XM Weather Price Increase

[dougwells]

Ugh....my wife hates XM's monthly bill as it is....Add $5/month for the two lowest priced plans. Was $29 and $49. Now $34 and $54/month.

It is one heck of a valuable service though....

Doug

===
Received from XMWX via email today...

Thank you for being an XM WX Satellite Weather subscriber. As a leading provider of aviation and weather services, we are dedicated to providing our subscribers with a comprehensive data suite for a more complete picture of the weather, at any altitude.
Over the past five years we have enhanced the service (varies by package) to ensure constant, reliable weather coverage, including:
Expanded radar coverage to Canada and Puerto Rico.

Added AIRREPs, PIREPs, Special Aviation Watch and TFRs for enhanced air space awareness.

Added Satellite Mosaic, Precipitation Mask and 0-degree Isotherm to aid the "big picture."

Included additional Canadian data products, such as Weather Warnings and Outlooks, METARs, TAFs, SIGMETs, and Winds Aloft.

In support of our commitment to the continued growth and success of the XM WX aviation service, as of March 22, 2010, the XM WX Aviator LT and the XM WX Aviator packages will increase by $5 per month, effective upon your next renewal.
Now more than ever, the importance of having XM WX Satellite Weather on board from takeoff to landing to boost pilots' situational awareness is critical. And the quality of XM WX data, in addition to its robust satellite delivery, has prompted nearly all airframe manufactures to adopt XM WX as a factory-installed option for their customers.
We appreciate your business and look forward to providing you with comprehensive weather data in the cockpit.
Sincerely,
Joe Zarella
Chief Service Officer

 

[azure]

Now more than ever, the importance of having XM WX Satellite Weather on board from takeoff to landing to boost pilots' situational awareness is critical. And the quality of XM WX data, in addition to its robust satellite delivery, has prompted nearly all airframe manufactures to adopt XM WX as a factory-installed option for their customers.
We appreciate your business and look forward to providing you with comprehensive weather data in the cockpit.
Sincerely,
Joe Zarella
Chief Service Officer

Translation: we've got you over a barrel, we know it, and we want you to know that we know it. And that we know you're gonna keep paying for it, cuz where else you gonna go?

And yeah, I'm planning on buying a 496 sometime this year... and subscribing to XM wx. And I'll probably still do it. Sigh.

 

[Ted]

Translation: we've got you over a barrel, we know it, and we want you to know that we know it. And that we know you're gonna keep paying for it, cuz where else you gonna go?

And yeah, I'm planning on buying a 496 sometime this year... and subscribing to XM wx. And I'll probably still do it. Sigh.

I guess a bottle of Coke should still cost 5 cents?

XM is hurting, they aren't making money hand over fist. Businesses, just like people, have bills to pay. Bills don't get paid, business shuts down. I think that paints an unfair picture in this case.

Oil companies? Yeah, I won't complain about bashing them.

 

[dmccormack]

Given that 90% of the time I have the NEXRAD page up, I guess I don't see the value in the full package. All the rest is easily retrieved for free from Flight Watch.

 

[Geico266]

FYI: I'm not sure XM still does this, but once a year you can cancel your subscription and renew within X number months without a penalty (new sign up fee) . You can cancel for 2-3 months in the winter / non flying months, renew later and save a few $$$. Just one month will save the price increase...almost.

I think they still do this. Call them to be sure.

 

[Trapper John]

I guess a bottle of Coke should still cost 5 cents?

XM is hurting, they aren't making money hand over fist. Businesses, just like people, have bills to pay. Bills don't get paid, business shuts down. I think that paints an unfair picture in this case.

Sirius XM stock is in the dumper, so the board gives the CEO a raise. And the poor guy only made $32 million in 2007. Hopefully, your extra 5 bucks a month goes to something worthy, like his tanning sessions...


Trapper John

 

[EdFred]

I'll just use 122.0. There's my XM weather. And it's free, well free to the extent that I am paying for it whether I use it or not.

