Merger hopefuls who's dreams were dashed yesterday can get excited again. The FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said today that the rules barring a merger between XM and Sirius could be altered, if requested.
Martin, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in New York, said he was not aware of any request to change the rule on satellite radio licensing ownership.
[Reuters]
This is such a back and forth event that I can't keep up. One can only sit back and wait...so much information goes back and forth. Bottom line is that I want satellite radio to grow and be here 15 25 years from now and I want us the consumers to benefit from it.
I am really on the fence on this issue. I live in Comcast country so there for I know how much it sucks to have no choice when selecting services. It will be interesting to see how they can pull this off without pissing of customers.
(The government takes MS to court but comcast can still false advertise, over charge, treat customer like shit and the FCC is going to give mel and hugh grief)
GOD PLEASE MAKE THEM STOP! Neither company said anything other than "If it enhances shareholder value" but as of now they both are making money before accounting tricks (CFBE but not profitable) Why would either one endure the cost of a merger when they are both so close? This is not something that either company has explored. it was started by kramer .. picked up on in the media and the analists and now the FCC... when will the insanity end? I will soon be offering "T Shirts" that say.... "Stupid is a choice"
Y'all, I'm a long-time SIRI-investor and subscriber! I am also a devout consumer-rights advocate, so I do have some reservations about this potential combination! And after mulling it over, I can't help but support it! Why?....b/c of the combined content! There is a lot of XM programming that I like! I think that with a smart and prudent combination of their programming, you'll get a much richer satellite-radio experience!
Plus, there is a lot of other competition to sat-rad in the car! Just look at the new HD-digital radios that are coming-on the market! It is almost indistinguishable from the digital-signal of SDAR, with the exception of it still be just "plain-old-terrestrial-radio-programming", with a lot of commercials on the music channels! But the new modulator HD-radios, have all the neat display information that Sat-Rad has....and a digital signal as well! In fact, from a distance, it would be hard to tell if someone had a Sat-Rad player in their car, or a HD-radio unit---in the modulated form, that is! And I believe that HD-radio, though very slow to grow, is the future of "free-radio"! Without a doubt...but it also makes satellite-radio less unique, and it presents much more of a "competitive threat" than sat-rad has ever known before; And before you know it, HD-radio will find a way to morph into more and more of a sat-rad-like product!
And then you have all the other potential competitive threats looming on the horizon: from Wi-Fi radio, to the I-pod, to who knows what else!
But I guess, speaking from just a consumer perspective, you could easily argue that it would be nice to have a choice in your SDAR reception!
It is a hard-call, and it will be interesting to see what happens; Bottomline for me, is if either satellite-radio could give me some better returns as a stand-alone entity (I'm invested in Sirius btw!), I'd be much more inclined to not necessarily push for a merger! But both of these companies are really struggling to "make-it"! CFBE is nice, but can it be sustained with all the other competition there is in the market-place?
For your kind consideration.... I invite your thoughts.
I have both expected and welcomed a merger for many reasons, for many months. None the least of which is that I felt my beloved Sirius would do better with XM and needed XM to advance substantially in the marketplace.
I am now on the proverbial fence.
I feel now that Alan may have severely triangulated XM and have damaged them possibly to the point of limited recovery.... and may therefore no longer need them.
Sirius is preferred when consumers are given a choice. Recent numbers suggest 66% of retail share is going to Sirius.
IF Sirius EVER gets a piece of the GM and Honda pie ( which I now feel is a great possibility noting the undermining these merger rumors have done ) It's All OVER except the crying.
How long can XM keep Sirius out of keen contracts ? ... How long can OEM's NOT require a dual receiver ?
When either of these things happens, sans merger, Sirius will take the whole game.
Best Wishes,
Pockpie hates Bush
I subscribe to both XM and Sirius and if they merged I would cancel both my subscriptions immediately. A merger would only limit content and higher the price for one what would be awful service. The fact XM and Sirius are competing keeps them trying to get content and make there service better then the other. With a merger they would eliminate channels and it would turn into a stand alone XM or Sirius with no other choices. Plus more paying for it. Screw that. Fortunately there’s a good chance this won’t happen though.