One of the main concerns of Sirius or XM subscribers about the proposed merger is the loss of music channels. Nobody wants to lose their favorite music channels. It was a concern that I voiced in this post, and many had the same feelings.
But in a recent interview with TWICE, Mel Karmazin has indicated that the loss of channels may not be as much as we fear it will be.
Here's a snippet from the interview:
TWICE: How would you accomplish your "one-radio, two-services" pledge? By porting some XM content to Sirius radios, and vice versa?
Karmazin: We started our service with 100 channels, and through compression technology and engineering enhancement and the normal rotation, we now have 135 channels instead of 100. So what we say is that we'd be able to increase our capacity by a certain number so that our existing receivers would be able to get some additional content. So as an example, if we wanted to have some baseball, or we wanted to have Oprah, or we wanted to have some of this content, we'd be able to deliver that to our satellites and to our receivers subject to the content partners' agreements. We couldn't offer a full complement of both services.
TWICE: Could we see a 50/50 split between XM and Sirius content on an existing satellite radio?
Karmazin: If we wanted to do that, but why would we want to do that if you're a Sirius subscriber and you like our content? We're basically saying to you that we don't want you to be disenfranchised. We saying to you that "You're an existing subscriber, you don't have to pay more than $12.95 after the merger, and your existing radio is going to work."
TWICE: And you would eliminate redundancies in the selection of channels offered by Sirius and XM after the merger to make room for some of the extra channels?
Karmazin: Let's assume for a second that, when the time came, that we'd take a look, and say that we both have a '50s station. Now can you sit there and say, "Which of the '50s channels might be the best channel?" And we'd have some cost savings at the head end, and we would not be producing two 50s channels.
TWICE: So Sirius would still have its voice and brand, and XM would have its voice and brand, a Sirius receiver would continue to get existing Sirius channels plus some additional XM content, and vice versa?
Karmazin: Right.
Now, of course Mel is leaving things open here, and being very careful with the words he chooses. And hey, that's understandable. But what I'm getting out of this is that the generic music channels - like a 50s, or Top 40, or Classic Rock channel - would be up for cost savings.
But those channels that have an individual "voice" would remain.
...at least, that's what I hope.
Some people are taking such a short term view of the merger. The real payoff will be when they get to interoperable receivers factory installed in all OEMs. As older receivers get churned out, the merged company will be able to make offers to replace the few remaining single bandwidth receivers with interoperable recievers -- then the full bandwidth will be available for all and many more music channels as well as more talk. Sure that's a few years away -- but its been 6 years since the launch. What's another 5-6 years for the big payoff?
This may sound like a dumb question, but what would new subscribers get? Will they still have to decide between Sirius/XM at the time of the initial purchase?
Ryan wrote:"But what I'm getting out of this is that the generic music channels - like a 50s, or Top 40, or Classic Rock channel - would be up for cost savings.
But those channels that have an individual "voice" would remain."
I'd argue that the "generic" channels on each service have their distinctive voices.
>>"I'd argue that the "generic" channels on each service have their distinctive voices."
I dunno. Having heard both "70's" channels, for example, I can't say there's much of a difference. I'm sure that's also the case with the 50's, 60's. 80's etc. channels...
There will always be a few diehards who will swear that one is better than the other, but the vast majority won't notice nor care.
As long as stations such as "Willie's Place" and "Underground Garage" remain, I'll be more than satisfied...
They had better not touch Ethel or Lucy on XM. Some excellent programming. Maybe someone can explain this.....How come anytime I read anything that Mel says all I can think is that I am reading the thoughts of a snake-oil salesperson.
XM may not be the popular name right now but it happens to be a service that many people love. What is disturbing is that you never hear anything from Gary Parsons....he has remained the silent partner in this whole ordeal.
I agree about the Decade mixes. There are definitely some generic channels out there. I think the more eclectic channels (Chill, Reggaeton, Raggae, Christian Rock, etc) will be combined. As a huge fan of Trip Hop/Downtempo I can say I'm used to seeing only one channel offered on a service and being happy there is anything offered at all. I would expect the channels with personality to survive.
One thing I wonder about is how the merger will deal with the urban and country categories. Both are lacking in selection compared to rock. Maybe reprogramming one or two of the redundant channels could lead to more variety (Subsoniq channel anyone?)
>> I'd argue that the "generic" channels on each service have their distinctive voices.
Are they? The BeeGees sounds the same to me, regardless of how I'm hearing it. It's not like you're going to lose a 70s channel all together. You are just going to have someone else programming it. You'd have the same effect if someone quit and they hired a new DJ.
>>"What is disturbing is that you never hear anything from Gary Parsons"
You never hear anything from Gary Parsons because Mel will be the guy in charge. He will be calling all the shots despite any intimations to the contrary. Bank on it.
This will be a Sirius-biased merger with Karmazin running the business end and Stern as the face of the entertainment side, which isn't a good thing. Especially from a business standpoint. Ultimately, those two are all investors care about.
Do you really think anyone from XM's upper management inspires any confidence? These are the guys who could've signed Stern (he spoke to them first) and wiped out Sirius in the process. Had they done that, there would be no merger talk because Sirius would have gone belly up by now and XM would just be buying up some old assets. Hell, they couldn't even keep NASCAR in the fold.
Were I an XM shareholder, I'd be pretty pissed at management right now...
Talk about dropping the ball.
As an XM sub who is upset with the FM direction XM has taken--the only thing a merger would bring that would keep me is GREAT sound quality. That would mean they would have to cut a bunch of channels--if the sound quality remains what it is after the merger, I will finally bolt.
Correction:
"...which is a good thing."
:)
My bad.
Parsons? What about Lee Abrams? To me it seems bringing Mel's business acumen and Lee's creative side together is what will make the merged company succeed.
