XM to Start Charging Extra for Online Streaming
Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 April 2010 09:55 Written by webguyatwork Thursday, 5 February 2009 11:47
In an announcement made by Sirius XM recently, the company is introducing a higher quality live Internet feed which they will begin charging for in the near future. I received the following email today with information regarding the change to their online stream as well as an indication of the price adjustment that will be required for anyone who does not renew their service on or before March 10th, regardless of whether you just renewed.
This has me wondering, with the coming release of the Sirius Star Playr application in the iTunes store (supposedly set to $12.99 initially), is Sirius XM setting themselves up here to try and retain a customer base that may already be deciding to switch to free Internet streaming elsewhere? What exactly is the future of satellite radio? I mean, I love my XM subscription because it keeps me entertained on my drive to work and back without having to wait through 90% commercials, but should I really entertain the option of extending my commitment with XM to longer than a year at a time? I just don’t know that I’m ready for that commitment yet. And if that means that I won’t benefit from the Star Playr application being on my iPhone, then I guess I’ll have saved myself the $12.99 for the app plus the $35.88/yr for the streaming service that Star Playr relies upon.