More Merger Talks (1 Viewer)

[Blu]

I'm not a fan of a merger.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...701750_pf.html

I don't think it would benefit subscribers of either service although it probably would benefit both companies.

I like the competition between the companies and hope that it keeps the monthly costs down and inspires them to create more diverse programming.

I am hoping it will never happen but I'm afraid it probably will at some point.

 

[Brent T]

I agree with you Blu. I do think XM is a sinking ship and will be dead within 1-3 years I really hope it does not happen. I am a big believer in competition and think it does nothing but benefit the consumer. The problem is that XM has so little exclusive content to offer that I fear they wont be able to compete.

I thought they had an exclusive to the NHL games but for the second time this week I was able to listen to my Flyers while on the way home from a meeting. Does XM broadcast NFL games ? XM will be losing NASCAR in a few weeks and the only thing they will have left is MLB, Oprah and Opie and Anthony. I cant understand why Sirius would even want to merge at this point since XM brings so little to the table.

 

[Blu]

I guess NHL isn't exclusive to XM????

I really thought it was as well but I have seen NHL games in the weekly schedule as well.

I just did some reading and they share this season and it goes exclusive to XM next season while NASCAR goes exclusive to Sirius next season. Essentially they swapped sports.

 

[KevinJ]

If either of the services'll be dead in the next few years it's going to be Sirius....their finacial situation is worse than XM'S and it won't be getting better anytime soon imho.

 

[Brent T]

Well there is only one company that is lowering their subscriptions rates to their current customers to a monthly sum as low as 2.99 a month, giving free radios away when their customers call to cancel and going through office execs faster then a sports franchise.

XM has lost its foot hold on the market, could easily be surpassed this coming year in subscribers and has absolutely no heat behind it. I would worry much more about XM selling out to Sirius or just going under in the next two years. They have very little going for themselves at this point.

 

[TonyD]

xm has baseball as an exclusive

 

[Blu]

Well if there was a merger then you would have every single sport on a single satrad service.

That alone would drive up the price per month which could be counter productive to the consumer in a weird way.
While a Xirius company might be nice for something like that I could see it costing 20 bucks per month.

 

[Devin U]

To me, that would be worth $20/month. Plus, double the bandwidth for better sounding music.

Im a huge XM fan, but they seem to be flushing the company down the toilet. I get sirius thru dish network, and I may pick up a visor or whatever the cheap entry level Sirius reciever is and activate it on my bro-in-laws account. The talk will be the deciding factor for me. So far, xm is ahead due to Dave Ramsey on live (tape delayed on Sirius) and Glenn Beck (but when the CC agreement ends in 2008, he may not be on xm anymore). Id love to hear the NBA again. I think NHL doesnt go XM exclusive till 2007-2008 season.