The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Article downplays SiriusXM losing hundreds of thousands of listeners

**Posted by betaylored** October 24, 2024 3:57 pm

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/siriusxm-alex-cooper-howard-stern-1236044270/

A mostly solid Hollywood Reporter article on SiriusXM that talks about how the company is dealing with the possible retirement of Howard Stern in the near-ish future, their ongoing plans to capture a younger audience, the eternal conundrum of the dreaded paywall and more.

The fact that Sirius has quite recently lost hundreds of thousands of listeners gets a deliberately casual mention with a few sentences and to a cynical reader could come across as a "burying the lede" nothing to see here sleight of hand.

Last edited by betaylored (October 24, 2024 4:41 pm)

**Posted by RadioAaron** October 24, 2024 4:11 pm

betaylored wrote:
deliberately

But why?

**Posted by turkeytop** October 25, 2024 11:00 am

One reason for their loss of listeners is that many automobile brands are no longer offering SXM in their vehicles. I recently bought a new car and I had to shop around for a brand that had SXM available. They all say it's an obsolete technology and people just stream over their phones.

My phone is on the kitchen wall. I would need a cord about 2000 miles long.

**Posted by Binson Echorec** October 25, 2024 11:43 am

turkeytop wrote:
One reason for their loss of listeners is that many automobile brands are no longer offering SXM in their vehicles. I recently bought a new car and I had to shop around for a brand that had SXM available. They all say it's an obsolete technology and people just stream over their phones.

My phone is on the kitchen wall. I would need a cord about 2000 miles long.

In 2024 you are the anomaly if you're phone-less or not using it for streaming something. Though I'm surprised to hear somebody call SXM "obsolete technology". I'll admit I hadn't given it much thought and I didn't quite think it was there yet...but if auto manufacturers aren't installing it, then obsolescence can't be far away.

Last edited by Binson Echorec (October 25, 2024 11:45 am)

**Posted by turkeytop** October 25, 2024 11:51 am

SXM is heavily promoting their streaming ap. Indeed, many channels now are available only on the ap. I wonder if they might just abandon satellite and become strictly a streaming service.

**Posted by Binson Echorec** October 25, 2024 2:39 pm

Entirely possible.

**Posted by RadioAaron** October 25, 2024 3:43 pm

Possible, but it would be too early, IMO. Giving up their unique technological angle puts them in the same game as Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, etc. That'd be messy.

**Posted by betaylored** October 28, 2024 3:42 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
betaylored wrote:
deliberately
But why?

Because as the spot on observations by turkeytop, Binson Echorec and yourself show, there are any number of "Sirius" business challenges facing SiriusXM that weren't addressed in the article and won't be solved by the positive posturing found in the puff piece paragraphs that came before the last section.

It could also be The Hollywood Reporter's way of pointing this out to their readers.

Last edited by betaylored (October 28, 2024 4:04 pm)