I remember walking the halls of CES the year XM and Sirius Satellite radio was launched. These companies were going to change the world we heard and in many cases they did. But with talk of bankruptcy of the now-combined company, many such as Gary Kim are asking what went wrong. iPods are an obvious culprit but I also blame internet radio and services like Pandora and to some extent Slacker.
I pay for satellite radio and I pay extra to stream it in HD over the net. But lately I use Pandora and sometimes Slacker and just find Sirius less interesting. The ability to skip stations is huge for me.
This of course begs the question why one of these satellite companies didn't buy Pandora to leverage the large and viral audience the service is building. I can't make sense of it really but it seems clear to me that traditional television networks are in jeopardy as the ability to select what you watch grows. Sure, there is TiVo but a free-form TV station which suggests programs the way Pandora suggest songs is the obvious path to the video future IMHO.
The sooner the TV stations figure this out, the better off they will be. And one imagines Pandora has a video version in the works.
Technorati
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Digg
twitter
I quit XM since it stopped providing me with online radio and switched to listening to Pandora, CDs and other world radio stations. Soon I will also cancel XM in my car as well. XM also made numerous promises to me that were never kept. Such disrespect of customers will end up in demise of XM-Syrius.