http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/27/D8J4BG600.html
The company said it now expects to end the year with a customer base between 7.7 million and 8.2 million, and that it would refine that range at the end of the third quarter. The company cited "current marketplace dynamics" and regulatory uncertainty regarding certain of its radio models for the change.
Um. I've been an XM subscriber for a couple of years. I've been listening to my iPod more and more. I can tell you why they're losing subscribers:
XM is learning too much from Clear Channel.
In the last year, XM has added commercials to some of the music channels, and they've really, really shortened their playlists on the rock stations during the day.
I spend most of my time in the car in the typical drive-time slots and I hear the same stuff over and over whenever I turn the rock stations on anymore. It's especially frustrating when I'm doing a roadtrip during the day. That trip to Blacksburg was something like a four hour drive. The repetition of songs was maddening. I was actually reduced to finding FM stations to break up the monotony.
The worst part is that when I hear XM at night, it's like it used to be. It's interesting. I hear music I hadn't heard in a long time, if ever. They have interesting shows (the industrial show on Fungus on Saturday nights) and not so much DJ talking.
I really wany to like XM, but they're screwing it up. They got big and they're forgetting why they got big. If they don't start to remember soon, I'm dropping my sub too. I'll get Margo a hookup for her iPod so she won't miss it.
Come on, XM, wake up! Clear Channel's destruction of FM is why you have your subscribers. Running XM like Clear Channel runs their FM stations isn't going to keep your subscribers.
Technorati Tags: XM, Radio, ClearChannel, Advice
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