A recent article in the Washington Post brings to light an open question about a merged satellite radio service: given the limited bandwidth available from either XM and Sirius, how will they be able to handle transmitting each other's content?
Subscribers who have been around for a while have seen channels get dropped in favor of additional channels. The Washington Post article illustrates this with the example of C-SPAN getting the axe. It's a reality of the situation - both XM and Sirius have a limited amount of bandwidth allocated that they can pipe content through.
So when if the merger goes through, and Sirius starts offering a "best of XM" selection of channels (and vice versa for XM subscribers) - what channels will this be at the expense of? While there's duplicate genres across both services, analysts question how many XM or Sirius channels can be dumped before subscribers begin to feel they are getting fewer options, not more.
And that leads me to our biggest fear regarding the merger.
[The Washington Post]
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Shouldn't they first determine how many channels are authorized for the bandwidth and the capabilities of each radio station? There I said it, "Radio Station". Talk first, research later, or not at all?
Typical bash and pump.
Easy.
Current- You pay you get what you currently have
Pay for new DualReciever - You get both services
dont know why they make it so difficult. this way they keep the current subs happy until most of the old recievers are replaced by new ones and the people who want to pay for "all premium" content have the option...and siri/xm can make money with it.
WHen the companies merge which was it was supposed to be when satellite radio was invented, they will have more bandwidth together combined. Currently they are only using half the bandwidth, because there are currently two separate companies. But, when combined they will be able to offer more, included back seat tv.
this is all according to the creator of satellite radio, Martin.
who says having Stern on XM means offering a new channel, and hence, removing another channel? why can't Stern air on the Virus on XM, and O&A air on Stern Radio on Sirius? same thing with exclusive sports and women't content. no one said XM couldn't change their MLB and college sports channels to simply be "sports play by play channels" to air NBA and NFL games as well. if the companies want to keep all of the content for a period of time to allow old receivers to still have options, there are easy ways to do it without more compression or *gulp*, losing other channels.