 

[nyoung]

I just got the email too. It prompted me to think about downgrading from Aviator to Aviator-Lite.

XM has to be careful with these things... especially in this economy. We all have our breaking point, and XM has to retain 10 pilots at the new price in order to make up lost revenue from just one pilot who cancels service.

Ugh....my wife hates XM's monthly bill as it is....Add $5/month for the two lowest priced plans. Was $29 and $49. Now $34 and $54/month.

It is one heck of a valuable service though....

Doug

===
Received from XMWX via email today...

Thank you for being an XM WX Satellite Weather subscriber. As a leading provider of aviation and weather services, we are dedicated to providing our subscribers with a comprehensive data suite for a more complete picture of the weather, at any altitude.
Over the past five years we have enhanced the service (varies by package) to ensure constant, reliable weather coverage, including:
Expanded radar coverage to Canada and Puerto Rico.

Added AIRREPs, PIREPs, Special Aviation Watch and TFRs for enhanced air space awareness.

Added Satellite Mosaic, Precipitation Mask and 0-degree Isotherm to aid the "big picture."

Included additional Canadian data products, such as Weather Warnings and Outlooks, METARs, TAFs, SIGMETs, and Winds Aloft.

In support of our commitment to the continued growth and success of the XM WX aviation service, as of March 22, 2010, the XM WX Aviator LT and the XM WX Aviator packages will increase by $5 per month, effective upon your next renewal.
Now more than ever, the importance of having XM WX Satellite Weather on board from takeoff to landing to boost pilots' situational awareness is critical. And the quality of XM WX data, in addition to its robust satellite delivery, has prompted nearly all airframe manufactures to adopt XM WX as a factory-installed option for their customers.
We appreciate your business and look forward to providing you with comprehensive weather data in the cockpit.
Sincerely,
Joe Zarella
Chief Service Officer

 

[TangoWhiskey]

It's the power of the people. If you really feel it's an unreasonable price, everyone bands together and cancels their subscription. Company gets the message and finds other ways to cut costs, rather than increase rates.

The flip side is they may have already trim costs as much as they dare without affecting service levels. Too many people cancel, and they go out of business. Then you don't have onboard weather.

 

[wpierce]

Right now I have the 50 a month package. I've been thinking I needed to drop it and pick up the Aviator Light package... since reading the reviews on Aviation Consumer that said that that package was the best value. I do use it on trips and most of my flying is on trips.. but I don't really need lightning strikes.

So them upping the price 5.00 is calling my bluff and I will now be signing up for the 35.00 light package, 15.00 less than I'm paying now and 20.00 less then what they wanted. They'll need two more of you folks to sign up for... any of their packages to make up for what they have gotten me to do by increasing the price 5.00.

That paragraph makes sense to me, but then I'm on my third glass of vino.

 

[BillTIZ]

I've flown for 35 years without XM weather... I think I can manage a few more years.

 

[Aztec Driver]

I assume all of your wages have stayed the same over the past 2 years? No ones cost have increased over the past 2 years? No ones insurance has gone up over the last 2 years? I assume that if a technician comes to your home to repair something, you all still think he shouldn't charge more than 1990 prices? All companies have bills to pay, and those bills are higher than what an individual pays for the same service, i.e. electric, phone, etc. All of those prices continue to rise, why should the company absorb it without the ability to recoup? Yes, in this economy, they have to weigh whether the increase will cause people to cancel. And many people may. Personally, I think it is a nice tool to use, and $5 is not a bank breaker. A lot of people pay upwards of $100 per month for television, which is nearly useless and also goes up constantly. If the economy is such that this is too expensive to handle, then people will cancel their subscriptions whether it is $30 or $35. CEO pay is an issue, though. I have never figured out the propensity for large corporations to pay huge amounts to one individual while they treat their employees like dirt, or drive the company bankrupt.

