XM And SIRIUS Radio Merging 301
lenny6998 writes to tell us Yahoo! News is reporting that XM and Sirius Radio, the only two major players in the relatively new market of subscription satellite radio have announced a merger. "The two companies said in a statement that Mel Karmazin, the CEO of Sirius, would become chief executive of the new company while Gary Parsons, the chairman of XM, would remain in that role."
Satellite Radio is sooooo 2002. (Score:1, Interesting)
Since I had that subscription, I realized that satellite radio -- like all "one size fits all" radio, is dead. Honestly. It may not actually have died yet, but the days are numbered.
I have a great MP3 collection at home -- running on a (yes, lame) Windows Media Center PC with a ton of storage. I also have a bunch of my favorite movies encoded both for highdef and lowdef. Why? Because I can now access everything I "own" remotely.
My phone is an HTC Trinity P3600 -- currently unavailable in the States as far as I know. With the Dopod 810 ROM, I am able to utilize T-Mobile's EDGE network to my advantage. If I want to listen to my MP3s, I do so remotely using that EDGE network. Often times I am able to get a sustained 200kbps download rate, which drops to about 80kbps in more remote areas. For most of my travel (nationwide), I am able to listen to my entire playlist without having to carry with me anything more than my PDA phone. It works great -- and I can plug my phone into my car stereo and listen to my tracks at will. I even created a nice interface for picking songs, and it works great. I pay one flat rate for my EDGE connection, and for an additional $20 a month I also get unlimited use of Starbuck's WiFi network, which works great when I am really in the boonies.
Will most people do this right now? No, because the costs are a bit too high, and most people aren't technically adept enough to set it up. Yet those days are coming to a close as more people are buying cell phones that aren't locked by the vendor (T-Mobile loves to lock great features out of their cell phones, so I buy mine on the grey market). I've seen alpha versions of bittorrent-protocol software that runs on Windows Mobile, and I'm sure more is on its way for other phone/portable OSes. As this happens, we will soon see peer-to-peer "radio" stations taking over and giving the consumer what they REALLY want.
I'm sure that XM and SIRIUS will be watched closely by the "evil" FCC, but no matter what happens, their days/years ARE numbered. Regular radio is having a huge problem attracting advertisers, because the new generation now has iPods. The iPod is a great device, but it is limited to only what you brought from home.
If Microsoft wants to kill Apple, all they need to do is come up with an iPod-like player that has EDGE/GPRS connectivity, and offer people music-by-the-song or MP3-over-the-air accessibility. Imagine what will happen to the "broadcast" market when the unicast market can destroy it at any time?
Re:Egos (Score:4, Interesting)
On another note, how will this work hardware-wise? Can they in fact offer one united channel selection over any current hardware? Will they continue to offer two separate "branded" offerings that each go to the proprietary radios until new hardware can be rolled out?
Re:Satellite Radio is sooooo 2002. (Score:5, Interesting)
I drive close to 300 miles a week in the DFW area and local radio stations just don't have enough content to keep me intrested. Except for a few talk shows that I listen to, I need a sat radio to keep sane.
Yes, I do have an ipod loaded to the gills with music, but to be frank, without Satellite, I wouldn't have any NEW content to keep me awake.
Although monopolies are bad... (Score:1, Interesting)
business model? (Score:4, Interesting)
XM and Sirius have so far both struggled for customers for several reasons, not the least of which being problems of customer awareness. Many people simply don't know - and won't learn without extensive research - which network would be better for them (in terms of content, quality and price). People are used to having one radio "network", expecting competitors to just be different channels. The idea of two separate networks with non-interoperable hardware just isn't what people want.
The question is how this new hybrid company (I love the AT&T joke...) will shape its new business model: if no other satellite companies emerge, will they offer channels 'for rent' to other content providers? Will they continue to own all channels? Etc.
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
Nothing will be decided probably until at least years end. Even if they get approval, it will take some time to also figure out the technical details as to who's equipment to go with, who gets laid off, etc. Actual savings probably won't be seen for several years, but if indeed they do merge, the cost of competition gets a lot cheaper in a hurry.
Re:What changes? (Score:2, Interesting)
I read an article that stated they may be able to offer al la' carte programming where you pick and choose which channels you get. I hope that comes through as well. I'd pick 10 and hopefully pay less... but you know thats not going to happen.
Where you use it most - in the car (Score:1, Interesting)
Yeah Capitalism (Score:3, