Well for those that always had the internet in their phones it's just going to be a free service through NewMunduRadio. BTW MobiTV can be cool at times too though.

 

you can't go wrong with a treo, but who would you guys recommend if I was going to go out and buy sat radio tommorow, which I'm not going to, but if I would, who would you choose?

 

There are some similarities between the two to make the decision easier.

Both XM and Sirius tend to play the same set of songs over and over. It is not as bad as radio and some of the stations have times where they play live sets, others songs from the album, mixes, etc, things that radio does not do.

Quality is pretty close together as well.

The difference is int he content. Take a free 3 day trial for both and see which has the content you prefer. That makes it nice and easy to choose.

Ninja edit: I have both services, Sirius for 1 and a half years on my old car and still has it because my fiance drives it. I had XM since it came 3 months free on my tC and I just renewed 3 months. Both have the good and both lack something. Rhis is one reason I applaud the merge to become Xirius (that should be their new name).

 

FCC still has to approve this merger. also they have to appeal the monopoly law to FCC, they will ask FCC and SEC to change the rule on monopolies.

 

The hardest part will be the monopoly law and dealing with the FCC

 

Damn this could be cool, I might have to sign back up...

 

few issues i picked up on with the Q&A session yesterday morning.

they are comparing sat. to ipods...not even close in my book.

they are saying they are different than sat tv. because sat tv has other pay services to compete against (cable and now fios). well, siruis and xm compete against music channels on cable subscriptions.

also they kept bringing up the new price point...of 26.00 (the price of siruis and xm monthlys) and how nothing compares to this.
well i hate this last part the most. i see them joining and rasing prices to 20-ish...right now i get monthly service on xm for 6.95 a month, not even close to thier 26 buck claims...



last part that will be interesting to watch is the equipment. these two systems were designed to never be compatable. designed to be as different as poss. now they are going to be merged...gonna love watching the early products (just hope the xm designers do it rather than the siruis group...have you seen their current units?)

 

i heard with monopolys that once they become a monopoly (no competitors) that they have to price their products and true cost of manufacturing n ____

 

I think this is better for the consumer. One entity making satelite radio what it could be. I'll be signing up when all the goodness gets straightened out. I'm just thinking: better coverage, Traffic & Stern, all sports, etc. The list goes on & on.

And if they want an extra couple bucks, I won't mind. If it is worth it, I have no problem paying. Honestly, who doesn't blow $5 between vending machines and lost change in a month?

 

Maybe it should be called Skynet. I am sure that the government is all behind merger anyway. It is just a way to track everyone from place to place.


But then again, maybe they are just paying Stern too much. That dude made a dump load. It should be fun to watch what happens.

 

i was thinking about getting XM soon... but if they drop O&A b/c of Howie and that head douche at sirius... im not getting it...

 

The deal will not go through for AT LEAST 7 months. XM lets you pay 3 months at a time so you would not have to worry about getting screwed.

And even when they do merge, I suspect that they will not just change their broadcast way because it would be almost impossible for them change the format but have current radios continue to work. The worst thing they could do is crap on the 12million subscribers they already have. They have to allow current users the use of current equipment, but make the changes on new equipment and phase out the old stuff.

Basically, uoi should not need to worry about programming until they do a complete merge.

 

thats exactly what they discussed in the Q&A session...
they will not be dropping either platform for at least 10years. as there are current users that rely on those devices.
the deal (if allowed) will happen around Oct this year.
and O & A being the number 1 station on XM...i doubt they will go anywhere...the real question comes with will they be allowed to continue the reg. radio brodcasts they currently do...and will that allow Howard to come back to free air radio too...

 

I will have to wait for the merger before I sign up now. I hope it goes.

Also, do you guys/gals think HD Radio has something to do with this . . .

 

its all about Sirius 27, Hard Attack!!!!!! \m/

 

Sometimes it's good to be an existing customer. They may offer perks to those that are signed up already. They don't want to loose anyone.

When the increased the monthly fee to 12.95, they left the old amount 9.95 to existing "valued customers."

Like my old Tivo that has a lifetime subscription, no monthly fee.