 

[Ted]

I assume all of your wages have stayed the same over the past 2 years? No ones cost have increased over the past 2 years? No ones insurance has gone up over the last 2 years? I assume that if a technician comes to your home to repair something, you all still think he shouldn't charge more than 1990 prices? All companies have bills to pay, and those bills are higher than what an individual pays for the same service, i.e. electric, phone, etc. All of those prices continue to rise, why should the company absorb it without the ability to recoup? Yes, in this economy, they have to weigh whether the increase will cause people to cancel. And many people may. Personally, I think it is a nice tool to use, and $5 is not a bank breaker. A lot of people pay upwards of $100 per month for television, which is nearly useless and also goes up constantly. If the economy is such that this is too expensive to handle, then people will cancel their subscriptions whether it is $30 or $35. CEO pay is an issue, though. I have never figured out the propensity for large corporations to pay huge amounts to one individual while they treat their employees like dirt, or drive the company bankrupt.

No, Bryon, if prices go up it's all the fault of THE MAN!

We'll spend $250 in fuel to fly someplace for a day (that doesn't include the plane costs), but complain about a $5 increase in a product that actually provides a useful service that aids that flying. Come on, people...

Those same people will complain when the company goes out of business due to lack of membership.

 

[EdFred]

I assume all of your wages have stayed the same over the past 2 years? No ones cost have increased over the past 2 years? No ones insurance has gone up over the last 2 years?

Nope, mine went down last year, and will be down this year over last year. My insurance has also gone down.

 

[Ted]

Nope, mine went down last year, and will be down this year over last year. My insurance has also gone down.

Insurance is a bad example there since it tends to stay the same or decrease as the insurance company trusts you more and confuses you for knowing what you're doing. Let's look at things that increase in price over time on average:

1) Rent/houses
2) Food
3) Fuel
4) Replacement parts
5) Cars
6) Airplanes
7) Cable/satellite

Obviously all have cycles where they can go down, especially between introduction and a few years later when everyone has one. However if you look at the general trend from 1950 to 2010 and you'll see that prices have, in fact, gone up.

 

[AuntPeggy]

I assume all of your wages have stayed the same over the past 2 years?

Yes, mine has. Hubby's went down.

 

[airdale]

... I assume all of your wages have stayed the same over the past 2 years? No ones cost have increased over the past 2 years? No ones insurance has gone up over the last 2 years? ...

I have told employees many times: Nobody cares what your costs are. They don't care if you've suffered from inflation, orthodontists, or if you have won the lottery. They will buy your product when, and only when, they perceive that the value they receive from buying it is more that the value they would receive from buying an alternative product or from keeping their money in their pocket. "Value" can include lots of intangibles but in the end that is how they make their decision.

So, for XM, the problem is simply to explore the demand curve to find the point that maximizes their revenue. $500/month? Nope. $1/month? Nope. Somewhere in between? Yup. Fortunately for their pricers, the incremental cost of selling an additional product is zero. If you are selling Pampers, it gets a lot tougher because exploring the curve means opening and closing factories and consequent $hundred million swings in costs.

Me? I canceled. I don't use it that much anyway. If I end up planning a long trip where I want it, I'll resubscribe and pay the hookup fee, then cancel again.

 

[Ted]

Me? I canceled. I don't use it that much anyway. If I end up planning a long trip where I want it, I'll resubscribe and pay the hookup fee, then cancel again.

I think your sentiment reflects what a lot of people do who don't fly regularly.

It would be good if they offered some sort of "Weekend Package" or similar a la carte. A lot of people don't normally fly during the week, and having a simple way to manage access would probably encourage a good number more to sign up (or maintain service), including for larger packages.

 

[airdale]

It would be good if they offered some sort of "Weekend Package" or similar a la carte. A lot of people don't normally fly during the week, and having a simple way to manage access would probably encourage a good number more to sign up (or maintain service), including for larger packages.

It's all about maximizing the revenue, as is the hookup fee which also is near zero cost to them.

A problem we see here in this thread, though, is that raising prices on a product like this tends to make existing customers reconsider their value decision. So it is not a walk in the park to explore the curve.

With some products/markets you can geographically isolate your pricing and conduct experiments in Peoria without the folks in Phoenix knowing. But this isn't one of those either.

