Yes folks, it's been an incredible 350 days since the merger was first announced.
In case you haven't noticed, I recently put together this merge-o-meter on the homepage of Orbitcast, so you can sit there and watch the time slip away while the Feds continue to drag their feet.
Let's get a decision already!
I honestly dont mind waiting this long IF the merger goes through. At least we know the FCC and DOJ are actually looking into it. I mean come on...it could be worse, they could have rejected it 30 days in.
Yeah, at this point, it's almost a certainty that the merger will be approved. I mean who would take THIS long only to deny the merger?
Um....don't answer that. :-)
Does anyone else think the FCC and DOJ are delaying this merger on purpose because they want HD Radio to 'catch up' to Satellite before sales are 'back to normal'? Would there be ANY other reason for the delay?
Under what circumstance does the FCC & DoJ think that they are doing their jobs? Why must we as consumers be DENIED CONTENT? I'd like to have hockey now, and I'm starting to worry that I won't have baseball in time for Spring. Horsecrap. There should be SOME basis for taking so long, but none has been public, outside of the Jesse Jackson woe-be-blacks 20% grab, and HDR's pathetic attempt to hijack this thing.
GET A CLUE, iBiquity. You need to sink or swim based on your commercial offering. Jesse, you can get lost, you has been, irrelevant hack.
350 days! Back then, Tom Coughlin was hanging by a string...
I wouldn't be surprised to see the feds add some kind of line item/condition to the merger that allows them to regulate SatRadio. You know that has to be killing them knowing there is all of this unfiltered unedited content being broadcasted on a daily basis.
I'm not in favor of full fledged regulation the way AM/FM are but I wouldn't be opposed to an tiering the programming or adding some kind of rating system to the channels. Has anyone heard of any talk like this?
Just a thought, but it would be nice to have some sort of Merger Alert System... like the Amber Alert, so we get an email as soon as there is word from the DOJ or FCC. What do you think?
Well Moe,
try this page:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/circ_items.cgi
Gets updated each Fridaynight after five...
..and this one
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/February/
Can't fail. Meanwhile, visit THIS website!
Isaac
Perhaps a merger would be much easier to approve if the basis wasn't such an outright lie. In fact, a merger would create a monopoly within an entire media segment. The fact that it is taking so long just shows that the regulators are trying to understand why there can be any claim that it is in the public interest when it is not. The only benefit will be for the stockholders and to Karmazin. The rest of the bluster and PR is pure posturing.
You are dead on right about your comments.
I really don't see why all these zealots for the merger are clamoring unless they are insiders for whom a merger might result in some sort of huge payout. Imagine this, getting paid to run a company for more than 7 years with not one red cent of profitability.
Here's to another 350...Cheers!
Without this merger, sarad would not exist. These two companies are struggling and need this merger to stay alive. XM is much worse shape then Sirius and needs the merger more. The wait for this merger is doing these two companies in.
Did anyone hear Jim Cramer this morning on Stern? Very interesting interview.
Did anyone hear Jim Cramer this morning on Stern? Very interesting interview. why no story?
Perhaps a merger would be much easier to approve
Don't you nattering NABies ever give up? Is the money that good?
Let them both fail then. If it wasn't meant to be it wasn't meant to be.
Companies go into and out of bankruptcy all the time.
"Let them both fail then. If it wasn't meant to be it wasn't meant to be.
Companies go into and out of bankruptcy all the time."
Posted by: Anonymous Coward | February 4, 2008 9:26 PM
well then,its settled..the post by "Complete Cunt" has the answer we've been waiting for
btw your intelligent
Reply to o.o.:
0.0, did you happen by chance to mean to say "you're" rather than "your"?
Go back to school you pinheaded tool and lear how to spell. 0.0 must be your overall GPA from the correspondence junior college to which you were fortunate enough to be accepted.
Reply to o.o.:
0.0, did you happen by chance to mean to say "you're" rather than "your"?
Go back to school you pinheaded tool and learn how to spell. 0.0 must be your overall GPA from the correspondence junior college to which you were fortunate enough to be accepted.
This is absurd! FCC and DOJ are taking way too long to come up with a decision. I want an up or down vote already, enough with the delays. Does anyone think that if there is no delay by sometime SIRIUS or XM will just pull out of this deal?
"In fact, a merger would create a monopoly within an entire media segment. "
and what segment is that
Music delivery? umm NOPE
Music Services? umm Nope
name one thing you cannot get on sat radio that you cant get somewhere else?
and dont say Stern...because the same can be said for other personalities that you cant get on sat radio like Rush...
..and dont say nationwide commercial free music.... commercials = monthly fees.