 

I don't see the FCC or SEC standing in the way. It's going to come down to the companies merging, or both companies struggling to stay alive. And the merger wouldn't create a "monopoly" anyway. Satellite radio competes with regular radio, HD radio AND other forms of audio entertainment, just like cruise ships compete with land resorts, amusement parks, and all sorts of other vacation destinations, so even if you owned every cruise ship in the world you wouldn't have a monopoly. (And that's pretty much what the SEC decided when Carnival bought Princess Cruises a few years back, taking control of more than half of the cruise industry.)

But I digress. You have to consider how much debt both of these companies have. The company I work for builds small satellites (as in ~2000 lbs, 5MW power range)and we're talking in the $100M price range. And one of our primary market strategies is low cost with quick turnaround because we have our process so streamlined. I suspect that XM's and Sirius' satellites cost more than that. They each have multiple satellites (off the top of my head, I'm thinking XM has 2 on orbit and Sirius has 3, and each has a spare on the ground). That's some serious cash! And that doesn't include everything else that went into it... millions for launch services, ground support systems, etc. And let's not overlook the huge amounts of money spent on programming - what is Sirius paying Howard? Like $500M over the life of his contract?

Also figure, although I don't know many specifics about thier satellites, ours are typically designed for 15 year missions, which is longer than average. Considering that Sirius has $1.07B in debt and XM has $1.29B, Sirius needs roughly 5.5 million subscribers and XM needs roughly 6.6 million subscribers per year to break even in 15 years! Let's just say neither one is off to a very good start.

 

a little faulty logic...

AT&T was broken up for it being a monopoly, but it had to compete with letters and homing pigeons and smoke signals...

that sounds just as silly as comparing Sat. radio to HD radio, regular radio and other forms of audio entertainment.

sat. radio is a pay for service...regular radio is free.

carnival cruise buying princess does not even come close to this. it did not create a monopoly...it created a majority. there are other cruise lines.

when XM and Siruis were launched, the laws were written expressly to prohibit there from being only one company. (thus mo merger poss.)
the only way they could merge, is if a third company starts up.

i don't mind if the merge or not...i've chosen my provider and like the service i pay for.
i also don't care if they both struggle to exist and one or both go belly up.
but the comparing sat. radio to other things is silly. it was/is a new thing, thus new laws written to handle it. if it was the same, then there would not be any issues.

 

I'm not familiar with any particular law that was written in response to XM and Sirius, so I can't really speak to that. But what I was saying about satellite radio competing with other forms of audio entertainment wasn't really clear. I meant to point out that people don't *just* listen to satellite radio (or terrestrial radio for that matter) in their cars. Other forms of "audio entertainment" that I was referring to might be internet radio, or even the crappy music channels that come with some cable/satellite TV services. Just because you can't listen to them (easily) in your car, doesn't mean they aren't market competitors.

I should be more careful in my use of 'monopoly' since it does imply exclusive control of a market such as to , but the US anti-trust laws do prohibit majority control of a market to the point that it makes possible the control or manipulation of prices. In that sense, the cruise industry is in fact quite similar to that of satellite radio, because it raises the question of where to draw the boundaries of "the market". But what the SEC has determined in the case of Carnival is that 'cruising' does not count as a market since there is viable competition in other forms of vacation travel. I am simply speculating that they will take the same stance and decide that satellite radio does have ample competition in regular radio, HD radio, internet radio, yadda yadda yadda... that XM and Sirius joining forces will not result in a "monopoly".

Nobody is forcing anyone to listen to satellite radio or nothing. You can pay their $13/ month for premium service, or you can listen to standard radio for free. If they raise it to $130/ month, you can still listen to standard radio for free. That's all I was getting at.

 

Why is that silly? You're saying they aren't competitors... how aren't they? They both provide radio services. XM and Sirius have to provide the very best of programming to compete with terrestrial free radio. Terrestrial free radio has been shaking in their boots over satellite radio. They are competitors... completely. Terrestrial and satillite are also competitors with I-pod and internet radio.

XM and Sirius merging would not be a monopoly. As Mel Carmazan and others have compared this to cable television. When you go to get service... how many companies do you have to choose from? Most people have only one company. What's good about that at least is that with that ONE company, you can get ABC, NBC, CBS and basically almost all the same stations as every other cable company in America. Right now, if you want to listen to Baseball on your satillite radio, you have to have XM. If you want to listen to Football or Nascar, you have to have Sirius. It benefits the consumer to have these companies merge and that is basically the major concern that the FCC will have to decide on... is it good for the consumer.