 

[kevin47881]

Insurance is a bad example there since it tends to stay the same or decrease as the insurance company trusts you more and confuses you for knowing what you're doing. Let's look at things that increase in price over time on average:

1) Rent/houses
2) Food
3) Fuel
4) Replacement parts
5) Cars
6) Airplanes
7) Cable/satellite

Obviously all have cycles where they can go down, especially between introduction and a few years later when everyone has one. However if you look at the general trend from 1950 to 2010 and you'll see that prices have, in fact, gone up.

Let's look at the opposite side of the coin; things that go down in price...

1) Computers
2) Laptops
3) Cell phones
4) Cell phone monthly plans
5) Televisions (compare non HD TV prices to 5 yrs ago)
6) GPS receivers
7) Car stereos

I'm with Ed on this one, a call to 122.0 works.

As for salaries, I earned 5% last year AFTER accepting a promotion.

 

[Keith Lane]

I assume all of your wages have stayed the same over the past 2 years? No ones cost have increased over the past 2 years? No ones insurance has gone up over the last 2 years? I assume that if a technician comes to your home to repair something, you all still think he shouldn't charge more than 1990 prices? All companies have bills to pay, and those bills are higher than what an individual pays for the same service, i.e. electric, phone, etc. All of those prices continue to rise, why should the company absorb it without the ability to recoup? Yes, in this economy, they have to weigh whether the increase will cause people to cancel. And many people may. Personally, I think it is a nice tool to use, and $5 is not a bank breaker. A lot of people pay upwards of $100 per month for television, which is nearly useless and also goes up constantly. If the economy is such that this is too expensive to handle, then people will cancel their subscriptions whether it is $30 or $35. CEO pay is an issue, though. I have never figured out the propensity for large corporations to pay huge amounts to one individual while they treat their employees like dirt, or drive the company bankrupt.

My wages have remained the same for the last 3 years.
My costs have risen.
My insurance premiums have risen.
I am a technician, of sorts, and I know the rates we charge for my time have not risen in the last 2 years.
We do not pay our President millions of dollars.
He did, however pay for the food and beverages at a Super Bowl get together, even though he was unable to attend.
I don't have XM,or even a Garmin. If the head of XM took a pay cut, and had to survive on a measly , say, $10 Million/year, that would free up $22 Million/year.

$10 million/year = $192,307.69/week or $833,333.33 / Week
$22 Million/$5 per month. = 4,400,000 subscriber months.

I'd hate to see him suffer on that kind of salary. I know it'd be tough living on $833,000 per week, but I'd be willing to try for a month or two. If the company's outlook doesn't improve after 60 days, I would be glad to step down.
If a company is losing money, how can these salaries be justified?

 

[dmccormack]

If a company is losing money, how can these salaries be justified?

Isn't the Howard Stern contract a huge chunk?

 

[ScottM]

Isn't the Howard Stern contract a huge chunk?

The oprah contact is huge as well. >$50million

 

[Trapper John]

Isn't the Howard Stern contract a huge chunk?

The oprah contact is huge as well. >$50million

Two questions:

1) What do contract costs for entertainers have to do with the cost of the aviation weather service?

2) How much does NOAA charge Sirius XM for the radar data?


Trapper John

 

[Keith Lane]

This past summer I was running a project in Schulenburg, Tx, east of Houston, that required a larger rental car (an SUV) and weekly trips to download data. Avis has had XM and now XM/Sirius on all their "premium" rentals for years now. My last trip. I noted that the only satellite radio stations I could get were Weather and Traffic. So, I'm thinking WTF?
When I got back to IAH, I asked the rental agent, and her response was that Avis was not renewing the XM/Sirius contracts after the free thirty trial period. The rental car was still costing me $209.99 per day, and the ads in the shuttle busses still advertised the XM/Sirius service. She dropped the cost of the car to $159/day as a consolation prize. None of this makes economic sense to me.

 

[Amelia]

What Orca or other celebrity gets paid is of no concern to me- I don't watch 'em.

