My car came pre-installed with an XM satellite radio. Every few months I get new offers/pleas to re-activate my radio. Sirius-XM offers two weeks free. They also offer 5 months of service for $20. $20 is a great deal for someone who will use the service a lot more than I do. Beyond just my disinterest in subscribing, I wonder if Sirius-XM will still be operating in the long-term.

Offering a free trial is a good way to gain more business but I think Sirius-XM has made this offer so often that it doesn’t gain them anything. I listened to XM last year when they gave it away during the Christmas season.  I enjoyed it while the free trial was there but I still didn’t care to subscribe. During the third quarter of this year the service added 334,000 subscribers. Though these subscribers likely aren’t worth much since they probably came in via deeply discounted offers like the one I have.

I don’t know if satellite radio is going to work in the long-term but it is silly to give away free service so often.