..and dont say anything about the unique ability to provide content to the full co
Oh my god. How hard is this to understand? Yes, you CAN get what is on Satellite radio from other sources however there is nothing that offers it all in one unit. Satellite radio is like a swiss army knife. Sure i could carry around a screwdriver a knife, scissors, toothpick, tweezers, fish scaler, saw, file, another smaller knife, etc. in a bag with me, but it would be a pain in the ass. I do not want to take an FM radio, iPod, laptop, and small tv with me everywhere I go. Believe it or not, there are still places where cable tv and high speed internet are not available and FM signals are limited. Tell these people they can get "everything" from some other source.
And all those things you said not to say - those are actually good reasons why sat is different. sorry. nationwide coverage from somebody who commutes between several places is a huge plus that is not offered anywhere else. commercial free music to me does not compete with iPods because of who controls the content.
Saying "satellite radio is music and I can get music somewhere else" is not a valid argument. sorry.
I am not saying this should deny the merger, Im just saying that satellite is different than anything out there.
Sorry Mark, no matter how logical and sane your argument is, PEnis will say it ain't so. If you search the dial and web and AM/FM and music on cable TV and own an iPod you may be able to find some of what is on SDARS so apparently the fact that you get it all in one package no matter where you are in the country doesn't count as a benefit to consumers. Of course, PEnis is also a cunt.
The fact that this has taken 350 days is very revealing. The longer it takes, the less likely it is to happen. Maybe there will NEVER be a decision, and maybe there never should be. The fact that the subscription model of satellite radio is a bad idea isn't the consumer's problem...it's the satellite radio vendor's problem. Perhaps XM and Sirius should look into different revenue streams, like airing more commercials. If Direct TV and Dish Network couldn't merge, then XM and Sirius shouldn't be able to merge. Period.
"however there is nothing that offers it all in one unit. "
competition is not identified/defined by a single source of competition. BTW you CAN get it all on the internet and then some....so your argument is flawed.
'Believe it or not, there are still places where cable tv and high speed internet are not available and FM signals are limited."
and guess what, i cannot get sat radio at my office at work. but i can get radio. i cannot get sat radio in some parts of the city when i travel....but i can get radio.
so?
"Im just saying that satellite is different than anything out there."
different but not unique. different only because they took 7 services and bundled into one player....of which there is competion for. just because other companies do not make it easy for you to get their content nationally its not a reason to deny the merger.
"you may be able to find some of what is on SDARS "
content is not what is in question here, since all the services have their own special content you can only find on its service...... its delivery..... is that you PFREAK? you are the only one to ever call me a cunt...could you be hiding under another name today?
i think you guys are also missing the point that these other services also offer a lot of things sat radio does not. so you can get music from both a cell phone and sat radio....but cell phones let you download songs on the fly and make phone calls.
so each service has overlap, and some dont provide the same services.
the fact is that ANYTHING except a few unique shows you can get EVERYWHERE else and because these other companies choose not to provide you a way to get these easly does not make for a reason to deny a merger.
Link please to where I can get Stern, O&A, MLB, NFL, NHL, 70 commercial free music channels, ESPN Radio, Political Talk, etc in one package that allows me to hear all my shows no matter where I am in the country.
This merger isn't needed.
Why doesn't the FCC simply reject the merger? What's compelling them to not reject it?
I doesn't matter one way or the other. I'm not planning to subscribe to XM, Sirius, or a combo: http://lowtechtimes.com/2008/02/05/four-reasons-to-choose-free-radio-over-satellite-radio/
Please show me where you can watch the NFL Sunday Ticket programming package? Dish or Direct? We all make choices. That's what drives competition - the petter product always wins. If you like Howard, get Sirius. If you like O&A get XM; NFL, Sirius; MLB, XM, and so it goes.
Where is it written that you are 'entitled' to everything? Please show me, because I want it, too.
"Eddie Stubbs’s Way Back Wednesdays, is broadcast absolutely free on WSM 650 AM."
http://lowtechtimes.com/2008/02/05/four-reasons-to-choose-free-radio-over-satellite-radio/
im convinced! fuck the merger!
in response to xm listener who says the merger is not needed---if the merger does not go through then you will not be listening to xm anymore--without the merger they admit they may be out of business.
in response to xm listener who says the merger is not needed---if the merger does not go through then you will not be listening to xm anymore--without the merger they admit they may be out of business.
in response to xm listener who says the merger is not needed---if the merger does not go through then you will not be listening to xm anymore--without the merger they admit they may be out of business.
I hope that Mel can run out the clock (March 1, 2008 ) and tell XMSR to go blow...at that date the 175 million break up fee is history.
XM has been flown into the ground by panero and parsons who would't make janitor at Sirius.
Why you ask? .....
Q3 2007.... Siri makes 71 million more (over Q3 2006) and cuts losses by 42 million.
XM makes 41 million more and losses increase by 52 million.
XM = Losers.