posted
I was checking out XM radio prices today because I was considering adding XM to my XM ready CD player/tuner today and came accross Circuit City's web site. They currently have the Pioneer XP900XM receiver for $99. This is the unit that can be hooked up to any Pioneer deck that is XM ready. But here is the cool thing - it will also work with any older Pioneer deck that has a "P" in the model number and has an "IP-BUS" hook up on the back. My 4Runner has an older Pioneer deck in it that it will work with. I will check out Circuit City at lunch and see if they honor the $99 price (free install too).
XM is the way to go I am convinced. 101 channels most without commercials, make communting easier. Currently there is a $6.99 per month family special that's like 20 cents a day. My current favorite channels are:
XM comedy channel - all short standup bits (uncensored) Ethel - Alternative rock uncensored Squizz - Hard alternative rock uncensored. Boneyard - Heavy metal uncensored. The Groove - Old school rap. Fox News Extreme XM - morning shows from around the USA
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I wish they would get this running up here, seems it would be idea for most people's situ.
Posts: 2469 | From: Anchorage, AK | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Dosen't Sirus (the other satellite radio co) cover Alaska? I think they might because they are on leased satelites that are constantly moving unlike XM that are stationary.
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Don't think so, the ads that places like Best Buy have for both systems (XM & Sirus) always have the little disclaimer at the bottom saying "Not Available in Alaska"
Posts: 2469 | From: Anchorage, AK | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Joe it wouldn't be a very good solution but XM does work in many areas of Alaska. One of the forums I visit have some XM listeners in Alaska near you that can get it most of the time. I would think for a southern facing house it would work all the time.
One other note on XM - the Delphi Skyfi XM radio is being priced pretty low lately (around $100 for the car or home kit). This is probably the best XM radio out there - it is a small screen that is hooked up in the car to the existing radio. It can be detached like a radio face and brought inside to your main stereo or the XM boombox. The cool thing about it is that you can browse all the channels on the screen and see what is playing before switching the channel.
posted
Don't get me wrong, I think its a killer idea, especially for up here. But I'd hate to spend the money and only have it work "sporadically".
Whats the forum??, I'd like to check it out and ask the Alaska guys specifically what they're able to get.
The thing that kinda bugs me is I go to the XM site, and it doesn't give you any specifics about range/signal/satallite orbits/ etc....
Only this lame-ass FAQ:
"Is XM Service available in Canada and Mexico?
XM is only licensed to provide service to the US (All states except Alaska and Hawaii), its territories and adjacent waters. XM's satellite signal reaches into portions of Canada and Mexico near the U.S. borders however, XM's service is not currently sold in Canada, Mexico or any other region outside of the continental United States."
posted
Cool, I checked it out. Looks like there are 2 or 3 guy with the Sirius setup that get good reception here in Anchorage.
Posts: 2469 | From: Anchorage, AK | Registered: Oct 2001
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This Is the Dawning of the Age of--XM? The satellite radio service is picking up subscribers fast -- but competition and cash burn are big worries
Gary M. Parsons was planning to spend September 11, 2001, preparing for the debut of XM Satellite Radio's new service. The chairman was scheduled to host a launch party on Sept. 12 at the Washington company's state-of-the-art studios with celebrities like Quincy Jones and Ziggy Marley. But on his drive to work that Tuesday, as he crossed the Potomac River on the 14th Street Bridge, Parsons saw a fireball explode at the Pentagon. Just like that, XM's grand affair seemed inconsequential. He pulled the plug on the party and canceled an ad campaign featuring Snoop Dogg falling down the side of a skyscraper. "Very little that day was going through my mind about XM," says Parsons.
Despite the rough start, XM is beginning to take off. Since launching without fanfare on Sept. 25, 2001, the company's crystal-clear, digital radio service delivered via satellite for $9.99 a month has started to catch on. Some 600,000 subscribers have signed up so far, and Parsons expects 1.2 million by yearend. The attraction? Customers can choose among 101 different stations, offering everything from classical to alternative rock, from BBC news to ESPN sports coverage. And because XM is delivered from satellites that cover the entire continental U.S., stations never fade out when listeners are driving, like traditional AM and FM stations do. "I don't think I can be without XM now," says Brad Johnson, a 36-year-old technical systems manager at Pepperdine University who listens during his hourlong morning commute.
Will others catch the rhythm? XM's primary competition is traditional AM and FM radio, which may not have the breadth and coverage of the satellite service, but has the distinct advantages of being free and available on standard car and stereo equipment. XM requires that customers pay $200 or so up front for equipment along with its monthly subscription fee. It also has a rival in New York's Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. Sirius, which costs $12.95 a month for 100 stations, is completely commercial-free, while XM has a small amount of advertising. Sirius has signed up 100,000 subscribers.
Perhaps the biggest worry is XM's own pocketbook. Even after restructuring its debt last year, the company is expected to lose $562 million this year on revenues of $85 million. It's burning through an estimated $20 million in cash a month and has just shy of $400 million in the bank. Some analysts think XM will hit 2.5 million subscribers and begin to generate cash from operations by the end of 2004. Slower subscriber growth, however, could prove troublesome. "It will be close," says analyst April Horace of investment bank Janco Partners Inc., who thinks XM has enough cash. "If they don't make subscriber gains, the business plan is at risk."
