Sirius and XM may merge, report says

[Chris Blount]

Executives of satellite radio rivals Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio Holdings have been meeting lately to discuss the possibility of a merger, the New York Post reported Wednesday, citing several sources close to the matter.

More (http://news.com.com/Sirius+and+XM+may+merge,+report+says/2100-1027_3-5551023.html)

[Neil Derryberry]

They each have their strengths and weaknesses, but I'm not sure that a reduction in competition would be a good thing.

Sirius has Stern going for them, but that's it IMO. I'm not a real fan of that genre anyway.

[sampatterson]

The merger would most likely never pass the muster of the FCC and FTC. Very similar to the Dish/DTV try at a merger. Consumers could be harmed because there would be no price competition.

[Spruceman]

Let them merge to avoid some of the duplication of formats and open up more niche programming. As to competition, let the FCC find another 25 MHz of spectrum to sell to any would-be competitor that comes along (Maybe MusicChoice, DMX Music, Galaxie, or Muzak would like to begin a SDARS). Originally they were planning to allocate 40 or 50 MHz to SDARS.

[tonyp56]

The merger would most likely never pass the muster of the FCC and FTC. Very similar to the Dish/DTV try at a merger. Consumers could be harmed because there would be no price competition.


Yeah but Satellite Radio is new, and if they raise their prices too much, people will leave them quicker than they can say price reduction!

[musicmaker2020]

Both comanies have to have hardware that will be compatible with each other in the next couple years anyway right? Just seems like the next step ;)

I dunno, yeah I doubt this can happen due to FCC and FTC regulatations but it would be awfully damn sweet if it did in my opinion.

[bryan92]

Keeping it hush hush..
http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news/business/digital/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000777229

[jrb531]

If Direct and Dish could not merge then these guys cannot merge either.

Just like it makes no sense whatsoever for both Dish and Direct to have duplicate birds up in the sky that are transmitting mostly identical content it also makes no sense for multiple radio companies to do the same but how is this any different that Dish and Direct being turned down for a merger?

Cable vs Satalite was not enough competition
Broadcast Radio vs Satalite is also not enough.

Personally I think that blocking the Dish - Direct merger hurt us all big time. The merger would have cut costs substantially for Dish and this in turn would have allowed prices to remain lower and thus forced cable to stay in line.

The blocked merger was nothing more than the Cable companies throwing big $$$ to block what is best for us so that Cable could continue to rape us in the wallet.

If they allow this merger then if I was Dish I would then question some things :)

-JB

[ocnier]

If Direct and Dish could not merge then these guys cannot merge either.

Just like it makes no sense whatsoever for both Dish and Direct to have duplicate birds up in the sky that are transmitting mostly identical content it also makes no sense for multiple radio companies to do the same but how is this any different that Dish and Direct being turned down for a merger?

Cable vs Satalite was not enough competition
Broadcast Radio vs Satalite is also not enough.

Personally I think that blocking the Dish - Direct merger hurt us all big time. The merger would have cut costs substantially for Dish and this in turn would have allowed prices to remain lower and thus forced cable to stay in line.

The blocked merger was nothing more than the Cable companies throwing big $$$ to block what is best for us so that Cable could continue to rape us in the wallet.

If they allow this merger then if I was Dish I would then question some things :)

-JB

Man, you got that right! The end consumer totally got screwed on locals, HD, the works. I still think about E* having sunday ticket and D* having WB and UPN (superstations), not to mention E* having (god forbide!?!) equipment that actually works as promised. The FCC really screwed the pooch on that one! :mad:

[Jacob S]

I also dont think that this will be allowed. Its a wonder that they even consider it in the first place after knowing with the attempted Dish and Direct merger.

If the merger would have went through for Dish and Direct then it would not have been all good.

[UT_Texan]

I am suprised TW hasn't gotten into the sat. business or tried to merge with D* or E*. I mean then there wouldn't be a customer they couldn't try to get. Doesn't TW get some of their signals via sat.

[MarkA]

Let them merge. More bandwidth. Better reception. NASCAR on Sirius. Life's good! Imagine - 3 (2 active at once) overhead-ish satellites, plus 2 satellites over the equator, plus more terrestrial towers (for those in site of terrestrial towers). Yee-hah!

[Steve Mehs]

This will be interesting to follow, I don’t think the FCC and FTC will pass it, if it ever gets that far though. Both XM and Sirius have made a name for themselves in respective areas and they are doing fine. Satellite radio was pretty much ‘the’ tech Christmas for the past two years now, both have signed big name sports leagues, major talent and do a great job with music. Some channels on Sirius I like better then the XM counterparts and visa versa. In an industry where you only have two or three players, like SDARS and DBS, not two or three major players, but two or three period, competition between the two is essential, sure there may be a lot of positives, but along with that comes the negatives.