Recent commentary on CNN Money, XM faces the music, features an interesting debate about the possibility of a merger/takeover of XM Satellite Radio. Generally I dismiss most merger talks, especially since the recent misquoting of Mel Karmazin's "love" for buying XM is the basis for such debates, but this article doesn't just wax poetically about the subject. It explores step-by-step the different scenarios under which a takeover/merger could happen.
Great food for thought, but still just a pipe dream in my opinion. But hey, that's just me.
Here's some questions I'd like to pose those who do support this concept: would an XM+Sirius Merger actually help the consumer? Would it be a validation that the satellite radio industry is a viable form of media, or just the opposite? Does having XM and Sirius merge actually strengthen satellite radio's position against terrestrial radio, or would a single company have a harder time convincing the market that radio is something worth paying for? And what of the OEM channel, what reprocussions would there be in the relationships between auto manufacturers and each satcaster should the merge?
[CNN Money]
Thanks Britt & Bob!
I think that a merger would be horrible, granted both providers target different audiences. I prefer the content on XM, again that's my choice.
Would Sirius impose their format on to XM subscribers?
Well, at these prices, I guess you have to expect take-over rumors.
XM will not be bought out anytime soon. The Board won't allow it.
-Lord Westfall
MErgers regularly go sour after they're completed. Remember the AOL-Time Warner bloodbath?
Actually, I see XM being bought by another media company before a merger between them and Sirius. Perhaps a current content partner that would like to add satrad to its portfolio.
*cough CBS *cough
Is it good for the consumer? Is having one Cable company GOOD for the consumer? Of course not. Cable's prices have gone up 86% since '96. They can do this because NO COMPETITION. If a merged company can see the benefit of leaving prices where they are then it MIGHT work but it hasn't worked for the cable companies yet.
I don't CBS would buy XM. Its clearly the less popular between the two services. By popular I mean in demand not popular like how many cars had it factory installed. Also CBS has a few hundred radio stations that it would be hurting by taking on satellite radio. Imagine taking away prime content to make it exclusive for XM. Its counter productive.
If Sirius ever bought XM, Panero and the rest of them would be gone. Watching Mel overtake XM with crappy reception and worse sound quality is sad.
>>would an XM+Sirius Merger actually help the consumer?
No. Not ever. Monopolies are anti-consumer.
>>Would it be a validation that the satellite radio industry is a viable form of media, or just the opposite?
The opposite. One or the other company getting swallowed while still in it's relative infancy makes it look like sat rad is a joke.
>>Does having XM and Sirius merge actually strengthen satellite radio's position against terrestrial radio, or would a single company have a harder time convincing the market that radio is something worth paying for?
It would strengthen satrad's position at the expense of diversity and consumer choice.
>>And what of the OEM channel, what reprocussions would there be in the relationships between auto manufacturers and each satcaster should the merge?
I would guess... Not much. The new company would honor any previous agreements until it was time for a renegotiation. I really don'y think the OEM's care which company is their satrad provider as long as they can offer it as an extra incentive to car buyers.
if the sats. merged sirius would control XM and if that happens i think a lot of XM fans heads would explode scanners style.
"if the sats. merged sirius would control XM and if that happens i think a lot of XM fans heads would explode scanners style."
Yep, the spotty reception and antequated technology would certainly put a damper on my listening to XM if Sirius controlled it.
Joe Blow...
CBS Radio has 179 radio stations, 75 of them are streaming online, a 1/3 of them are also in HD, and they have a podcast programmed station. Plus, they have been divesting stations in smaller markets.
Offering Satrad would not be counter productive, but would allow them to offer a "national" service with exclusive content and a growing market (7 million subscribers right now). It would simply complement their existing service and content offerings since all terrestrial radio is local/regional in nature and people are beginning to move to satrad because of the choice of content and/or technology.
Mel was only planting the seed. He has no intention of buying XM but he wants to make XM attractive to other media companies and of course Sirius as well. Both will be taken over by larger players. It's just a matter of when.
Sirius buying XM would be like Comcast buying DirecTV. Imagine that! o.0
"Yep, the spotty reception and antequated technology would certainly put a damper on my listening to XM if Sirius controlled it."
And what fucking kind of advanced equipment do you really need to receive satellite transmission?!?! You do realize that satellite technology has existed for 50 years now don't you? Out of all the arguments I've heard bashing Sirius, the technology one is the dumbest. It's not fucking rocket science to have a dial and buttons.
"And what fucking kind of advanced equipment do you really need to receive satellite transmission?!?! You do realize that satellite technology has existed for 50 years now don't you? Out of all the arguments I've heard bashing Sirius, the technology one is the dumbest. It's not fucking rocket science to have a dial and buttons."
The Pioneer Inno that I have with me is pretty advanced and it's the 2nd generation portable. When's Sirius' true portable coming out?
And the reception problems with Sirius are well-known due to their lack of investment in repeaters. That's technology too and they spent more money on content then on their technology, that's why they're at least 2 years behind XM in that regard. Plus the type of sat orbits that Sirius uses doesn't help either.
So considering you're talking about Satellites, it is fucking rocket science, and Sirius hasn't figured that out yet, kinda like yourself.
"The Pioneer Inno that I have with me is pretty advanced and it's the 2nd generation portable. When's Sirius' true portable coming out?"
I know I am grasping at straws with this one but XM fans always complain about Sirius' name and hardware names. Is Inno even word. It is so stupid. Stilleto sounds better. And the Inno doesn't even look cool.
"And the reception problems with Sirius are well-known due to their lack of investment in repeaters. That's technology too and they spent more money on content then on their technology, that's why they're at least 2 years behind XM in that regard. Plus the type of sat orbits that Sirius uses doesn't help either."
