XM Radio

[funboy102]

If they end up doing the merger I just hope that they do not continue with the XM channels that have commercials... that is the only reason why I have satellite radio -- no commercials.

Wow, XM has music channels with commercials? Why would anyone put up with that on a pay service. It's bad enough that I have to listen to the DJs on Sirius, but if there were commercials, I'd cancel.

ohhh helllll nawww. You mistaken what Posh said... haha. The music channels on XM and Sirius are both commercial-free, of course. She's referring to the other channels, such as the sports channel, the talk radio channel, the variety stations (i.e. Playboy, Maxim, Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, etc...) There's no way that people would pay monthly for music stations with commercial.

Doesn't seem like there's much control over monopolies anymore - look at the banking industry, broadcasting, hotels, retail *cough*walmart*cough*, etc... don't get me started!

Really Jeff? haha... sorry to threadjack from the original guy... but I would like to "get you started"

A sample definition on monopoly found on google:
-exclusive control or possession of something; OR
-(economics) a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller;

Those things you listed, can't possibly be monopolies. Banking industry? Last time I check, there's at least 4 major banking company in which we can take loans from and store our money in; there's Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual, and Citi Bank.

Broadcasting? Isn't there, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX? There's 4 different companies again. UNLESS you're talking about radio broadcasting... I think Clear Channels is taking over a lot of radio stations in that case... but in any case, that's something that's still FREE, we're not paying for FM radio...

Hotels? I know we got choices there, Hilton's, Marriot's, Hyatt. Each of those hotels DO own other smaller hotels too however. For example, Hilton owns Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn, and a few more...

Retail? Yeah... I guess you can say Wal-Mart is slowly drawing all the customers in... but the fact remain, people still have choices. There's Sears, Target, etc...

Yeah... Sirius and XM merging seems realllly iffy. There's no other satellite radio company out there right now, and if they do merge, it would be a monopoly... I'm not so sure this will happen...

[aleki2424]

its nice to know that they MIGHT , if i might say, be merging. am actually a media freak, and if it was possible would even have an lp machine installed( why ? coz i've got a 'toto' lp lying around, that's why)
that being said, i think it would be great, since there is the option of choice.
thereby they might rely on sales on newbies captured by the revolution , to keep prices from skyrocketing, at least for now. everyone knows that mergers involve cost cutting strategies , re-organization etc etc, so another option is that they might be bracing themselves for a battle of suits fro disgruntled employees , customers etc etc, whoever feels they might have got cut off.

the big question here is how they are going to go about services without breech. this market analysis is what takes long to headline.

an example of these pending fracas is from the Chrysler motor co, which is relying on the provision on Sirius tv to rake in sales on their new minivans, albeit having only three cartoon stations. thus bandwidth really isn't a problem, just that it will all be long before any breakthrough is realized

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

Nef, go ahead and get one if you are so inclined. They can't make existing radios obsolete, or they's each piss off about 24 million people. That's a lot of angry customers! Plus, think about all the people who have satellite hard wired as part of their car purchase, integrated into thei HU. Oh...they can't tell everyone they need a new radio.

True, but just like any merger with different technologies, it's only obvious that they'll most likely discontinue one form to lower overhead, manufacturing costs and headaches with a smaller amount of inventory, then a few years down the line they'll suddenly sneak in the fact that there is not support for company X but still "operable" but not able to be renewed, while company Y can still retain functionality as if nothing happened... Happened to me once when I had to renew my cell phone with AT&T a long time ago (F that... I switched companies).

By the way I tried to Google it, but does anybody know what the final name would be for the satellite radio companies would be?

[MCOjerry]

SiriuslyXM

[funboy102]

By the way I tried to Google it, but does anybody know what the final name would be for the satellite radio companies would be?

Well... if Sirius bought XM... wouldn't the new company just be called Sirius? (kinda like when Cingular and AT&T merged, i'm talking about one year ago, the wireless company was just called Cingular)

[Jon11582]

By the way I tried to Google it, but does anybody know what the final name would be for the satellite radio companies would be?

Well... if Sirius bought XM... wouldn't the new company just be called Sirius? (kinda like when Cingular and AT&T merged, i'm talking about one year ago, the wireless company was just called Cingular)

Alot depends on how "equal" the companies are. If one company is much smaller and is acquired by a larger company, they will usually not implement the smaller name, since it has less "brand equity". Other times, when they are viewed equal, or when the smaller company's brand is viewed to have equal or higher value than the bigger company, they will usually merge names, at least initially.

DailmerBenz + Chrysler = DailmerChrysler
Exxon + Mobil = ExxonMobil
AOL + Time Warner = AOL Time Warner ("AOL" has since been dropped)
Sprint + Nextel = Sprint Nextel (although no one really says the full name)

To say who the bigger dog is between Sirius and XM is debatable. XM is losing money slower, has a bit more in assets, which means if anything, XM would probably be the one acquiring Sirius if they merged.

[HID04V6]

By the way I tried to Google it, but does anybody know what the final name would be for the satellite radio companies would be?

Well... if Sirius bought XM... wouldn't the new company just be called Sirius? (kinda like when Cingular and AT&T merged, i'm talking about one year ago, the wireless company was just called Cingular)

Alot depends on how "equal" the companies are. If one company is much smaller and is acquired by a larger company, they will usually not implement the smaller name, since it has less "brand equity". Other times, when they are viewed equal, or when the smaller company's brand is viewed to have equal or higher value than the bigger company, they will usually merge names, at least initially.

DailmerBenz + Chrysler = DailmerChrysler
Exxon + Mobil = ExxonMobil
AOL + Time Warner = AOL Time Warner ("AOL" has since been dropped)
Sprint + Nextel = Sprint Nextel (although no one really says the full name)

To say who the bigger dog is between Sirius and XM is debatable. XM is losing money slower, has a bit more in assets, which means if anything, XM would probably be the one acquiring Sirius if they merged.

And XM was in business long before Sirius was.