Shawn's Blog

a hair-band lovin', techni-junkie's banter about… whatever.

Sirius & XM Merger?

Posted on | February 20, 2007 | No Comments

After months of speculation, it was announced yesterday that Sirius and XM Satellite Radio companies plan to merge.  Am I happy?  Hell, no.  While this could bring some good things to satellite radio, I was quite happy with the way things were.  I have listened to XM radio online, and to be honest, I didn’t like it nearly as much as I like Sirius.  One of my biggest concerns is that the channels I listen to regularly will be messed with.

I am pretty much assured that the Stern channels will remain unchanged, but the music channels I listen to all have similar format channels on the XM provider as well.  There is no  doubt in my mind that the channels will be merged at some point, as there is no sense having duplicate stations on 1 provider. I can get past the channel combining, as I tend to be resistant to change at first. 

What really bothers me about the deal is this:

XM radio receivers can’t receive signals from Sirius, and vice versa. But officials with the companies said they are working on a receiver that could receive both signals.

In the meantime, they said, the companies would be able to make other arrangements to bring programming that’s currently exclusive to one provider to listeners of the other, such as getting Major League Baseball games, currently only on XM, to Sirius listeners.

I have 2 receivers, a Sirius Starmate & a Sirius Sportster 4 Replay. Are these going to be useless?  Will the combined channels be broadcast on both satellite providers so current XM & Sirius customers will not need to buy new units?  Hopefully XM & Sirius have thought about this, because as much as I love my Sirius radio, if I am forced to buy a new receiver, and not be able to use my old receivers, I’d be more likely to cancel my subscription. 

The FCC in the US has stated already that they would not allow the merger:

The deal faces substantial obstacles in Washington, including a Federal Communications Commission provision that specifically forbids the two companies to combine.

Analysts have noted that the FCC could change the rule, but in a statement late Monday FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that the “hurdle” would be “high” to prove that the deal would be in the public interest.

At this point, I’m sort of hoping the FCC does block the merger. More details should be emerging today that may change my mind.

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