Ah, the GPS sats are orbiting the same way Sirius's are are they not. Granted there are close to 32 of them as well. My GPS hardware never has a problem keeping a lock on 3 or more sats and I am moving. The arguement that a moving car can't lock onto a moving sat is stupid and the GPS proved this. If you can only lock on a stationary orbited sat then what are XM people doing sitting still?
"So considering you're talking about Satellites, it is fucking rocket science, and Sirius hasn't figured that out yet, kinda like yourself."
I don't see a merger between XM and Sirius happening. Thinking of only the up side of such a merger, there would be:
1. Double the bandwidth for better sound quality
2. Reduction of many stations that would be redundant
The downsides are too numerous to list, but have been talked about above.
If a merger happened, the best name would be XM -- Sirius is just a lousy name -- I know people that have it and still can't pronounce it.
I agree that one or both of the companies would be acquired by other media companies before a merger occurred. Would that be good? It all depends . . .
Funny how my sirius comes in loud and clear. Apparently content is more important then cd-quality sound or advanced hand-helds. How many subs last quarter? thought so
Sirius. Brightest star in the sky. The dog star.
Not hard to pronounce.
"Ah, the GPS sats are orbiting the same way Sirius's are are they not. Granted there are close to 32 of them as well. My GPS hardware never has a problem keeping a lock on 3 or more sats and I am moving."
Your GPS hardware is obviously better suited to receiving a signal from a constellation of 27 sats. That's a huge difference.
Sirius only has 3 and only 1 of them is guaranteed to be over the continental U.S. at any given point in time.
And the best you can come up with is about the name "Inno" being a word? So you buy things based on the name and not what it can do? During the Superbowl, do you root for the team with the prettiest helmet too?
If you used the "real word" argument in other industries, you'd look even more stupid than you already do.
Prius, Vonage, Altria, Exxon, Kodak, Lunestra, Avaya, Lucent, Incoria, Inspra, Aldara, etc. etc. etc. I don't see any real words in there either.
"Funny how my sirius comes in loud and clear. Apparently content is more important then cd-quality sound or advanced hand-helds. How many subs last quarter? thought so"
When a unit is large enough as the Sirius units, they better come in loud and clear.
Content? You're claiming XM doesn't have content? Oh, because it doesn't have Howard Stern? Okay, I guess you're right, no Howie means they have no content. I guess all those MLB games, Bob Dylan's show, Tom Petty's show, O&A, tons of college games from the Big10, ACC, Pac10 and Big East, NHL games, Artist Confidential, and other exclusive music series are just fluff.
You are a one-track boob.
There's more to life than Howie and the fact that I can listen to my content in high quality audio, with great reception from a nice compact handheld, makes me perfectly content with my decision to choose XM.
And since I'm not a stockholder or employee of XM, I could care less who had more subs last quarter, as long as they keep producing quality shows and INNOvating technology, that's what's important.
I am not the one that thought the stilleto was a stupid name. The xm camp is which you are a part of. Not saying you are the exact one that said it but it was still said.
No I do not buy products based on a name but I am not the one that slammed the stilleto and claimed the Inno was a better name. I merely made a point that an XM fan can say great things about the Inno but not the Stilleto based on a name alone.
"I am not the one that thought the stilleto was a stupid name. The xm camp is which you are a part of. Not saying you are the exact one that said it but it was still said."
So, do you often use useless generalizations in your arguments? Just keep digging that hole, you'll make it to China soon enough.
Man, the ice man a fucking dick. The proof of my arguement is the fact that sirius pounced xm in subs. NFL vs baseball, come on. Nascar vs NHL, come on. And we have NBA and college hoops tourney, let alone tons of college hoops and football.
So if i'm a one track boob, your a one track nipple. Maybe sirius' units were big 2 or 3 years ago but not now. And i never said xm didn't have content, i said it wasn't as good as sirius, hence the numbers, icenipple.
"..Funny how my sirius comes in loud and clear. Apparently content is more important then cd-quality sound or advanced hand-helds..."
Yeah. Ultimately, the average Joe could give a shit about superior hardware. If that were the case, XM would be trouncing Sirius right now since they clearly have much better hardware. All things being equal though, content seems to be most important.
"NFL vs baseball" ... Thanks for the laugh on that one.
So, how often are you in the car and not in front of a TV on a Sunday afternoon to listen to a football game on the radio?
"NASCAR vs. NHL" ... that's a push because there is nothing more ridiculous than listening to a car race or a hockey game on the radio.
Still, I didn't realize you knew all the other content on Sirius. I pegged you as having all your presets on Howie. Re-re-Retard.
And come on, you can't come up with anything better than ice-nipple.
*cricket *cricket *cricket
Hey dickpick, there are people who like Sirius and don't like XM, O&A or Howard Stern on here. Nobody and Nothing is perfect.
ah lets see
NBA , STERN , BUBBA , JAY THOMAS , PLAYBOY , MARTHA STEWART , MAXIM , JOAN JET , RED PETERS , NFL , TONY HAWK ,A MAN WHO HAS BEEN ABDUCTED BY ALIENS WHO FEELS THAT HE SHOULD BE PAID 5 MIL A YEAR , my sirius plug and play fits right in my pocket and i take it everywhere i go sirius content rules reception awesome.
Stern is tired, Bubba stinks, Playboy is a cast-off of XM's and was a terrible channel, NFL on radio is stupid (I almost made the mistake of buying Sirius for NFL) any local game is on regular radio, any playoff game is on regular radio and you're paying for only 16 games, how many are you even going to actually listen to? NASCAR is another XM cast-off. Car racing on the radio stinks. I'm a big NASCAR fan and never ever listen to that aweful station. My XM Helix fits right ion my pocket too and gets a live feed while it's in there. Sorry but Sirius is the little brother that gets his big brothers hand-me-downs.