I guess you gotta admire this snake ...

... the way that Mel Karmazin slides his 20th Century SatRad technology around almost-free IP service ...

From Tom Taylor:

Could Sirius XM compete with Pandora and Slacker? Mel Karmazin says “Absolutely.”

The satcaster CEO tells his fourth quarter call “there’s nothing that would preclude us” from offering a similar music service if it was something subscribers want. There are limitations to what an IP audio service can offer in terms of songs by the same artist, under federal statute. But Karmazin answers a question from Lazard’s Barton Crockett in the affirmative (yes, the satcaster could do IP audio). Mel doesn't comment directly on Pandora’s IPO, but does make a broader point – “There’s an awful lot of IP audio content out there." He says they’ve been running comparisons, and “if you take a look at our Time Spent Listening and compare it to a lot of the IP channels, we see a greater satisfaction for our content", which is "curated" by programmers. Mel's reached another conclusion – “We believe there are an awful lot of people who like the Slacker, Pandora, Last.fm and iHeart services because [they’re] free.” But Sirius XM believes “a lot of that IP content is going to be running more and more commercials”, which will make it sound “an awful lot like commercial radio.” He says “We expect Sirius XM to continue to dominate paid audio entertainment" – because it’s got the content.

And then Mel wants to charge more ...

Price increases coming to Sirius XM subscribers.

CEO Mel Karmazin says “our original price point of $12.95 was attractive” and more conducive to growth than, say, $16.95 a month. Since then they’ve been allowed to pass along higher royalty costs, under terms of the mid-2008 deal with the government that allowed the two competing satellite radio licensees to merge. But Karmazin responds to an analyst’s question about ARPU (revenue per subscriber) by saying “You should assume the company will increase prices in the future.” No timeframe, but it’s a certainty.