SIRIUS Internet Radio Plus Offered as an “Online-Only” Option
According to SIRIUS Backstage, SIRIUS has just announced that it will be upgrading its online music stations to now include select talk shows (i.e. Howard Stern) and CD quality music. For non-subscribers, the cost of the service will be $12.99 a month. For subscribers, the optional internet service upgrade will cost $2.99, with their chief benefit being increased sound-quality.
Clearly, this movie is intended to capitalize on “Stern-only” interest among non-subscribers (the now-solved problem is discussed here). The former should generate a fair amount of revenue for SIRIUS, as there are plenty of people who kinda like Stern, but not enough to go out and buy the hardware, etc. Signing up for an internet-based service somehow seems like less of a committment, is a few bucks cheaper (depending upon the length of your plan), and is certainly easier, given the fact that you don’t have to set up a hardware-based account BEFORE being able to access SIRIUS online.
All-in-all, this is such a sensible move for SIRIUS, one wonders why they didn’t have it set up earlier.
UPDATE: According to a report from Orbitcast, XM’s internet service blows SIRIUS’ out of the water: the latter will now offer 48kps sound quality, at $12.99 for non-subscribers and at $2.99 as an upgrade; the former offers 64kps at $7.99 for non-subscribers and as a FREE benefit of subscription. Yikes.
