Sirius and XM merger approved by FCC, extreme partying commences
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jul 25th 2008 11:30PM
posted Jul 25th 2008 11:30PM
In a somewhat unsurprising move, the FCC has approved the merger of Sirius and XM after protracted -- and incredibly boring -- multi-year negotiations. The Federal Communication Commission decided tonight to allow a deal that will bring the two satellite radio providers together, creating a combined subscriber base of roughly 18 million users. The deal isn't without catches, however, with the Commission stating that the companies must cap prices for three years following the merger, allow subscriber choice on content, and lower fees for channel packages. FCC head Kevin Martin seemed pleased with the final outcome, stating, "Consumers will get to enjoy the best of the programming on both services." You know who wasn't so stoked? Clear Channel.
This is great. I love my Sirius :)
@ jason
Stop putting that video link in all your posts. Just because your parents don't love you doesn't mean you have to waste our time.
time for me to buy some X-Sirius
OOO that sounds yummy!
Don't you mean SiriuX?
Yes! Just in time for NFL season. But what will the name be? SiriusX? XMius? Microhoo? :-P
You my friend, have just become a part of the exclusive "Epic Fail" Club. Please, step right this way to redeem your prize...
About fucking time. It's really a travesty that it took this long. It just goes to show that the ammount of fighting that went on, the ridiculous restrictions, and the massive ammount of money spent by the lobbyist from the NAB, go to show that terrestrial radio is a black hole of uninteresting, uninspired, bland, lame DJ stunting crap.
God bless America, and fuck the NAB, ClearChannel, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
Yes yes it is all very exciting, but what will it do for my stock prices?
I'm just surprised by the amount of "m's"
@TopaZ
The satellite spectrum is regulated, just like cell phones and everything else. The FCC set up the direct broadcast audio spectrum in the late 1980s with the idea that there would be 2 bands available, 1 for each of the two companies that would be in competition with each other.
The only real mistake I see is that the FCC didn't specify a transmission standard, so that XM radios don't work with Sirius' system and vice versa. I have a feeling that sat radio would have been much more popular if they would have specified a standard, so that consumers weren't tied to a specific company just because the factory installed stereo couldn't receive the other one. See also: The US mobile phone industry.
@Eric:
The frequencies assigned to satellite radio are 2.310 to 2.360, which is enough room for MORE THAN TWO transmissions. Not to mention, when the hardware merge is complete XM and Sirius will consolidate into one frequency, leaving yet another one open for a competitor to potentially enter the market.
Thus, we have a "circumstantial monopoly," which means only one company HAPPENS to be in the market at the time, which is the polar opposite of a regulatory monopoly, where only one company is ALLOWED to be in the market.
@TopaZ: They're not making them give up any spectrum, but as it is now, each of them has 1/4 of the allotted SDARS spectrum, so (albeit unlikely) there's still space for another competitor.
this means my Sirius stock will go up right?
Depends when you bought it. If before any wind of a possible merger then maybe.
hello monopoly
in the end, consumers will ultimately pay the price. The price cap will expire and there will be no competition, no options, and a lethargic monopolist more than willing to take your money. This is exactly what the FCC is in place to protect us from. This is a sad day.
They still have to make their product desirable for the 99% of Americans that don't have satellite radio, and they still have to compete with the similar services of traditional radio, HD radio, and online radio. That should keep the prices low.
just because there will be one unified sat radio company doesnt mean there is no other competition. they still have to compete with free services like am, fm, and also HD radio. not to mention streaming radio and daps. i have a couple friends who just bluetooth streaming radio from their phone to their car stereos. personally i just bluetooth my mp3s to the car. sat has to compete with all these other forms of audio entertainment, most of which dont require monthly subscriptions.
and @Josh:
For the 17th time, a monopoly is CONTROL of exclusivity. Cable television, for instance, where no one is ALLOWED to run cable in your neighborhood except your designated carrier.
Any company in the world could launch a satellite tomorrow and join the satellite radio market.
Your a idiot. Its competition is FM, and online streaming radio. Both free by the way.
Josh, you're an idiot.
Explain how this is a monopoly, is satellite radio somehow stealing my cds via mini UFO's. What about FM, AM, HD radio, and mp3s? Do those all just disappear with this merger?
Get off your anti-capitalism high horse and grow a set.
