XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

[FM]

The satellite radio providers will announce a "merger of equals" later today, ABC News has confirmed. Sirius chief Mel Karmazin will lead the new firm.

[thesightless]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

why would they let the sirius guy run the group? he fucked up sirius, to the point where XM is killing them.

[toasty]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

The merger would require regulatory approval as well as anti-trust scrutiny.

Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, reportedly said last month that a merger could not be approved under current FCC regulations.

Kinda wondered about this myself. Kinda hard to believe that this wouldn't be anti-competitive, so the antitrust lawyer in me thinks this is a horrible idea.

That said, as a user of both XM and Sirius, I'm pretty happy to hear about this, at least in theory. I've found that there are some things that Sirius does better, and some things that XM does better. I really hope they take the best of both worlds rather than just going with the programming from one or the other.

[Miroslav]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

hmmm maybe this will actually allow these guys to finally start making some profit...

[day_for_night]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

i don't think there is an anti-competition argument to be made, since its such a new line of business. once these two are merged, I can definitely see another media player getting involved, especially if the profitability materializes like it should. there aren't enough barriers to entry to keep people out for long...

[Technique 1220]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

Why would they want to come together i mean i could see XM buying them out.....

[toasty]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

i don't think there is an anti-competition argument to be made, since its such a new line of business. once these two are merged, I can definitely see another media player getting involved, especially if the profitability materializes like it should. there aren't enough barriers to entry to keep people out for long...

Well, that's not really the standard, though. Starting with the assumption that satellite radio is its own distinct market (which is not self-evident, BTW), this merger would represent the consolidation of an entire market in one player -- and a consolidation that occurs not because one player gets knocked out as a result of competition, but because the players have decided that it is better for them to combine efforts than compete.

If they want to get this through, they are going to have to convince the FTC that they compete in a broader market than just competing against one another -- which is a bit of a tough sell, IMO -- or that the barriers to entry are so low that additional competition in the satellite radio market is imminent.

Remember that DirecTV and Dish -- which actually compete with cable as well and are therefore in a broader market than Sirius and XM -- have tried to merge on at least one occasion in the past, and that merger was blocked because of the likely anticompetitive impact. It is, at a minimum, something that you can expect regulators to look at really hard.

[Lorn]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

Not interested.

[supaz]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

Agreed. Not interested. It's a great way to lose money if you're a shareholder.

[Nigel Harkness]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

I think it is great for the Sirius & XM users alike because as a subscriber you get the content of both providers for the same price, I am a Sirius subscriber and am excited for this.

[88Mariner]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

it's not a monopoly.

[toasty]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

it's not a monopoly.

please elaborate

[toasty]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

I think it is great for the Sirius & XM users alike because as a subscriber you get the content of both providers for the same price, I am a Sirius subscriber and am excited for this.

Yeah, I really hope it works out this way. Like I said earlier, I like Sirius for some things and XM for others. Would be great to just have one service that has it all...

[jeffrey collins]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

I just wish I could get back to listening to XM80 when I want. Tons of great shows on there. Def Mix, Thump Radio, D:Fuse Show. and a bunch of others...i guess i'll have to get Directv again.

[toasty]

Re: XM & Sirius Satellite Radios To Merge

approved

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/24/siriusxm-merger-gets-fed_n_93133.html