OT-Sirius and XM radio to merge

Wow. I love my XM.

more details here

Yup, i agree. No Competition. Prices will sore.

I don't think it will fly for reasons stated in the article.

I don't think the FCC, and Govt. will allow the merger to take place ... monopoly issues.

I wouldn't consider either until they were compatible or there was a clear winner. Now I, & others of my ilk, may join up (once the dust settles). I'm glad to hear it.

I'm a five-year XM subscriber--horror of horrors, now I may have to listen to Howard Stern...)that was for you stinkfinger

Those are two strange companies.

Neither one has ever made a profit and last year, one lost $700M and the other lost $800M.

They aren't even close to being viable.

That is just nuts.

quote:

Originally posted by Blair Kiel:
I'm a five-year XM subscriber--horror of horrors, now I may have to listen to Howard Stern...)that was for you stinkfinger

There may be hope for you yet.

Man, I wish they'd merge. I'd love to have MLB on Sirius. Outside of baseball, I have no reason to listen to regular radio.

I listen to XM 20 plus hours a week. Getting to hear Bob Uecker doing Brewers baseball after being away from Milwaukee for 15 years is priceless. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Two non-compatible receivers merging. Something tells me this is gonna cost me $$$.

I'd be surprised if it happened. Don't think the Feds would like that.

Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius claims the company will have 3 billion in revenue and one billion in cash flow by 2010. In 2004 they had 600,000 subscribers, but had high startup costs prior to that. They had to launch 3 satellites and program 100 channels before they had a single subscriber. They currently have about 6.3 million subscribers. Pricing may well increase due to more content (Howard Stern and NASCAR in January). It took FM radio 15 years to become standard in cars. He believes satellite radio is on that same path. Interesting to see if his predictions for Sirius come true.

quote:

Two non-compatible receivers merging

That sucks... I just bought a Sirius radio about a month ago. Think I should return it and wait for this to sort out?

quote:

Originally posted by tbor:

quote:

Two non-compatible receivers merging

That sucks... I just bought a Sirius radio about a month ago. Think I should return it and wait for this to sort out?

I'd keep it and wait for this to sort out. Likely to take a while, if it ever does happen.

And if it does, I don't think either company would just piss off their subscribers and force them to buy another receiver. They'd probably just broadcast the same stuff from both sets of satellites. Could be that the only impact to current subscribers would be better coverage and fewer dead zones....

Tony Kornhieser is coming to XM in March.....channel 144 I heard. Yippie....I miss him on the radio.

While there is the possibility of increased fees to subscribers if this merger happens, the reverse might just be possible.

If the merger is approved by the FCC, the costs would be greatly reduced, and there would actually be a possibility of reduced fees for the same level of services, or stable fees with greatly increased content.

We originally got XM for the NASCAR channel. We are contemplating switching to Sirius because they now have NASCAR. But with or without the NASCAR channel, satellite radio rocks!

quote:

Originally posted by Blair Kiel:
I listen to XM 20 plus hours a week. Getting to hear Bob Uecker doing Brewers baseball after being away from Milwaukee for 15 years is priceless. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Two non-compatible receivers merging. Something tells me this is gonna cost me $$$.

Something tells me the stock price is going to go up.

With the Big 10 Basketball on XM, is Matt LePay doing the Badger games or do they have someone else doing them??

quote:

Originally posted by Goldie:
With the Big 10 Basketball on XM, is Matt LePay doing the Badger games or do they have someone else doing them??

They usually use the announcers of the home team (football too).

quote:

Originally posted by CoPackFan:

quote:

Originally posted by Goldie:
With the Big 10 Basketball on XM, is Matt LePay doing the Badger games or do they have someone else doing them??

They usually use the announcers of the home team (football too).

Not sure how it will change with the merger but on Sirius they have two broadcasts, one for the home team and one for the away team.

It’s too early to say what the deal might mean for subscription prices. The merger could bring down the cost of providing service, but at the same time give the company more pricing power as the only U.S. satellite radio provider.
MSNBC Article

The only downside I see straight off is if you WORK for XM or Sirius, now they will have double staff and somebody has to go...

quote:

Originally posted by GreenBayLA:
The only downside I see straight off is if you WORK for XM or Sirius, now they will have double staff and somebody has to go...

My bet is XM's rat infested offices will close.

rats!

I just got a SkiFi for Mrs. Bong. XM says "no new equipment" for current subscribers. What we have will work fine when the merger occurs.

I was considering getting the 5 year subscription (around 9 bucks a month) over the year by year subscription I have now (around 11 bucks a month). Anyone hear if prices will go up or down now that the merger is taking place?

oops, did not know this would bump it to the top of the Packer board.

"if only there was a place for this kind of topic......"
EKB