This will be a Sirius-biased merger
You said it right there, that's why I'm against it.
So much for a "Merger of Equals".
_____________________________________
But Lee Abrams, O&A, and R&F survives the merger, things may not be as bad as it seems, but until there is proof in writing, I am against it.
Mel Karmazin is a liar who cannot be trusted. Down with the merger.
As a current Sirius sub and former XM sub, i sincerely hope they shitcan Jay Clark and hire the programming GENIUS, Lee Abrams!
Did Mel actually answer a question?? I think they messed up the interview sequence.. It's like they asked "where do you buy your suits from" and he answers "I had the chicken, and a white wine sauce"... Dance Mel, dance..
Steve C: That's because Karmazin IS a snake oil salesman.
Seriously though, he's 95% of the problem I have with the merger. I've never been a fan of Sirius, but a lot of his crap is why I got to hating them instead of just disliking them as a competitive threat to my XM.
Whatever, though. I just want my Special X back. And OTR. There'll be plenty of bandwidth too...
If Lee Abrams stays, then all will be good. His leadership will be 100% necessary for the newly formed Sirius/XM to have an identity.
This will never turn into FM. SDARS sells the aggregated sum of niches because they have a nationwide footprint.
Once bandwidth is tripled because they'll have use of the entire spectrum in a few years, you will all see the beautiful things that Lee can do.
Go merger! Go Lee!
Donkey
Former Abrams Disciple
You'd think some of these people got molested by Mel or something. What the hell has he done to you?
Meanwhile Hugh Panero is rolling around in the cash he got from selling 98% of his holdings right before the *hit hit the fan at XM at the beginning of 2006.
Honestly, what he says, good or bad, shouldn't matter. If he tries to screw you, just return the favor by canceling your subscription. Let the customers police the merger.
baldrick5 said"i sincerely hope they shitcan Jay Clark"
You seem to be an uninformed poster considering Jay Clark has not been with SIRIUS for over 6 months. Pardon me if I do not take anything you type seriously.
If Fungus gets the axe, I might just bid adieu to satrad. I love ska, and from what I've read, Sirius doesn't play a lot of ska on its punk channel.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I would love to have the NBA on XM.
>>They had better not touch Ethel or Lucy on XM
I agree, Steve C! Those are two wonderful channels.
Okay, so the merger is done, and all of SIRI's (or XM's) Decades channels have been eliminated, one of the Blues channels has been eliminated, one set of classical channels has been eliminated.
How much money has the combined entity saved? Anyone? (Hint: Start with the average DJ's annual salary)...
Personally, I can say that at home, I listen to XM Flight 26, and in the car I listen to Sirius The Pulse 9, and I can honestly forget which is which. There is the same sounding woman on both networks announcing songs, and the same mix of 90s and today music. That's just one example, I'm sure there are more. You still have to carry a 90s station on both, but you can just produce one and simulcast. Does that savings ever get passed to the consumer??
There are a substantial number of niche channels that overlap and will probbaly get the axe. The Latin, Techno, Christian, Classical, Jazz, Decades and pop stations are rather redundant. The only pop channels that have any character are 20 on 20 for it's interactivity and the Clear Channel stations. Not that Sirius Pop channels suck, but pop music doesn't have much character and as Dosman said, The Pulse of Flight 26, who cares.
I can see the Ethel's and Lucy's survivng while channels like Top Tracks and Liquid Metal get merged with their Sirius counterparts (Sorry, XM sub, don't know the Sirius channel names).
Country and Urban could see some expansion, and I could see some additional niche channels popping up, maybe even a Ska/Dancehall channel for Rob. We're all fanboys and love our stations (we're reading a satrad blog) but the channels that inspire this kind of fandom are what they want to retain. The City, XM Hitlist, and the likes don't do this.
So, if I understood Mel correctly, there will be no changes after the merger, but you'll have more variety, except where similar channels will be pruned.
Well, who can't understand THAT?
Mel Karmazin is the sat rad equivalent of John Kerry. Was he against the merger before he was for it?
>>>"How much money has the combined entity saved? Anyone? (Hint: Start with the average DJ's annual salary)"
Who cares? Most DJ's are useless talking heads...
"Karmazin: We started our service with 100 channels, and through compression technology and engineering enhancement and the normal rotation, we now have 135 channels instead of 100. So what we say is that we'd be able to increase our capacity by a certain number so that our existing receivers would be able to get some additional content."
So as I expected (but haven't seen in writing yet) the plan is to take sound quality that already pretty much sucks and make it suck more. Sounds like a deal for the consumer!
OK now i know this blog has been comprimised by FM trolls! in all my fanboy board readings i have never seen one person (nevermind three) gush about what a great channel Ethel is. i saw a recent post that proved that on an average day they have more repetitive spins than my local(voicetracked) fm station. sheesh ethel makes sirius sound avant guard and groundbreaking!
"The real payoff will be when they get to interoperable receivers factory installed in all OEMs....What's another 5-6 years for the big payoff?"
If the premise for the merger is that the world has changed so much since these licenses were granted that there isn't room for two competing satrad services, why should we believe that in 6 years we'll even care about satrad at all?
Here's one possibility: cellular data plans become so cheap that we can stream whatever data we want, including audio, for less than the cost of satellite radio. Bluetooth connects your phone streaming this audio to your OEM radio, and the potential channels are basically infinite. I can't say that in particular will happen, but in Snake Oil Mel's greater competitive world of "digital audio distribution" other things are coming that could make these ostensible 72-month "improvements" irrelevant before they can be realized.
The post-merger short term: channels get chopped, and all the remaining channels get compressed down to Chipmunk quality. Sounds great.