Oh, and Travis, what I said applies to you too.
to all who are saying this isn't a monopoly.... you aren't getting it. It is. You keep referencing AM/FM/HD Radio and mp3's.... but you're missing the point. Most people who have XM/Sirius have it so they can listen to other things besides what you can get elsewhere. My mother for example listens to ALL the MLB games (which is the reason I got her XM), she also listens to the old time radio shows, Martha Stewart, etc etc.... So tell me, how can she get that from a competitor without satellite? What about all the people who like Howard Stern? Or the truck drivers who drive cross country and like listening to their 3 or favorite channels? Where's their alternative?
@Dave
umm those truckers and your mom can do exactly what they did before satellite. you gotta pay to play, communist! Stern is not a right. I used to listen to him on my local radio before he made the switch... now i'm just as happy listening to O&A, i.e. there are options!
Dave, by your thinking, DirecTV is a monopoly because I can't watch the learn your DirectTV remote channel anywhere else. Or a cable company is a monopoly because I can't watch their On Demand channels anywhere else.
Where can she get MLB? Online probably? TV? At the ballpark? Martha Stewart? Howard Stern? They chose to put their show on there. The service isn't monopolizing, maybe you just have channels you like who only broadcast to them. Complain to those channels, not to the service.
And further, by your thinking, was Sirius not already monopolizing because it was the only place you could listen to Howard Stern? Or XM because it was the only sat radio with MLB? You can't argue that the other sat radio service was their competition, because now you're back to services, and terrestrial radio/CDs/MP3 players are your competition again.
at traffic... Im not a communist you retard. Im all for free markets dumbass. But I like having choices. And no I dont think Stern is a right... I dont even like him. Right now I do Pay to play... but When there is no alternative, you have a monopoly.
at Andrew.... way to miss the point. XM and Siruis big draw is in the auto arena. If it was just at home then hell yes, there are a ton of alternatives. But now that you've removed the "choices" for satellite in your car, it is a monopoly. And your analogy about cable tv and dish is moronic at best. The exact point that Im trying to make is that you can pick which service is best for you because of what features/channels/price you like. Well.. guess what? with this merger you do not get to choose anymore. Its the SAME as when the FCC blocked dish and direct tv from merging.
Im tired of typing.... http://www.xmsiriusmonopoly.org/
josh... oh dear josh...where to begin...
well let's just say.
Thank you!!!
People like me feel smarter when people like you type on keyboards.
Thanks again!!!
i'll see how it works out... i currently subscribe 5 units - if anything happens to opie and anthony / ron and fez - that number will deteriorate rapidly!
Babba Booey to y'all
Exactly.
And a Fla Fla Flo-hi to you, sir
Can I now purchase the xm service that was free in my accord for 3 months and get both sirius and xm service? I have sirius at home and think it has a better channel lineup. would like to have the sirius channels in my car. anyone know?
With Honda owning 10% of XM, I'd like to see what happens in the Honda's as well.
this is good stuff...now after they merge how about some high resolution audio.... id totally go for that...
I was just thinking the same thing! How about half the channels at twice the sound quality? Something about listening to music that sounds like an mp3 ripped for napster circa 1999 that eventually made me cancel my XM account. That and paying for programming that has commercials. And offering quantity over quality. Yes, our three chief weapons are...
anyone know if they are straight up combining the two companies and getting rid of or combining stations that are alike (shade45 in favor of 66Raw, for example) or are they goin to allow people to get programming from both Sirius and XM? I used to have Sirius, but I got a new car and now have XM, and there are channels on both that I like that are similar but I'd rather not have to get rid of one channel for the other.
Shouldn't it be Xtreme partying? Would totally have been the way to announce it back when this whole, protracted affair began.
Wow, it only took a year and a half to "permit" the flow of free enterprise! Better late than never.
At what price does SIRI close on Monday???
Finally, we all can get MLB, NFL, Stern, and all other XM and Sirius hotness without 2 subscriptions.
As a Sirius subscriber, I am excited to know that I will soon be able to listen to MLB broadcasts.
I still think you guys get the better end of the deal....Think about it, you Sirius guys get MLB broadcasts out of this, while we get plagued with HOWARD STERN. >_>
Of course, we've HAD the broadcasts, but still...
I haven't seen any ala carte, lists that allow customers of either XM or Sirius to pick the sports from the other (so that one could purchase all the sports). Any one?
