XM + Sirius Merging

[BHeemsoth]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: Aimster
why r people complaining? more stations same price.

if they up the price they r owned.

If it was only that easy. Remember, Cable TV has "competition" from terrestrial broadcasts and satellite TV as well, but that doesn't stop them from hiking up their fees by 10% every year.

Without any price competition from other Satellite radio providers, they'll basically be able charge whatever they want. Folks like truckers and Howard Stern fans who have come to depend on satellite radio will have to pay up or lose out.

My hunch is that they'll raise their prices to $30 a month within 3 years of the merger and add commercials to most of the music stations even quicker than that.

There's nothing XM could add to Sirius to make it worth more than I'm paying for Sirius now.

While that may be true for you, people have varying desires and expectations.

Myself for example, I would be a Sirius subscriber without a doubt if they only had the MLB package. Baseball is important to me, which is why I stick with XM.

Making such statements with limited applicability is just stupid.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: Aimster
why r people complaining? more stations same price.

if they up the price they r owned.

If it was only that easy. Remember, Cable TV has "competition" from terrestrial broadcasts and satellite TV as well, but that doesn't stop them from hiking up their fees by 10% every year.

Without any price competition from other Satellite radio providers, they'll basically be able charge whatever they want. Folks like truckers and Howard Stern fans who have come to depend on satellite radio will have to pay up or lose out.

My hunch is that they'll raise their prices to $30 a month within 3 years of the merger and add commercials to most of the music stations even quicker than that.

There's nothing Sirius could add to XM to make it worth more than I'm paying for Sirius now.

Fixed for ya.

For the record i am happy with my XM. yes some stations do have commercials but the ones i listen to do not. Plus i listen to a lot of news like CNN and Fox when iam driving home there is no getting away from commercials from live TV broadcast.

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: shortspanishguy

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Unheard
Please NO! Lets keep Sirius free of XM.

confirmed. are those O&A douchebags still on XM?

yeah but I think they are on Terrestrial as well. Why would I pay for content when I can get it for free?

They do half of their show on terrestrial (on many of the stations that Stern used to be on) and the last half uncensored on XM.

They are doing very well at the moment, so if there is a merger expect them to be kept on board and expect that Stern will cry like a little brat about it.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Unheard
Please NO! Lets keep Sirius free of XM.

QFT. I chose Sirius because XM went with the whole mainstream, repetitive, top40 crap format.

 

[Sheep]

Sirius plays songs more often than XM--that's a fact and not just my opinion. That being said, XM's sometimes a little TOO deep with the obscure songs and b-sides for my tastes.

I don't know how positive a merger would be since presumably they'd combine or drop stations, which would mean people leaving due to their favorite station going away or being replaced by the other company's equivalent.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: TheNinja
Yes, everyone please buy SIRI stock so that mine goes up

I've been waiting on this merger and watching my stock go down recently. This has really helped. We'll see if anything becomes of it though.

me too
tho i dont have much at all

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: Sheep
Sirius plays songs more often than XM--that's a fact and not just my opinion. That being said, XM's sometimes a little TOO deep with the obscure songs and b-sides for my tastes.

Exactly why I love XM. Keep repetitive radio on terrestrial.

I've bought so many CDs because of XM's deep playlists.

 

[indamixx99]

Originally posted by: TheNinja
Yes, everyone please buy SIRI stock so that mine goes up

I've been waiting on this merger and watching my stock go down recently. This has really helped. We'll see if anything becomes of it though.

Same here...

Well actually I bought it when it was below $3, so I'm already up... but I would like to see it where it was almost a year and a half ago - $9. Hopefully the buyout talks will help it increase.

 

[FoBoT]

looks like today is the day for the announcement

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02192007/bu...eavenly_deal_business_peter_lauria.htm

 

[Sensai]

thats great! who's stock would benefit more outta this?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
looks like today is the day for the announcement

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02192007/bu...eavenly_deal_business_peter_lauria.htm

That's fine and dandy...but did they ever get the blessings of the FTC?

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Unheard
Please NO! Lets keep Sirius free of XM.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Sensai
thats great! who's stock would benefit more outta this?

*Normally* the company being bought sees a significant rally because the shares are usually bought out at a premium.

In this case it sounds like Sirius shareholders would receive most of the premium. Sounds like they still are hammering out the details on exactly will happen though.

 

[CPA]

BTW, for those who don't think Sirius runs commercials, listen to RawDog. Not all Sirius stations run commercials, but some surely do. That said, I love Sirius.

 

[BD2003]

Please NO! Lets keep XM free of Sirius.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Of course I just bought a Sirius receiver for my car last month...:roll:

 

[BD2003]

And this is all still a rumor.

It is going to be a completely worthless merger. Xm and Sirius radios are *completely* incompatible. They might release dual format radios in the future, but they're going to have to keep the streams separate for quite some time. So the playlists will stay the same, and the sound quality will still be crap on both of them.

I'd be happy if they combined their bandwidth and actually put out decent sound, but thats unfeasible, so this is going to mean nothing to everyone but shareholders.

 

[vi edit]

For sports fans, this is an unbeatable deal.

Every single professional sport would now be offered under one content provider. NFL, MLB, NBA, Nascar, ect.

My biggest concern would be bandwith though. I'm sure they will have to trim A LOT of channels to fit in the most popular ones from each provider.

 

[Mermaidman]

omg--if the merger goes through, it'll be awesome--NASCAR and NBA for my XM.

 

[Unheard]

The only thing good to come from this will be Sirius getting NHL and MLB.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Of course I just bought a Sirius receiver for my car last month...:roll:

You made a wise choice! The merger is still just a rumor, and for the time being you have the better of the two services.

 

[vi edit]

Assuming this does come forward today, it's interesting they chose to do it on a day that the stock market is closed.

 

[FoBoT]

fantabulous!

 

[KarmaPolice]

Even if this is true there is a very low chance of it going through. The government shot down Dish network and Direct TV from merging because it would form a monopoly in that area. I think its a stupid ruling since they are competing with a lot of other mediums such as cable, but it is how they ruled. I find it very unlikely that in this case they will rule that their market is the entire radio medium not just satallite.

There is also the huge huge headache of making the two work together. If they merge i doubt we will get just one service...both would prob stay by themselves for a long time. There are far to many units out there for each company that are not compatable if the others. Switching it to one system would piss a lot of customers off and it isnt something they can do.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Of course I just bought a Sirius receiver for my car last month...:roll:

You made a wise choice! The merger is still just a rumor, and for the time being you have the better of the two services.

No longer a rumor...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The two main satellite radio providers, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius are expected to announce a long-awaited merger on Monday, according to the New York Post.

The newspaper said the two companies were negotiating over the weekend to merge the companies, a deal that is expected to be structured as a "merger of equals."

Representatives of the two companies could not immediately be reached for comment.