Real profits will take a bit longer. To cover its capital and interest costs, XM needs to reach 7.5 million subscribers and about $1 billion in revenues. Deutsche Bank Securities (DB ) Inc. expects the company will hit those figures in 2008.
To reach those targets, XM will get a little help from its friends. General Motors Corp., which invested $100 million in XM in 1999, plans to make satellite radio available in almost all of its cars. By the end of this year, 44 of GM's 57 car lines will come equipped with XM up from 25 last year. Toyota and Honda (HMC ) also are signing on. That's not all. Customers can sign up for XM radio in their homes if they pick up specially equipped boom boxes available through major retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart Stores. For his part, Parsons has no doubt XM's satellite radio will attract legions. "It will change the way people listen to music, news, and information," he says. "Once you've heard it, you can't be without it."
Parsons brings years of experience to the venture. The middle child of a homemaker and an exec of a fishing rod company, Parsons, 53, grew up in Columbia, S.C. After graduating with an engineering degree from Clemson University and an MBA from the University of South Carolina, Parsons worked 10 years for BellSouth (BLS ) Corp. He caught the entrepreneurial bug after his wife, Kathy, started her own ad agency. "She proved to me you could do it and not starve," he says. After Ma Bell's breakup in 1984, Parsons joined long-distance startup Telecom*USA, went to MCI Communications in 1991, and six years later, became CEO of American Mobile Satellite, a data-services company that was experimenting with satellite radio. He decided to push the project, and XM was born.
Even as a boy, Parsons demonstrated a passion for radio. While in high school, he worked as a disk jockey playing contemporary music nightly on "Gary Parson's Night Flight" at WKDK-AM in small-town Newberry, S.C. But that job cost him. After he was elected student-body president, school officials ousted him from the president's post because they didn't want a deejay representing the school. "Gary made a big stir," recalls older brother Jim, a construction company manager. "Radio tends to get in your blood," explains Gary.
That passion helped fuel Parsons through XM's touch-and-go moments. The most dramatic occurred last year when XM was running out of cash and its survival was at stake. Last fall, GM agreed in principle to stretch out the payments it was owed by XM, but the auto maker wouldn't defer collection unless XM could get fresh money from private investors. George Haywood of New York and Rick Barry, managing director at hedge fund Eastbourne Capital Management LLC, were interested, but they wanted a commitment from GM first. By October, the two sides were at a stalemate.
Parsons almost scared up cash elsewhere. NBC considered investing a significant amount but backed out in early December after it decided "it wasn't the right time," according to NBC Executive Vice-President Brandon Burgess. The New York Times (NYT ) Co. was going to kick in $25 million, but dropped out after defects forced XM to accelerate the launch of a spare satellite, according to Eastbourne partner Eric Sippel. New York Times officials declined to comment.
With cash running out, Parsons went back to GM. Since the last round of talks, GM had more time to study the sales of XM-enabled Cadillacs. The numbers were so impressive that GM executives were convinced XM's potential was enormous. Once GM committed, other investors quickly followed. At 5 a.m. on Dec. 23, GM led a group of investors in a $450 million refinancing for XM. GM deferred until 2006 $250 million in payments that XM owed it for loans, bonds, and revenue-sharing plans. A group that included Haywood, Barry, Honda Motor Co., and Hearst Corp. put in $200 million in new cash. In return, XM agreed to develop data services, such as weather and traffic, for Honda cars.
XM's success rests on more than just financial engineering. Parsons and his partner, CEO Hugh Panero, made several smart moves that helped it pull away from rival Sirius. The most important one came five years ago. XM decided to develop its radio chipset in-house, while Sirius outsourced its chip design to what is now Agere Systems (AGR ) Inc. Sirius' chips were delayed, which gave XM a year's headstart in the market, says Horace of Janco Partners. An Agere spokeswoman says it's common for complex chips to go through several revisions.
Last year, XM also decided to design a new line of radios in-house. Sold at retail stores, the easy-to-install radios have lowered XM's cost of subscriber acquisition to $74 in the first quarter, compared with $125 at the end of last year. XM pays only $35 to subsidize each of these radios, compared with $130 for its original radios.
There are still plenty of challenges ahead. XM must achieve its subscriber target. It faces plenty of competition from other technologies, such as the Internet, where downloading music is popular and often free. But XM is betting that young users will be just as excited by the prospect of mining XM's vast selection of new and unexpected music. And the quality of XM's sound is generally superior to anything that can be downloaded from the Web, let alone captured on AM or FM radio. "XM is a different definition of what we've heard all our lives," says Quincy Jones, who advises the company on its programming.
XM has defied the odds so far. That's why many analysts and investors believe the company can achieve its goals, signing up nearly 10 million users by the end of the decade. If it can do that, it may yet have a shot at the stratosphere.
By Catherine Yang in Washington, with Diane Brady, Adam Aston, and Steve Rosenbush in New York
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Joe - Someone on the XM forum mentioned that they get reception (stationary) in Prudhoe Bay Alaska. Isn't that waaaay up there?
Posts: 5484 | From: St. Paul, Mn | Registered: Apr 2002
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