| NotRalph |
From Radio & Records;
By Jeffrey Yorke
Shares of XM and Sirius satellite radio companies were down and then up Tuesday (August 15), after a 1,983-word lead story in the Wall Street Journal, headlined “Until Recently Full of Promise Satellite Radio Runs Into Static,” took the fledgling pay-radio start-ups to task on a series of points.
The article focused on poor customer service and the companies’ heavy losses. “Last year, XM lost $667 million, and Sirius lost $863 million,” reported the Journal, hinting that losses have played a role the companies losing value. “Sirius shares have lost 44% of their value this year; XM's have given up 60%,” asserts the paper.
Readers were reminded that not only did longtime XM Board member, Pierce "Jack" Roberts resign last February, issuing this terse statement: "Given current course and speed, there is, in my view, a significant chance of crisis on the horizon," but that his warning may have been accurate. Notes the artlicle, XM “has twice lowered its subscriber targets for the year,” says the Journal, and both XM and Sirius are in the midst of battling driver’s apathy and new car owners who get free, trial subscriptions for three or six months and then fail to renew them. Both companies currently have churn rates of about 1.8%, but each satcaster faces new waves of subscribers threatening to not renew and send the churn rate to the moon.
In midday trading, shares of Sirius were off 6 cents at $3.67 as nearly 20.5 million shares traded hands. XM shares hit a low of $10.77 at 11:25 am but just after noon zipped up to $10.98, or 18 cents higher than Monday’s closing price. Nearly 1.5 million shares of XM had been sold in early trading. |
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| STLSteve |
| Yep, they keep reporting the same thing over and over again. |
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| TLD |
| It's too bad Sirius isnt a private corporation like it is in Canada. |
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