You might recall that Sirius and XM, the two big satellite radio providers, merged last summer, pretty much swallowing that market. But thankfully, listeners are no longer locked into terrestrial radio, much less satellite, as they were in the 90s - iTunes, online streams and college radio provide plentiful alternatives. So it isn't too surprising that people would be loathe to pay a monthly fee when free sources are readily available. But apparently someone sees value in the company - last week, Liberty Media, which owns DirecTV, bailed out Sirius XM by investing $530 million, in return for 40 percent of the company, according to the New York Times.
But isn't Liberty is just staving off the inevitable? Sirius XM's strategy of hiring celebrity DJs (Howard Stern, et al) just doesn't have the same draw in today's fragmented listenership. And while the company has a variety of programming, can they really compete with the legions of podcasters who are obsessed with their own niches - and charge nothing for their content? Doubtful.
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