Although the National Association of Broadcasters opposed the Sirius and XM radio merger, it has cleared the Justice Department’s antitrust investigation, which did not find any evidence that the merger between Sirius Satellite and XM Radio Satellite will hurt competition.
In fact, recent reports show that two companies continue to lose money. As a way to cut the amounts lost by both companies, as well as one source of competition, the merger will allow them to streamline operations, and combine their customer base. To date, there are more than 17.3 million customers between both companies.
There are several stars, both musical and not, that can be heard on Sirius and XM radio channels. Among the more popular are Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Bob Dylan, and Opie and Anthony. All of these stars have a signed contract with one of the two companies.
In addition to talk shows, there are also sports programs available. With the Sirius and XM radio merger, customers can access the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Canadian Football League, AMA Supercross, and NASCAR. With the merger, the two companies hope to reduce the costs associated with sports programming.
While the merger has been approved, there are still some points that must still be covered. However, it seems that both XM and Sirius will continue to operate separately even after the merger. Opposition to the merger also includes the idea that progress will be halted by the merger, as neither XM nor Sirius will have the motivation to create, newer, smaller receivers with the latest features. However, it is also argued that the new company can devote more effort and money on the production of new products.
Since the two companies plan to maintain different services, the fact that they use different access systems, which makes the two receivers incompatible, does not pose a problem. Although a person must now buy a new receiver, there is hope that in the future a unified receiver will allow programs from both companies to be received. This would allow for a person to listen to all available channels from bot XM and Sirius radio.
Currently, there are seven satellites that serve XM and Sirius radio services. Three of the satellites belong to Sirius and four of them belong to XM. Additionally, Sirius plans to launch a new satellite, increasing the count to eight. In the future, the combined construction of satellites by the two companies will save the networks millions of dollars a year.
The merger, which has been approved by the United States Department of Justice, still requires the approval of the FCC. However, given the approval of the shareholders in November 2007, the Department of Justice’s approval in March 2008, and the overall interest of the public, it does not seem like the FCC will oppose this merger. It has been reported that the FCC will make their decision by the end of the first quarter in 2008.
Bob Maines is a satellite radio specialist with several years of experience selling and installing SIRIUS Radio.
Tags: fcc, justice department, merger, radio, satellite, xm, sirius
