Sirius acquires XM, forms Sirius XM Radio, pop the cork: it's done
By Joshua Fruhlinger 
posted July 29th 2008 3:07PM
posted July 29th 2008 3:07PM
So, it's done: Sirius has completed its acquisition of XM, forming Sirius XM Radio with more than 18.5 million subscribers, making it the second-largest radio business in the US. The new company, headquartered in New York, expects to save about $400 million in 2009 while earning $300 million. If you're a drooling investor, don't go charging up to the champagne room just yet -- analysts are pointing out that neither company has ever posted a profit, and losses are in the billions. Anyway, can we move on to all the new, shiny Sirius XM receivers now, please?
Mel Karmazin will be on the Howard Stern Show tomorrow morning to take questions and shed some more light on the changes.
From the press release it says you will not have to buy a new radio but it looks like you will have to upgrade your subscription to get the combined service.
Howard and a couple music channels, the ones that don't play the same thing over and over and over, i.e. Area 33, are the reason SAT radio can get out of this and become succesfull. But on the other side: commerical free? listen to ESPN radio: 5 minutes of talk, 15 minutes of only mexican soccer talk. Unique, different? Listen to Universo Latino. I get the same song 10 times a day, and all popular, mainstream songs.
The content was supposed to be different, unique, etc. To me, they program the channels like they still are under the record labels payroll.
Don't know about XM, but Sirius only claims for their music to be commercial free. Except for station identification, every music channel I've listened to is commercial free. I've heard XM plays commercials on their music channels, but I don't know if that's true. On the talk and news stations there are quite a lot of commercials, but that may be because they aren't wholly owned Sirius stations. Sirius doesn't own ESPN, for instance, so it may be in their contract that ESPN gets to play commercials or it may be to offset some of the cost of licensing.
As far as originality, it'll depend on your tastes. I like 60s and 70s rock primarily and they have quite a few good ones that really introduced me to a lot of stuff I'd never heard before, but eventually, and naturally, it became repetitive.
Why So Sirius?
Marketing people suck. Instead naming the new company xirius and maybe moving some of the xm's waves to the front of the dog to make it look like the dog is barking, they go with sirius xm and just throw the two logos together. [ Easy on the eyes, light of the tongue. (sarcasm) ]
But on the positive side, good news all around; O&A + Hoo Hoo + sirius reggae and xm's rock stations.
Now if someone would just get to work on the iPhone app ...
Pandora, AOL Radio, et al, are great as far as they go, but I hate carrying both my iPhone and Stiletto around.
There is already an iPhone app for jailbroken iPhones not running the 2.0 firmware, so once they start to get that stuff ported over to the new firmware, you should be in business.
Check out details here:
http://www.millardsoftware.com/content/usirius-iphone-edition-beta-v62
-Taylor
They should have just partnered up in the beginning.
Do you think a 3rd satellite radio provider will ever come out?
www.siriusmerger.com
www.xmmerger.com
both hardware is compatible with the others service. spoke with sirius today, they said you will be able to use xm radio to switch to sirius or vice versa. Also the new plan for 16 bills will get you 100 xm and 100 sirius channels. and vehicles with built in xm will be able to switch to sirius. this will all happen this fall
So is that there official logo? The farting dog?
the real question is - what happens to all the sirius lifetime subscribers (like me) and our "3 radio transfers"?? i would certainly hope that one of my radio transfers isnt used up when i buy my new receiver thats xm/siri capable!
How did Sirius take XM?
XM is / was better anyway.
0+0+0=0. This merger can't save what proved to be a mistaken concept. Subscription broadcast radio and yes Sat. radio is broadcast radio. Evidently the average radio radio listener isn't unsatisfied with the traditional radio, to the point, they are ready pay for an alternative. Perhaps if Sat. radio offered programming à la carte, it would attract more users. Of course that would mean Howard Sterns and other programming will live or die by the number of actual listeners they attract, a novel idea, huh? Failing trying à la carte or if à la carte is tried and fails, you can expect the Sat. providers experimenting with limited program sponsorship, AKA advertising. Sat. radio may be the 4/8 track of radio.
did we get a la carte out of this deal? when will we start seeing more minority programming?
From http://www.siriusmerger.com/uploads/Sirius_Channel_Lineup.pdf:
2 A La Carte options:
A La Carte I* - Pick your own 50 - $6.99/mo (additional channels @ $.25 each)
A La Carte II* - Pick your own 100 - $14.99
*Available only for subscribers using next generation receivers who select channels via the internet
I'm all about hopping on the A La Carte I, personally...
what is this next generation junk? Will my current radio not do a la carte?
No idea... couldn't find much reference to this "next generation" information much of anywhere.
From http://www.siriusmerger.com
We guarantee no radio will become obsolete. Your current radio will continue to provide you with the programming you enjoy, whether you keep your current service or change to a new subscription plan.
also:
Today, fans of satellite radio must purchase two radios and two subscriptions to get all the program offerings of both SIRIUS and XM. If our merger is approved, the combined company will offer consumers the best of each service on your current radio - at a price well below the cost of the two services today.
Subscribers will not have to buy new radios to receive a mix of programming from both services, according to the companies. But if they want to pursue a special pay-per-channel a la carte option, they will need new sets.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080726/ap_on_go_ot/fcc_xm_sirius
There is also supposed to be a three year price freeze imposed by the FCC.
I AM NOT HAPPY WITH WHAT SIRIUS HAS DONE WITH THE PROGRAMING. FIRST OF ALL YOU MUST UNDER STAND WHO IS PAQYING THE SUBSCIPTION, YOU TOOK NASCAR, THEN YOU TOOK COUNTRY DAN, AMERICA CHANEL, THEN DAVE NEMO, CUT AN HOUR FROM HIM, WHICH IS THE MOST INFORMATIVE TRUCKING PROGRAM ON SATILITE RADIO, PUT SOME CRAP ON AFTER HIM THAT I DO NOT LISTEN TO. BILL MACK WAS ALSO CUT AN HOUR, AND MOVED TO WILLIES PLACE, IF BILL IS HAPPY I AM TOO, BUT I MISS THE OTHER HOUR. SEEMS LIKE SIRIIUS IS JUST LIKE THE GOVERNMENT, WE'LL CRAM IT DOWN YOUR THROAT WEATHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT. I DID'NT CARE FOR SIRIUS PROGRAMING TO START WITH, AND I DON'T CARE FOR IT NOW. EVER SINCE SIRIUS HAS TOOK OVER MY XM RADIO DOES NOT OVER RIDE THE WEAKER F.M. STATIONS, LOOKS TO ME LIKE YOU ARE TRYING TO GET RID OF THE X.M. CUSTOMERS, WELL YOU HAVE TAKEN THE PROGRAMS THAT I LIKED TO LISTEN TO YOU HAVE MURDERED, SO I WILL NOT RENEW MY SUBSCRIPTION. I HOPE THAT OTHERS WILL DO THE SAME. DAVE NEMO AND BILL MACK NEED TO KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING, BECAUSE WITH OUT US THE CUSTOMERS, SIRIUS IS NOTHING.