Stern

How's the Sirius XM satellite radio monopoly working out for subscribers? Not so well. Now that Sirius XM is the only game in town, it's nudging up fees for subscribers. Nice!

The one and only satellite radio company's boasts of its ever-increasing subscriber base are gone now, and the decline is significant. The number floating around the Internet is a loss of 400,000 subscribers. That still leaves 18.6 million, but there's no way of knowing how many of that number are full-price-paying subscribers.

Could the subscriber losses be attributed to recent price hikes? The … Read more

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Palm's Pre is a make-or-break device, and the company is working the word-of-mouth marketing hard. And if you're going to get some word-of-mouth marketing, it helps to recruit one of the biggest mouths out there: Howard Stern.

Stern is in the market for a phone and has been a loyal Treo user. He still has a Treo, but is embarrassed to show it given the technology is so old. In other words, Stern is the perfect Palm customer. He's been fiercely loyal, but has nothing new to … Read more

Natali Del Conte joins the show today to talk about how she won't be making an appearance on the Howard Stern's show, though he is looking for a brand-new 3G, touch screen phone with a keyboard. Jeff and Wilson told her that she needs to wear a muumuu and a turtleneck if she ever goes on the show. Best of all, it's Jeff's birthday! He's legal, girls!

On today's show, we talk about how the homeless in this country actually carry around cell phones. How else are you going to be able to reach them? Corner of 4th and Ave A isn't really good contact info. Along those same lines, the recession apparently is causing "nakations" to become a big thing. That's right; it's a naked vacation. Natali points out that most people that go to nude beaches aren't exactly the fittest. That, and her skin should never get exposed to direct sunlight.

Twitter ends Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer's relationship. Find out from Natali why this is empowering women. And another form of empowerment is drawing a 60-foot penis on your parent's rooftop. Yes, an ingenious boy in the U.K. drew the large "willy" in half an hour. For six months, no one noticed--except for Google Earth and passing helicopters. In response to this story and on his birthday, Jeff invents a new word that we're not allowed to write here at CNET. Needless to say, it's priceless. Listen in and send us your comments at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Or leave us a message at 1-866-404-CNET (2638).

No matter how you look at it, Sirius XM Satellite Radio is in sad shape. The stock has been stuck around 11 cents for months, and now there's talk about bankruptcy.

I don't get it, the satellite company claims 19 million subscribers, and if they were paying the same rate as I do, $12.95 a month, that works out to close to $3 billion a year in income. They also have ads on all the nonmusic channels, which have to be generating income as well. Oh, wouldn't you think the ads on Howard Stern's show … Read more

Sirius Satellite Radio has a lot on its plate. Shock jock Howard Stern is already making noises about leaving after his contract expires in a couple of years, the stock price is in the tank, and the company has huge debt.

All of that shouldn't matter to subscribers, of which I am one. But the frequent signal dropouts are really getting out of hand.

I had similar problems in the early days, but after a while, the dropouts became rare. Months would go by without signal interruptions, but about six months ago, the off-and-on signal problems returned.

Sometimes, the dropout lasts just a few seconds but occurs many times an hour. My Sirius home radio hasn't budged since I first got it many years ago, and my antenna is pretty much in the same place it has always been, but lately, the signal regularly disappears for minutes at a time before sputtering back to life. … Read more

UPDATE! (November 19, 9:59 AM PST) Sirius Disorder fans take note: Vin Scelsa announced on his 11/19 Idiot's Delight show on The Loft (Sirius Disorder's replacement channel) that Meg Griffin will soon return to do her thing on The Loft (yes, she's currently on The Spectrum). Vin also noted that David Johansen's show will be back. The Lou Reed and Hal Wilner show is headed back as well. All will appear on The Loft. Maybe our protests were heard!

As a Sirius Satellite Radio subscriber, I received an e-mail on Wednesday "Announcing The New Sirius Channel Lineup&… Read more

I read Matt Rosoff's Digital Noise blog all the time, and his recent lamenting radio's irrelevance hit me hard.

I think Matt was mostly referring to AM or FM radio, but what about Internet or satellite radio? Me, I'm still a die hard Sirius subscriber and listen to Left of Center, Sirius Disorder, and Underground Garage channels many hours a day. They turn me onto new music all the time, so I buy an average of two CDs a week.

Of course, now that the hoopla over the Siriius/XM merger has died down and the stock … Read more

On the show today: Dan the Mantern has his first day as the official 404 stenographer, a dude gets a girlfriend and sells off his entire videogame collection, Jeff finally agrees to give Justin his old PS2, Wilson introduces the worst story ever to infect the show, and a quick discussion of college mating rituals. Disney also has a bad week: Cinderella and Tinkerbell get cuffed in front of a hoard of screaming fans and the Disney fatcats "dive in" to little girls' underwear.

I'd like to give a warm welcome to the newest CNET TV Intern, … Read more

James Ray joins us to talk about being "wealthy," the great missing penis mystery and growing your own meat fo rizzles. Don't hate.

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