As Sirius XM bears down on the end-of-the-year deadline for a...

As Sirius XM bears down on the end-of-the-year deadline for a subscription bump of $1.54 per month, it’s peppering former subscribers with email enticements to re-up service. Sirius XM is offering former subscribers a 6-month pre-paid programming package for $24.95 through Dec. 31, 3 months after announcing a subscription increase from $12.95 to $14.49. The plan to raise prices followed the FCC’s decision not to extend a subscription price cap resulting from XM’s purchase by Sirius, forming Sirius XM. Subscriptions will automatically renew after the 6-month period, it said. The offer is good on any inactive radio associated with a user’s account and comes with free activation (regularly $15), the company said. Sirius XM just concluded a 2-week promotion called the 60-Channel Challenge, which began Nov. 17 and gave former subscribers free access to 60 of the service’s 130-plus channels. The 6-month package is good for a full subscription of more than 130 channels, Sirius XM said. The promotional email we received did not mention the price hike but referred to standard subscription prices of $12.95-$14.49. At the end of Q3, the company reported 21.3 million subscribers, up from 19.7 million a year earlier.