Political Gamesmanship In XM-Sirius Merger Rolls On
from the the-fun-never-ends dept
While comments filed with the FCC in support of the merger of satellite radio companies XM and Sirius outnumber those opposing it by nearly a four to one margin, they're not seen by many people to carry the same influence as those arguing against the merger. For instance, more than 70 Congressmen have told the heads of the FCC, DOJ and FTC that they should block the merger, and as stock pundit Jim Cramer points out, this has little to do with anything other than legislators' self-interest, since they don't want to upset local broadcasters in their constituencies. He adds that since XM and Sirius are up against such powerful opposition, they've had to go for broke, by announcing pricing plans that, if the merger's approved, could slice their average per-subscriber revenue. The plans offer consumers the ability to choose channels on an a la carte basis -- a move that looks like it's designed to appeal to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, for whom indecent programming is always an issue. At the outset of the merger announcement, Martin said that XM and Sirius would have to show that "consumers would clearly be better off with both more choice and affordable prices" before the FCC would approve the deal. These new plans would appear to deliver consumers more choices and control over the content they receive, and do so at lower prices. But it's still hard to see that being enough to overcome politicians' objections, fueled by the National Association of Broadcasters' clout.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: congress, doj, fcc, ftc, mergers, politics, satellite radio
Companies: nab, sirius, xm
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XM/Sirius
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Re: XM/Sirius
And there is absolutely No Comparison between the music you get for free from terrestrial radio and what you get from XM and Sirius. It's a completely different world.The programming quality on most internet radio just doesn't measure up. And it's going to cost $16.99 a month to get everything on Both XM and Sirius. If you're a big music fan (meaning, still curious to discover more music), then $16.99 is a steal.
Try it and Compare it to $40-$80 for a cable or satellite TV package of 200 or so channels.
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Clout
Otherwise what clout would they have?
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come on
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*New* music is the benefit
Of course, I guess it seems like most people are still comfortable hearing the same songs over and over and over again all the time, the ONLY reason why "free" radio is still acceptable to people.
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A la Sham
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Re: A la Sham
So forget the a la carte stuff. You can't know which channels you're going to like unless you actually listen to them first. You don't judge a book by looking at the cover. If you pick only 25 or 50 channels based on their names, brief descriptions, or assumptions based on what your'e used to from terrestrial radio, then you are less likely to find enough programming that you like to justify the subscription cost. The packages just limit you. Anybody who wants to check out XM or Sirius should not be limiting themselves. Satellite radio is all about Widening Boundaries. If you want to stick with what you know, don't get XM or Sirius.
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interoperability
BTW, I listen to XM as well and I still hear the same songs over and over again.
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Cramer Buys XMSR high and then sells low
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