Could Sirius XM Radio be on the verge of extinction?
Homeowners aren't the only ones struggling to refinance.
Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) has $175 million to refinance this month and $960 million by the end of the year. According to the report from the Wall Street Journal, bankruptcy could be just around the corner for the Satellite Radio provider. Sirius XM had approximately $360 million of cash on its balance sheet but $2.8 billion of long-term debt at Sept. 30, the latest figures available. Last July, Sirius raised $700 million through a sale of junk bonds to close the deal and followed that with the sale of $550 million in bonds.
What it didn’t do was refinance another $1 billion in debt whose maturity was triggered by Sirius’s combination with XM. Sirius opted to wait until the debt markets improved. And when they didn’t, it undertook discussions with its banks in November, December and January. No dice; by then it was too late.
Increased competition has surfaced from streaming radio services such as CBS Radio. Echostar CEO Charles Ergen offered to take control of the company last year, but he was denied. Instead, Sirius XM tried entice more customers, they offered lifetime subscriptions, and I wondered, Which will die first- Sirius XM Radio or your subscription?
I warned:
Signing a lifetime contract with XM might be as risky as signing a 70-year old smoker to a life-insurance policy.
(3) Comments on Could Sirius XM Radio be on the verge of extinction?
As a 5 yr lg. subscriber I am applaud at XMs foolish business practices. Making foolish decisions after foolish decisions. XM radio.com signaled to their subscribers to hurry & register by 3/11/09 to a) continue to be able to hear XM over the internet & b) get locked into your current rate. (My deal is that I am currently paid up for both radios for another 8 more mos.) Since I have never rcvd even 1 reply from my XMradio.com CONTACT US? emails or from their Indonesian sounding Cust Svc 800 number. I figured hurry up & register so I can lock in my rate for my next annual renewal (always in Oct). The Cust Svc lady said the following to me, "to get your yearly rate locked in you must now sign up for 2 yrs". I tried to see if this was a mistake. I had to quickly think about how much I enjoy listening to Drs Digest, BPM, Comedy, & Gay Radio just to name a few. I said okay when my renewal rolls back around in Oct. I will see if I can afford to send in the money for 2 yrs on both devices. I sh*t you not, the woman on the phone said "you will need to pay this now". I said I am paid up until Oct 09 what are you talking about. She said okay then we will send you an invoice & then you will have to send the money in when the invoice states its due which may be an immediate due date. I thought this is CRAZY. 3 days later the programing was canceled on both of my radios. I called tech support thinking it was the device that was failing. after restoring the radios manufactures default settings (loosing my 24 programmed presets) Today I got a kid who sounds American who claimed to be XM Radio tech support. He said, "we shut off the signal for your devices because we show you owe us $28. I can take a payment right now from you credit card on file." I told him I need to speak to his manager. He said "okay" & put me on hold with some bad music to listen to for 20 minutes. This same kid came back on the phone & said, "he spoke to his manager & was told that I need to pay the 2 yr plan for both devices right now". I told him this is a very bad thing they are doing to their customers. He disconnected our call while I was speaking.
I don't know what to do. Why was this merger allowed? I have always disliked Sirus. The XM radio company has misrepresented their product in so many different ways. It's sinking so low & I don't want any more of my money taken down with it. Between installation, equipment, & subscriptions I have now paid over $1300 for what? A glorified FM radio (the sound is not even in digital).
Comments by J.Way : Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 07:27 AM
my quarterly subs kept going up and reason being is xm is required to pay royalty fees now to which will be passed on to the customer like you and me. I refuse to pay anymore so I cancelled all 4 radio....XM is about to die of slow death unless someone in management get their shit together and start taking care of us the customer. So, for now back to recording CD's
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