18 votes

SiriusXM is shutting down Stitcher only three years after buying it

10 comments

  1. [3]
    zoroa
    Link
    Stuff like this is why I'm glad that Podcasting is still a (relatively) open medium. If your favorite app shuts down, you can just export your RSS feeds and go somewhere else. YouTube and Spotify...

    Stuff like this is why I'm glad that Podcasting is still a (relatively) open medium. If your favorite app shuts down, you can just export your RSS feeds and go somewhere else.

    YouTube and Spotify have been challenging that notion lately, but I really hope RSS never dies.

    20 votes
    1. [2]
      rustbucket
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Personally, I don't see RSS vanishing. I suspect at worst it will go the way of IRC. A bunch of sizable niche groups will continue to use while the general public moves onto something else. Not...

      Personally, I don't see RSS vanishing. I suspect at worst it will go the way of IRC. A bunch of sizable niche groups will continue to use while the general public moves onto something else. Not great, but not completely terrible either.

      3 votes
      1. Lonan
        Link Parent
        Apple could do serious damage to RSS if they were to deprecate it for their podcast offerings, similar to how they effectively paved the way for killing the headphone jack. I use AntennaPod on...

        Apple could do serious damage to RSS if they were to deprecate it for their podcast offerings, similar to how they effectively paved the way for killing the headphone jack. I use AntennaPod on Android, and even that has the option of using Apple's podcast search directory for discovery, as well as being able to pull in raw RSS of course. Imagine if Apple created some new way for podcasters to register with their listings, instead of importing RSS, it'd be the beginning of the end.

        1 vote
  2. [6]
    st3ph3n
    Link
    They spent over $300 million to acquire it. Madness.

    They spent over $300 million to acquire it. Madness.

    6 votes
    1. [4]
      FrozenPenguin
      Link Parent
      I guess they saw it as nothing more than a competitor for siriusxm. After this news I have to wonder how many people would jump from stitcher to sirius.

      I guess they saw it as nothing more than a competitor for siriusxm. After this news I have to wonder how many people would jump from stitcher to sirius.

      4 votes
      1. [3]
        ispotato
        Link Parent
        I don't know that I'd consider it a competitor, unless SiriusXM service has changed a lot from what I remember? Paid radio and podcasts doesn't seem to overlap a lot.

        I don't know that I'd consider it a competitor, unless SiriusXM service has changed a lot from what I remember? Paid radio and podcasts doesn't seem to overlap a lot.

        5 votes
        1. [2]
          S1ndr0m3
          Link Parent
          I have SiriusXM in my car and I've noticed that they are trying to drive their subscribers to the website more. They advertise about alternative channels and podcasts and other stuff. I find it...

          I have SiriusXM in my car and I've noticed that they are trying to drive their subscribers to the website more. They advertise about alternative channels and podcasts and other stuff. I find it incredibly annoying. I assume they want you on their website so that they can scrape metadata. I don't know. I've never visited the website.

          4 votes
          1. devilized
            Link Parent
            I kind of think that they're trying to shift people away from their satellite and more to their app. The app is much more flexible in terms of the quantity and quality of the content they can...

            I kind of think that they're trying to shift people away from their satellite and more to their app. The app is much more flexible in terms of the quantity and quality of the content they can have, whereas the satellite technology is really holding them back in all areas except for signal availability.

            1 vote
    2. ctindel
      Link Parent
      Acquisitions like this are so obviously a ridiculously bad idea I wish I could have a backstage pass to understand what the real motivations were. Is someone in a position of power doing someone...

      Acquisitions like this are so obviously a ridiculously bad idea I wish I could have a backstage pass to understand what the real motivations were. Is someone in a position of power doing someone else in a position of power a favor even though it makes no business sense? And if so, why are they doing it?

      How could someone reasonably make a case that buying stitcher for $300M makes any business sense whatsoever? Are the board members responsible for approving these large mergers so totally clueless about their own space that they can't see it's a bad idea? Or is it a way for them all to give themselves bonuses for pulling off the merger and extracting money from the corporation for their own benefit?

      2 votes
  3. GunnarRunnar
    Link
    Stitcher has been buying podcasts left and right, I wonder what will happen to those.

    Stitcher has been buying podcasts left and right, I wonder what will happen to those.

    2 votes