So Long Satellite Radio

Although it appears Liberty Media will invest approximately $530 million into Sirius XM, with the partnership recently trading at close to 15 cents a share, satellite radio appears to be on life support. And although I feel bad for the impact on rent-a-car companies, it may be time to pull the plug.

I think there are any number of reasons for this. First and foremost is the iPod. The fact is, people will still gravitate towards functional, simple, customized things--and prioritize their use accordingly. Folks can already develop their own playlists, mimicking the type of station they would have been drawn to anyway. With any portable device as simple as an iPod, the knowledge that what you want to hear is there, without incessant channel flipping. Back when I had Sirius in my car about three years ago, I would be so curious about what was out there, I never listened to anything.

Second is the fact that for many, radio should be free. A lot of people cannot fathom why they would pay for a "radio" service, when they already have free access to music and the right equipment for it. Of course, there are a great many people that already understand how most radio stations are harbingers of predictable, formulaic music (sure, occasionally a great college station changes perceptions). Plus, since you had to surf channels anyway to find the interesting stuff, it became more of a task than an enjoyable thing. The alternative was listening to the same three channels--wait, just like terrestrial radio!

Third is performance. I never had a day go by where even passing under an overpass at the posted speed limit (of course) didn't result in an annoying three-second dropout of the feed. This was despite the fact I was under the obstruction for less than a second. Forget about tree cover or heavily inclimate weather. Combine that with the low-bitrate MP3 sound quality, and I found myself listening to the iPod or a CD anyway. Poor quality variety is still poor quality, and it's nice not to be tense over when a feed may drop out under little provocation.

Finally though, this format has lost its way. By throwing large dollar amounts at known talent, and not (obviously) clearly understanding the costs involved with maintaining satellite-based broadcasting, XM/Sirius buried itself under a financial mountain it couldn't dig itself out from. Originally based on the premise that one couldn't hear things like what one would find on one of these premium services anywhere else, the music at the end of the day still managed to trend mainstream. Sure, Stern could finally be as lewd as wanted to be, but the music stagnated. Plus, any satellite TV subscriber already had one service or the other at home, so for many, a secondary subscription just for the car was viewed as unnecessary. In these belt-tightening times, such redundancies will always be first to the chopping block.

We always have to applaud any innovator, attempting to fill a perceived void in services or products. That's what makes the free market so great. It is a shame to see these efforts wasted through poor preliminary planning and decision making along the way. Let's hope that through some miracle, these promising services can be resurrected.