There's alot more to it than that! Sirius and XM are in a feeble market, they may end up needing each other just to survive...
I never thought about it like that. I thought the market was a little more stable. I think it's iffy at best but maybe just maybe a merger will work.
I've totally changed my mind from a year ago and now think this merger is necessary. Even then, it's still questionable the merged entity can become a significant player in the market. I'm not sure satellite radio will ever be anything more than a niche market. We're still happy with our one XM receiver, but we now have 2 iPods and I can see another couple of them in our household before we get another satellite radio receiver. Satellite radio is going to get squeezed in the middle between terrestrial radio and MP3 players/phones. But maybe the merger will at least make the small niche a profitable one.
Just saw a headline on Fox News saying this merger has been approved by the Justice Department. Wonder how long till we start seeing changes from the service and what changes will be made. Edit: Here is the link ... http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/...tment-gives-siriusxm-merger-ok_530362_15.html
Oddly enough I was looking at this this morning. I hadn't heard anything for a while and was wondering the status. All I could find at the time was that 2 weeks ago they were saying an announcement would be made by the end of the month. I did read though that they had not announced any finalized service changes. The last things mentioned were that most services would remain as is for now since the two companies used different technologies. They did talk about some companies developing receivers that would work with both. I would be ecstatic if somehow I could start getting MLB on my Sirius radio.
I cancelled my Sirius subscription about 2 weeks ago. I had a free subscription for 2 receivers since last October. How? Everytime I tried to cancel they gave me free service. I finally refused free service and they offered to put my account on hold for 5 months. I told them no thanks. When I first got Sirius, I lived out of state and wanted to listen to Longhorns games (UT broadcast). Then I got hooked on Howard Stern. The music wasn't bad either. UT went to XM. I tired of Howard Stern. I didn't listen to it enough to justify paying. I'll see if my receiver works on the way home. It should have been deactivated.
I use XM....love it love it love it... But glad they are merging, I need to re-up my 3 month free subscription. Link to endgadget article about FCC approval DD
With respect to the merger, will an XM radio be able to receive from a Sirius "satellite" (or vice-versa)? In other words, will current radios be obsolete?
1. Probably not. 2. Probably not. My guess is they'll combine the music channels and add a few channels for the unique programming each one brings and then broadcast that over whatever system you currently have while trying to migrate new customers to new equipment. I picked Sirius because their sats are not in geosynchronus orbit (like XM) and thus you have a better shot at the sky than having to pick your signal up from down near the equator. This is important when driving in mountains and canyons. Sirius has 3 sats that rotate across North America, so there's always one more or less overhead.
I have Sirius in my car and the Stiletto 2 with home dock for the office. I get great reception in the car, but 1 out of 5 days in the office I can barely even get a signal. Nothing like hearing a good segment on Howard Stern and then getting an "aquiring signal" on the Stiletto. It happened this morning, and it was clear and sunny.
According to Sirius's merger website http://www.siriusmerger.com/ , the current receivers will not be obsolete and they will be using the current satellites for both systems for "years to come". Pricing is actually expected to go down or stay the same for what you currently have and apparently paying a little more will get you some of the stations from the other company. Still not sure how it will affect sports programing though.
Satellite radio is one of those things that seemed like an useless gimmick at first, but now I can't live without it. The music stations are sooooooooo much better than anything on FM radio
I'm curious whats going to happen to my lifetime subscription that I signed 4 years ago. Its already paid for itself.
honestly, i don't think anyone really knows or has a great explanation. obviously, the 1 company running satellite radio but it's not as if satellite radio doesn't compete with TONS of other media and technology. i am just glad it is going thru finally. i love having sirius and now i will be able to get mlb from xm.
As long as this doesn't screw me out of being able to listen to Opie & Anthony. O&A PARTY ROCK!!!!!!!!! Stern sucks.
