RadioShack has chimed in and submitted comments to the FCC voicing its support for the Sirius-XM merger.
In a letter dated for July 13th (it just went live in the FCC's comment system today), RadioShack stated that they "believe that a merger of Sirius and XM will benefit consumers, including those that purchase satellite radio products and services from RadioShack."
"Today, consumers with an interest in satellite radio must either: (1) choose between Sirius and XM, foregoing some of the most appealing channels available on the other service or (2) subscribe to both services, which means purchasing two satellite radios and paying for two subscriptions."
For merger hopefuls, it's good news to see the support of retailers like RadioShack (and Circuit City who also has come out in favor of the merger of Sirius and XM). If retailers came out in large numbers opposing the merger - since they're in the frontline, interfacing directly with consumers - then that would spell the death of the merger.
"Public interest" also directly equals "sales," and retailers are truly motivated by one thing: moving product off the shelves.
[Read Comment (PDF)]
UPDATE: I'm trying out a new feature to make PDFs more easily readable... so try viewing RadioShack's comments after the jump, and please comment if you'd like to see this in the future.
Grrrr.....
I like the PDF thing. Very cool.
Great to hear. I just know that a lot of people don't like opening up PDFs. If this makes it easier for everyone, then I'll continue to embed PDFs directly in the posts.
Please keep the feedback coming. Thanks
This is a neat feature, but it would be nice if you could increase the thickness of the boarder so it can be read. The zoom feature wasn't obvious so at first I didn't read it (too small).
Interesting read though. What is the title of Julian C. Day, it is at the top, but no amount of zooming makes it clear enough. It looks like Chairman...
Mr. Day is Chairman and CEO of Radio Shack.
I like the embedded PDF as well.
I like it too, but I have to squint and see what controls I can do to zoom in and read...
I like the PDF viewer, but it was nearly impossible to see the "open full screen" button in the very upper right corner on my 1024x768 display.
Since Radioshack only sells Sirius and as I personally experienced, will do all they can to get you to buy Sirius regardless of what you want, Radioshack can go fuck themselves. Of course the merger will help them, then they can sell both services instead of having people leave the store because they want baseball or Oprah or O&A and the asshole clerks can't fast talk them out of it. Radioshack's retail performance has been abysmal the past few years. Perhaps if they had more to sell than speakerwire & RC cars and their stores didn't look exactly the same as 30 years ago they'd have some credibility.
Yes, we can all agree that Radio Shack has obvious reasons for supporting the merger. But on a personal note, can someone answer this for me:
If I have a factory installed XM radio in my car, will I ever get to hear Howard Stern again without buying a new radio?
Looking forward to an answer. (Are you out there, Mel?)