The New Satellite Radio Plans

While it’s still a bit early for unified radio hardware, the Sirius XM merger has initially resulted in some programming cross-pollination, lower tier themed lineups, and an a la carte pricing plan. For $4/month more The Best of Sirius offers XM subscribers Howard Stern, NFL, NASCAR, and Playboy Sirius channels – in addition to the entire XM lineup. For XM subscribers (or potential subscribers) on the fence, two reduced priced lineups have been introduced (Mostly Music and Mostly Talk). These packages run $10/mo – only $3 less than the full XM lineup. Most interesting to me is the introduction of a la carte pricing on new Sirius hardware. $7/mo gets you any 50 (non-premium) Sirius stations. Additional channels are only 25 cents more a month. It’s worth noting that the reduced tier and a la carte packages don’t include Internet streaming access. Though with a variety of free online radio options (Slacker, Pandora, etc), it may not matter.

8 thoughts on “The New Satellite Radio Plans”

  1. Goofy at best – of course, because as an XM subscriber, I’ve been DYING to get NASCAR and Playboy radio.

  2. Off subject, Dave did you see that Netflix made an agreement with Starz to add movies to Watch Instantly? Some good recent movies in there.

  3. I’ve been running around all AM, but I did see the Starz/Netflix headline. Will need to read up on it. It’ll have to wait though – I’ve got a jam-packed work day ahead of me.

  4. I have both Sirius and XM (XM came with the car). I think Sirius is much better. Will I be able to pick up just Sirius in my car? I dont want XM…

  5. Mike, with your existing hardware the only option you have is to add some of that premium Sirius content for a few extra bucks a month. You won’t be able to subscribe to the entire lineup instead of XM.

  6. Uhhh… okay, so as a current XM subscriber, the only channels I can get access to are those on the “Best of Sirius” list? No others? And the a la carte pricing doesn’t apply to me? Oh great…

    I would:
    a) Pay slightly more for some additional PBS channels. The one PBS channel available on XM s-u-c-k-s!
    b) Happily pay less for an a la carte subscription with a limited number of music and news channels since I don’t really use any of it that much (my iPod and some podcasts do it most of the time).

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