.
With the new fees, I will be cutting back from 3 to 2 receivers.
I have plenty of music and the Stern show is getting lame with the junkie and the cackler. Howard is great though and I will stay for now.
delzunal commented:
This is the beginning of the end. Especially when there are soo many FREE alternatives.
Brooke commented:
They have changed their plans in a multiple ways over the last few months. The 2 bucks is nothing, but the fact that nothing is a constant with them pisses me off. There's always a new reason to get a few more dollars out of me every few months. Once Howard leaves I will cease my subscription with them. In this economy people are cutting everything down to a bare minimum, and it saddens me that satellite radio is gonna tank because of this BS. I really wanted to see them succeed...
Brooke commented:
They have changed their plans in a multiple ways over the last few months. The 2 bucks is nothing, but the fact that nothing is a constant with them pisses me off. There's always a new reason to get a few more dollars out of me every few months. Once Howard leaves I will cease my subscription with them. In this economy people are cutting everything down to a bare minimum, and it saddens me that satellite radio is gonna tank because of this BS. I really wanted to see them succeed...
Kevin commented:
Man I'm already paying 3 bucks a month to stream to my computer and Iphone. Now an extra 2 bucks that sucks... They are really starting to test my loyalties to Howard!
Dan commented:
Confirms my decision. I dropped the service 6 months ago due to cost and poor customer service.
Jon commented:
But not any better than Slacker or Pandora. Both are free, unless you choose to pay for upgraded service.
mgv11 commented:
This is typical of Cable TV passing franchise fees thru, the problem is we aren't used to it from Siri and it is a substantial increase as a percent of our monthly fees. I think they need to think about how they pass this on but I don't see it hurting them substantially, what I do hope is they think of how it looks to their users.
jerryez commented:
Broadcast radio is going to be paying the same fees and have no way to pass them on. They will have to increase their advertising fees.
Stu commented:
I have three radios on my account(and I'm the only one that listens to them). I have been thinking about deleting one of them since they raised the Family plan rate. Now the thinking may be over. I may have to shut down two of them and go back to moving the one around with me from house to car to work truck, like I did when I first subscribed.