Sirius and XM to merge!
Wow. I know there’s been rumblings of a merger for quite some time, but they actually announced it yesterday. XM and Sirius are going to become one entity.
For those of you that don’t know, XM and Sirius are satellite radio providers. You pay them a monthly fee and you can get access to tons of commercial free music, and things like sports and talk radio. The genres of music are awesome too. AND, many stations aren’t censored at all. So you can hear some songs you would never hear on terrestrial radio. Once I started listening to satellite radio, there was no going back. Normal radio is repetitious, one-dimensional, commercial-filled crap.
I was a subscriber to XM for a number of years, but switched over to Sirius when they got the NFL. I was able to listed to every Miami Dolphin game live, and that (along with Howard Stern) was enough to get me to switch over. I liked the music on XM slightly better, but those two things flip-flopped me to Sirius. Now that they are merging, it’s going to be the best of both worlds. I’m actually really excited to see what comes out of it.
Here’s the one problem. The FCC has been wanting to regulate satellite radio for years, and in order for this merger to pass regulatory approval, I’m hoping they don’t want concessions. I want to hear the things I pay for in an uncensored way. If the FCC starts putting restrictions on satellite like they do on normal broadcasts, it’s going to suck the life out of satellite radio. Here’s hoping they keep their hands off the content.
February 20, 2007 @ 9:43 am
I figured this would happen. It seemed like they were just cannibalizing one another by competing.
And I still wonder if they didn’t come out too expensive. Even when I was commuting I thought the price was a bit steep when I could just as easily load up my iPod or CD changer, and I don’t listen to radio at home or work. Yeah, signing sports exclusives and Stern probably got them several subscribers, but I wonder if they wouldn’t have brought in even more people with a lower price point, or by offering package selections like DirecTV and Dish.
For example, if I could get a handful of stations for $5/month, I’d probably sign up even though I don’t commute anymore. For $5/month, it would be worth having for the few road trips I do take.
February 21, 2007 @ 9:19 am
My issue with the merger is that I hope that we (XM and Sirius subscribers) don’t lose too many channels. But as a Sirius subscriber, I am really excited that I will have access to Major League Baseball.
February 21, 2007 @ 11:43 am
I could care less about Howard Stern, but he does need a place like satellite radio. I chose XM because it didn’t have Howard, but does have ACC sports and MLB.
Being able to add SEC sports and the NFL will be great.
@1. I understand the comment about fewer channels for $5, but that small amount just isn’t worth the trouble of the paperwork to either company.
Of course, by the time this actually happens, we’ll probably have a new President.
February 21, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
Well I just think that having talk be uncensored in general is great. That way, any of the talk show hosts can say whatever is on their mind, and I like that.
As for tiers of service, I can almost guarantee it will happen. For one, they can break out more of the premium content and end up charging more if you get everything. They can also charge less for a subset. Lowered costs makes regulatory approval easier. A family-friendly tier does the same thing.
The FCC chairman is also a proponent of ala-carte services (even for cable TV) so I would really love to see a lot more choice when it came to my choices. Just taking the NFL while not paying for Nascar would be great in my opinion.
Anyway, I think it will be good overall, but it’s going to take some big behind-the-scenes lobbying to get it past government regulators.
February 22, 2007 @ 9:27 am
ala-carte services for satellite and cable sounds good, but the reality is that most studies show that at most, people will lower their cable bill by 13% and some studies show that their cable bill would actually go up.
Meanwhile, niche channels that geeks like you and me watch, (the military channel comes to mind), would probably disappear. The Food Network probably wouldn’t have had enough time to get the audience it now has before the plug would have been pulled, etc.
As for XM, ala-carte services would probably mean the end of the music reason I get it, classical and jazz stations.