XM and Sirius Radio, Business Essay Example

Satellite radio has been in existence for a long while and has been used by people when it comes to transmission of frequencies and waves which are of different wavelengths. Satellite radio is referred to as the international telecommunication union (ITU), and the signals that it avails are usually transmitted for very long distances that can cover wide geographic locations as compared to the terrestrial radio. For one to get the services of satellite radio, he or she has to subscribe to it. The kind of commercials that it offers are free, but it has a wide range of stations that one can tune in to listen to. Satellite radio has been made in such a way that it makes use of the 2.3 GHz S-band which is located in North America and thus means that it has been utilized in all national broadcasting services. Some places in the world where the satellite is made to use of the 1.4 GHz L band concerning the DAB (DeBenedetti, 2016). However, satellite radio has undergone some success and failures that have made it to standout to date offering people different kinds of services.

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Focussing on the successes of satellite radio, Sirius XM Radio will be the most appropriate as it has the best business model when looking at the media industry at large. This is because the company has been in existence for a long time and also has been registering tremendous success in the field having in mind that it is the sole provider of satellite radio services. In that case, it has been making revenue of about 85 million each year especially in the radio-enabled vehicles (Sisario, 2016). The success of this transmission is from a business model and can also be understood by focusing on the number of active subscribers that it has had since it started its operations. The company has been able to get about 30.1 million subscribers, and also has made installation of 55 million cars with the radio.

However, some competitors are using the terrestrial radio services, and thus posing a threat to the ones that are using the satellite radio. There is a likely hood that one of them will be successful than the other since they are on entirely different platforms and targeting different groups of people. In this case, the satellite radio is made for people who are ready to subscribe and also pay for the kind of services that they get. Also, they are likely to get the waves while they are distant locations from the stations. On the other hand, the terrestrial radio users get the services but of low quality (Sisario, 2016). The subscribers are also supposed to be close to the stations so that they can be able to get the services thus the satellite radio has been successful when looking at this matter from a competitor's perspective. An example of this case is where the Sirius XM Radio managed to win the heart of the government, and it was therefore contracted to take part in the transmission of waves as the terrestrial radio was left for the military as it was common in "walkie-talkies."

The high profile personalities can able be used to understand the kind of success that has been exhibited by the use of satellite radio. SiriusXM has been fighting to be able to dominate the dashboard of some high-end vehicles. The high-end vehicles are used by high profiled personalities such as the ministers in the government and also people who are known to be prominent when looking at the kind of changes that are taking place in the society. In that case, the satellite radio has been successful because the vehicles that are used by such people have the satellite radio. There are also instances when the transmitters of satellite radio have had to make sure that they get in touch with the people to convince them to endorse other cars and companies that seem to be profitable and are performing well in the market (Burns, 2007). Thus, this is a significant form of success because the high profiled personalities tend to listen to radio more and they also like to have a variety of the stations since diversity is also crucial.

Even though there have been some successes while focusing on the satellite radio, there are also instances when it has shown some cases of failure. The people who subscribe to get the satellite services are few, and this is due to the kind of changes that have occurred in the economy (Burns, 2007). The way people interact with the society shows that they are sensitive when it comes to the use of money and all that is attached to it. This means that many have been under subscription fatigue and that is the reason why they are not ready to pay for the services. For instance, a person who pays to be able to get the television services will not be willing to pay to get the radio and mobile services, thus, the satellite radio is failing as it is not able to capture the right number of customers.

Taking an example of Sirus and XM which have been offering satellite radio, one can be able to realize that they were showing some form of failures from the moves that they chose to take after that. People have become fatigued when it comes to subscription, and that means the kind of business that is carried by the two companies is going down. In that case, they have had to merge some departments so that they can be able to revive the falling enterprise (Johnson, 2011). Some people have a feeling that they want to act as monopolies so that they can be able to capture a significant number people. This move is not likely to work because other companies are offering the same services on digital platforms and the sound quality is relatively good. Consequently, the kind of failure that is exhibited tends to be high.

Still focusing on competition for the terrestrial audience, the satellite radio can be seen to have undergone some failures. The current world is focused on being global and interconnected, and this has been facilitated by the use of the internet. Many people are now using the terrestrial waves to come up with an idea of streaming the internet to get services that are offered by companies such as Spotify and Pandora (Burns, 2007). These are in fact some of the most significant competitors when looking at the kind of services that they offer. The internet has been found out to be effective when it comes to cost and also allows one to shift from one station to the other at high speeds. The internet is also undergoing evolution, and that means the competition is likely to become intensive after people realize that it is advantageous. The satellite radios will, therefore, continue failing if they do not adjust the way they offer their services and the kind of premiums that they have put on that platform.

In conclusion, satellite radio is popular, and it has been found to be an alternative for terrestrial radio as compared to other mediums that have been used in broadcasting. Even though it has been found out to be dominant, the industry is changing, and the kind of competition that is exhibited in that line is dynamic. There has been the entry of companies that provide the same services from an online perspective, and that means they are altering the business models that have been in existence while using the satellite and terrestrial radio. There is also the use of mobile devices that have applications that allow one to get the services freely and this impacts the rate at which people go for the satellite radio. Satellite radio is still relevant having in mind that it is used in some vehicles, but it has to be upgraded to be at par with the needs of the society and changes that are taking place. It is not possible to change it into a digital wave, but it can be made to incorporate all the services that come in that line and also facilitated their use in mobile devices and computers.

References

DeBenedetti, J. (2016). "Satellite Radio Industry Analysis." Small Business Chron.

Sisario, B. (2016). "SiriusXM Fights to Dominate the Dashboard of the Connected Car." The New York Times.

Johnson M. P. (2011). "Sirius XM Radio's Inevitable Success." Seeking Alpha.

Burns, J. E. (2007). "Satellite Radio Will not Fail: It will be destroyed. Paper Presented at the International Academy of Business and Public Administration Disciplines annual convention." New Orleans