[rochrunner]

My son asked for a satellite radio in his car for his birthday next month. He had decided on XM primarily since it has the NHL stations. So does it now matter which one we get since they are merging? And can I assume of course that both types of equipment will continue to work indefinitely?

I am planning on buying about a year's subscription for him at the same time, which is probably a good idea since there will be less pricing competition after the merger.

 

[VegasDen]

My son asked for a satellite radio in his car for his birthday next month. He had decided on XM primarily since it has the NHL stations. So does it now matter which one we get since they are merging? And can I assume of course that both types of equipment will continue to work indefinitely?

I am planning on buying about a year's subscription for him at the same time, which is probably a good idea since there will be less pricing competition after the merger.

From what I have read, it will be about a year before "dual-band" (for the sake of the term) receivers will be on the market...so if you want present XM programming, buy an XM receiver.

Part of the merger agreement was a 3 year freeze on subscription pricing. A press release indicated they will have some new "ala-carte" pricing "in the fall." I would do maybe a 6 month and see what the new packages are.

Here is a link to a pre-merger pricing proposal from the companies:
http://www.siriusmerger.com./uploads/ala-cart-Press-Rel-7-23-07.pdf

 

[totoros]

I say get the XM now for a year. By the time they have receivers capable of both, you can decide to upgrade if there is stuff on Sirius that you want.

 

[syphix]

The agreement to get the merger done stated the following timelines (pushed up by the FCC):

Within 3 months: A la carte radios and packages.
Within 9 months: An interoperable radio ON THE MARKET.

 

[Galaxie6411]

Also take advantage of the promo codes out there. You should be able to get $0 activation fee and a few months free, this is for XM. XM also runs rebates quite often on certain receivers.

 

[Lee L]

I would definitely try to milk them for anything you can get. Just call and say hey, I am confused by this merger thing and maybe I should wait until it all shakes out in a couple of years. Hopefully they are not stupid and will help you out so you will sub now.

 

[Ken S]

The dual band radios will be out in the next few months. I would expect by the fall (gift buying season) they may be the only choices. Of course, that also means you can get the existing radios cheap.
If the NHL is what you are really going after and you want to buy now...I'd get an XM radio. Just as if you want the NBA/NFL/NASCAR right now...go with a Sirius model.

 

[syphix]

The dual band radios will be out in the next few months.

I have no doubt that SIRIUS XM is pushing to get dual band radios out ASAP, but the timeline is 3 months for a la carte radios, 9 months for dual bands. I wouldn't expect either to arrive much sooner than the mandated time (a la cartes may already be in production, though).

 

[SJ HART]

Initially, wouldn't they just provide programming on either type of receiver? They can stream anything they want to the satellites (sirius or xm content). Also, they can start cost cutting programming. Why have two standard jazz channels, classical, etc.

 

[Lee L]

Initially, wouldn't they just provide programming on either type of receiver? They can stream anything they want to the satellites (sirius or xm content). Also, they can start cost cutting programming. Why have two standard jazz channels, classical, etc.

The main reason they cannot just start duplicating is that they have millions of radios out there that can only get one or the other service. Until most of them are out of use, anything they did like this would result in massive takeways in programming from one group or the other. That is why many think this merger is kind of silly, as their plan does not really allow for the one thing that mergers are really good at, consolidation and reduction of duplication and cost.

 

[gjrhine]

So my Ford came with Sirius aleady installed and I will have zero options unless someone rips out the hardware?

 

[SJ HART]

The main reason they cannot just start duplicating is that they have millions of radios out there that can only get one or the other service. Until most of them are out of use, anything they did like this would result in massive takeways in programming from one group or the other. That is why many think this merger is kind of silly, as their plan does not really allow for the one thing that mergers are really good at, consolidation and reduction of duplication and cost.

Maybe I don't get it. If I have a XM receiver, then I can receive content which they stream to the XM sats. They could also move some current Sirius content to the XM sat and then I could receive "former" Sirius content on my XM radio. Why wouldn't they create a XM/Sirius packages that can be received on either type of receiver. Example, they could stream Howard Stern to the XM sats and then if I decided to pay for it, I could receive it on my XM radio. They surely can get rid of duplicate stations immediately to reduce costs. For example, have only one Standard Jazz station and stream it to both XM and Sirius sats. SJ

 

[Lee L]

The problem is that at least for XM (and I beleive it is similar with Sirius, but am not 100% sure), they are pretty much maxed on bandwidth. Each year when they do the holiday channels, they have to temporarily delete an equal number of normal channels to free up transponder space.

So, they can't just add in 5 or 10 or however many channels onto the XM sats without removing that many channels that they offer now.

Since the only satellites that a current XM radio is capable of using are the XM and vice versa for Sirius, they can't just have the Sirius people and the XM people tune to the same Jazz (or whatver) channel to free up space either, until most customers have dual band radios.

Lets say they decide that the XM Jazz and Dance channels are better and they delete the Sirus versions and they decide that the Sirius decades channels and delete the XM versions. They can certainly broadcast the same actual channel to both and maybe save a little money due to fewer DJ's and equipment, but they still have to send that one feed out to both satellites or some customers will not get them.


Now, in the future, anyone with a dual band radio can get everything, but anyone with an original XM or Sirius radio can still only see the channels being broadcst from the sats as they are right now. So, maybe 7 years from now, they might start truly start eliminating duplicates but if they do it now, they will make lots of people mad.

 

[Ken S]

They have announced that for the existing radios they will be broadcasting some of the programming from Sirius to XM and vice versa. So, Howard Stern will be available on all existing XM radios pretty soon.

They probably don't have the bandwidth to do sports programming, but it appears they can do a few distinct channels back and forth.

The dual band radios will be out before 9 months. I would almost bet they will be available for Christmas...if they can get production geared up in time.

 

[soloredd]

What about cars that came with XM/Sirius? I just bought a 2008 Honda Pilot and got the 3-year XM package to go with it. Will my XM still work as normal or is this now going to require a dual-band radio?

 

[Lee L]

They have announced that for the existing radios they will be broadcasting some of the programming from Sirius to XM and vice versa. So, Howard Stern will be available on all existing XM radios pretty soon.

They probably don't have the bandwidth to do sports programming, but it appears they can do a few distinct channels back and forth.

The dual band radios will be out before 9 months. I would almost bet they will be available for Christmas...if they can get production geared up in time.

But remember, the 10 Sirius channels will almost certainly come at the expense of 10 current XM channels unless XM was lying when they ditched channels each holiday or unless they compress things to crazy levels.

What about cars that came with XM/Sirius? I just bought a 2008 Honda Pilot and got the 3-year XM package to go with it. Will my XM still work as normal or is this now going to require a dual-band radio?

It should still receive the XM satellite broadcasted channels just like now. So everything you have now, except the 10 channels they eliminate to bring the 10 selected Sirius channels they put up. Hopefully they will not be channels you liked.