No MBA here, but in times like these, companies with weak balance sheets resort to short term tactics. They probably some analysis that shows holding out for the larger amount across the thousands of renewals gets them where they need to be - more customers accept the amount and don't cancel. I would also bet that the renewals, drop out rates and multiple receivers per account metrics are something the watch the metrics on very closely.

It would be better to take the $77 in my mind because the long term affect of pissing of a customer (especially with more than one receiver) is really bad for business.

I went another route - I let the subscription on the X via Sirius expire for a few months and then called them. I ended up with a $9.99 (total) rate for three months - then it goes to $9.99 per month. I had to decline all the choices they tried to sell me on 1st though, a few times for one of the offers. I also stripped it down to just music.