"while we get plagued with HOWARD STERN. >_>"
Plagued with the King of All Media, and the greatest radio broadcaster of all time? Oh, poor you.
The King of What? Hoo Hoo Howie has been on cruise control for, what, a decade?
Stern blows. That other commenter is right, the Sirius subscribers come out ahead on this deal.
This was the only way satellite radio could survive so more power to them.
There, fixed that for ya:
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/6715/xmsirrecompgd2.gif
WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!
woah wait ahhh that means i have to wait probably a year before they finalize the merger then wait some more for alpine to make a dual radio for both signals ahhhhrrrrggggghhh the humanity!
Software updates will be issued through satellite feeds so you have to do nothing but wait.
Does "suscriber choice on content" mean a la carte pricing? As a student, I can't justify the ~$13 bucks a month if I'm only going to listen to one to two music channels only on occasion when I want to try to discover new music for my iPod, but a sigficantly lower price via a la carte could definitely get me to bite.
I, for one, welcome our new satellite radio overlord.
so, whats the deal with dual-network radios? do we need to buy new ones or what?
Software updates will be issued through satellite feeds so you have to do nothing but wait.
The dog looks like it's farting a big XM cloud.
Duh!
Since the companies now have a combined listenership of 18 million and must dedicate more programming to minorities, does this mean Riley Martin will get paid more than $400 an episode?
Uhhhh, you see, of course. O-Qua Tangin Wann.
Q'wanza Lagi Wann
I'm sure KEVIN Martin will get his usual big bribes from both companies. Er, I mean campaign donations! Heh heh.
@ LC An intangible vibration from a Beovian civilization.
@Artie Lange The Targzissians are obviously reptilian.
I wonder what will happen to the Dish Network/Sirius & DirecTV/XM offerings- will they do away with them completely? Stay as is? Provide both music lineups? (hah- yea right)
I hope we (Dish peeps) get to acquire XM channels. The Sirius channels are nice to have, but my XM radio has some stuff I'd like on Dish too.
The Dish/DTV merger, now more than ever, should be re-evaluated too.
Hey RIAA! Yea you, you weasely SOBs. Thanks for standing on the sidelines watching us bleed hundreds of millions while this travesty took place. We only created another "clean" avenue for peddling your wares. We only helped you break the clear channel strangle hold. Before us all you had was Clear Channel, Job-O the Hut Syndicate, Warez Pirates and Torrent ghosts. Yea thanks. You owe us MOTHER F'ERS! So "pay us for the rhymes (dimes and time) you stole from us!
What's up with calling someone an idiot because you don't agree with another individual's perfectly respectable opinion?
I also happen to agree. Part of the FCCs job is to make sure that there is enough competition out there so that our best interests are being served. Sure, there are other competitors outside of satellite radio, but these are the only two in this particular field, and nothing really competes with that market right now.
Local stations are too few too little varied to compete (the FCC also made sure of this by deregulating mass station acquisitions of stations by mega corporations), and no Internet streaming or cell phone service can compete with the service in the mobile and automobile markets.
So yeah, I also think this was a bad idea, and not necessarily in our best interests. On the other hand, this will strengthen the combined company and eliminate any compatibility issues. But I think these issues could have been accomplished in more consumer-friendly ways. At least picking a satellite radio service will be an easy task now.
I'm hoping for the best, but I'm not entirely sure this is such a great thing.
This XM merger is Sirius business.
It's not very exclusive. I see 20 douchebags a day on here join.
It's about time! Finally, something to simplify my life. Instead of two competing services that I had no interest in paying for, there's now only one that I have no interest in paying for.
Government sucks!
How about they try that a la carte bullshit with cable companies, I'd like to see them try that stunt.
Taking the only two competitors and letting them merge into one just does not seem to be good for consumers. They claimed their biggest competitors was land wave radio, ipods, etc... but that is just fluff. If they would not have spent money on overinflated hosts they might have been able to turn a profit by earning it. Instead they burnt capital like crazy and they whined for a monopolistic merger. I would much rather see multiple competitors (in this case the only two) keeping each other honest than a single source.
Oh well, let's see how things go after the mandated protection times cool off. Let the inflating begin!
"They claimed their biggest competitors was land wave radio, ipods, etc... but that is just fluff."
