[opendtv] News: Sirius Founder Says Company Won't Be Able To Compete
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:44:45 -0400
Hmmmmm... I think I predicted something like this a few weeks ago...
Regards
Craig
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/16/sirius-internet-radio-technology-paidcontent.html?partner=alerts
Sirius Founder Says Company Won't Be Able To Compete
Rory Maher, 03.16.09, 01:00 PM EDT
Few would argue that Sirius is in good shape-the company has massive
debt obligations and is struggling with a drop in new subscribers-but
its founder is more pessimistic than most about the company's future.
In a long interview with Fortune magazine, Martine Rothblatt, who
started the company in 1990, said she thinks it won't be able to
compete with online services like internet radio once the latter
become available in cars and other devices.
Rothblatt told the magazine "there's going to be ever more bandwidth
available to distribute content totally via terrestrial cellular
infrastructure. And that will leave fewer and fewer unique market
attributes to satellite radio."
She believes as cellular networks evolve, there will be more room for
streaming services like Pandora Radio or AOL Radio, and that people
will be able to hear them, too, on car stereos and cellphones.
Rothblatt (she was a male when she founded Sirius; 'Martin' underwent
a sex change in 1994) believes satellite radio missed the ideal
window of opportunity when drawn-out discussions with the FCC over
broadcasting licenses caused the service's launch to be delayed until
2002-she had anticipated the launch happening in the mid-to-late
nineties.
Sirius (nasdaq: SIRI - news - people ) chief executive Mel Karmazin,
of course, sees the company's prospects differently. In the same
Fortune story, he says that despite the increased competition from
internet radio, Sirius will be fine because it introduces listeners
to new music that may not be in their iPod libraries and has
exclusive content from sources like Howard Stern and CNN.
Sirius has been a fixture in the news the last couple months, with
the drama surrounding Karmazin's attempts to deal with its debt and
Liberty's John Malone's decision to throw the company a lifeline by
investing in the company.
Last week, Sirius announced it had narrowed its net loss in the
fourth quarter of 2008 but added many fewer subscribers than the
previous year's quarter, raising concerns about its vulnerability to
the weak economy.
In a telling move, particularly in light of Rothblatt's comments,
Sirius announced last week that it would be including its service as
an application on the iPhone, which will allow iPhone users to stream
Sirius or XM via 3G wireless.
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