As for the XM increase, (sigh) I'll pay it. It's a service I find far more useful than FlightWatch. All summer long I am grateful to have a good picture of holes in those lines of black clouds, all winter long I'm glad to know where the 'visible moisture' is, so I don't wind up with a surprise load of ice on my way across the country to see grandbabies. It's very useful to be able to check wx at my destination long before I can pick up the ATIS, to check on possible alternates as the situation develops.

If most of your flying is in gorgeous VFR in the pattern or 25 miles up the pike to grab a burger, it's may well be a waste of money, but for me, with most of my flights averaging 800 miles, it's worth it, even at $5 more.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Two questions:

1) What do contract costs for entertainers have to do with the cost of the aviation weather service?

2) How much does NOAA charge Sirius XM for the radar data?


Trapper John

Question 1) If they don't get enough money from the radio listeners, they need to cancel/renegotiate the entertainer contracts, increase radio listener prices, go out of business, or spread the cost over all subscribers. According to their financial statements, they put WX subscribers into the pool of all subscribers- so WX subscribers get to pay for that as well.

Question 2) NOAA may provide the data freely, but doesn't the datastream go through WxWorx? They charge something for packaging the data stream and providing it to XM.

What Orca or other celebrity gets paid is of no concern to me- I don't watch 'em.

<SNIP>

See above.

 

[mantakos]

There is a charge for the kind of high-bandwidth connection to radar data that wxworx needs in order to produce their self-processed images, and of course XM has to pay wxworx for their services. But the real "cost" to this service is the satellite time, broadcasting a fairly specialized product to a limited audience.

In any case, I first subscribed to XM weather in '05, and paid $50/month for the service. If it's going up to $55/month now, that would seem to track inflation pretty closely. If it was a good deal at $50 in 2005 dollars, it's pretty much the same deal at $55 in 2010 dollars.
-harry

 

[N801BH]

This past summer I was running a project in Schulenburg, Tx, east of Houston, that required a larger rental car (an SUV) and weekly trips to download data. Avis has had XM and now XM/Sirius on all their "premium" rentals for years now. My last trip. I noted that the only satellite radio stations I could get were Weather and Traffic. So, I'm thinking WTF?
When I got back to IAH, I asked the rental agent, and her response was that Avis was not renewing the XM/Sirius contracts after the free thirty trial period. The rental car was still costing me $209.99 per day, and the ads in the shuttle busses still advertised the XM/Sirius service. She dropped the cost of the car to $159/day as a consolation prize. None of this makes economic sense to me.

209.99 a day ?????????????????? WTF ?

 

[wsuffa]

209.99 a day ?????????????????? WTF ?

Rental car rates are through the roof. Seriously.

 

[Keith Lane]

Rental car rates are through the roof. Seriously.

Three weeks ago at DEN,I was quoted $259.99 / day plus junk fees for a Ford Explorer, "or similar" when I thought I had to go up to Alliance, NE on a two hour notice. I ended up flying to MCI and driving a new Ford Focus (to Lincoln) with 2.4 miles on it when I got into it. $74.99/day with XM/Sirius still activated.

 

[Everskyward]

209.99 a day ?????????????????? WTF ?

Hmm, the last couple months I have rented cars at SFO for 6-day periods and they have been in the $140-150/WEEK range. But then I rent the economy model because I never have more than one pax and small is better for parking.

 

[N801BH]

Heres a rental car story.. and its true too.

About 6 years ago I needed to get my cowling and motor back from two shops in Fla for my experimental.. The local paper ran an add for Hertz or Avis, I dont remember but it was after the ski season and times were slow so they called it the "getaway special". Rent a new Envoy, unlimited miles, 299.00 a week... So I want to the terminal, asked several times "are you sure it is unlimited miles"? Yup they said... Hmm. Signed the contract on a sunday night, got home the following saturday night, exactly 7 days. returned the SUV with 6012 miles on it. Probably the best 330 bucks I ever spent. They were happy to rent it in slow times....

Ps. I LOVE to drive.