Hardly. It was probably their strongest argument . I don't know about you, but I only listen to one form of entertainment at a time. If there is nothing on Sattelite that I care to listen to at a particular moment, I will choose to listen to music or podcasts I have recorded. At that moment the iPod competed with my Sirius and won. The same is true if I listen to a broadcast baseball game over my iPod or Sirius.
Now let's say, for example, the merger failed. The most likely scenario is that either XM or Sirius would go out of business. Now you would have what YOU define as a monopoly, only without the stipulations of this current deal. No rate freeze, no ala carte, less programming, less choice. Tell me how the consumer benefits from this?
Signing big name contracts is the only thing that increased subscribers. Sattelite had around 3 million subscribers around 3 years ago. Today it's 18 million. Now that the merger will go through, they can save costs in bidding wars for content, less in advertising against each other and channel consolidation.
The NAB whined that the merger was bad for consumers, but maintained their interest was altruistic, because they were not in competition. Thankfully the Dept. of justice and majority of the FCC saw through their transparent lies and approved it.
I'd have to agree there really is no monopoly with this merger. I was just thinking the other day that I that I already own two competing products in one in the form of an iPod Touch. Now that Internet radio is tangible on this device, why would I pay for satilite? Unless you really desire radio personalities such as Howard Stern, there really isn't much reason to go with satilite unless you travel a lot. However if I'm going to travel, I'm just going to listen to my iPod anyway. In my world satilite radio barely exists.
heres the low down on the merger. first off you need to realize that current XM and sirius units cannot physically recieve the others signal. next, now that the merger is complete you will not see any changes to anything for atleast a year. they are using the first year to get the companies reorganized efficiently. they as of now have no plans to ever come under one name they will still be XM and Sirius for a long time. you wont be able to get content from the other untill they start making units capable of recieving both signals, which again will be a year down the road at the earliest. that have already announced new pricing plans that will go into effect around a year down the road, such as 6.99 for 50 music channels of your choice etc. http://www.siriusmerger.com/uploads/FINAL_New_Package_Release_7-23-07.pdf see this pdf for all the details.
heres the low down on the merger. first off you need to realize that current XM and sirius units cannot physically recieve the others signal. next, now that the merger is complete you will not see any changes to anything for atleast a year. they are using the first year to get the companies reorganized efficiently. they as of now have no plans to ever come under one name they will still be XM and Sirius for a long time. you wont be able to get content from the other untill they start making units capable of recieving both signals, which again will be a year down the road at the earliest. that have already announced new pricing plans that will go into effect around a year down the road, such as 6.99 for 50 music channels of your choice etc. http://www.siriusmerger.com/uploads/FINAL_New_Package_Release_7-23-07.pdf see this pdf for all the details.
slight correction to what i said earlier. at some point in time you will be able to get a mix of programing of both on current single band radios but when that will be and what choices you will have is anybodys guess. they will have to squeeze content from one providers satellites to the others.
Here comes the Fail Dozer!
Ron & Fez - Noon to 3 - XM 202
Here comes the Fail Dozer!
Ron & Fez - Noon to 3 - XM 202
I am the King of All Media!!!
I like XM and listen to Ethel when I'm home visiting. Hopefully Sirius has something similar.
The only question I have is what this means for my little XM radio in my car. Is programming changing or whatever? I think I will take a trip over to the XM website right about now.
Pfft, whatever! These FCC requirements are going to be more like suggestions, judging from the "open" wireless spectrum that was recently auctioned off to Verizon.
why should the fcc protect us against the monopolistic merger of this type??? the fda cant protect us from sick jalapenos, and the best thing th white house can do to protect our kids from drugs is build a chain link fence between us and mexico....hey, "I" certainly didnt vote for Bush...I never asked for this level of incompetency, fraud, oh shit...the list goes on....
I knew this merger would be Bush's fault somehow. :-)
If Opie and Anthony are gone I won't be a subscriber. That's the ONLY reason I'd want XM for. If they take away the oldschool rap channels of Sirius I'd be upset as well. That's the only reason I want Sirius.
I Agree if O&A our of XM I will be so pissed along with Ron and Fez!!!
Frrrrrruuuunnnnkkkkeeeessss!!!!
Also what is the new name/logo
Yes.
Woo, finally, it took you guys a year.
Waaaaaay to long.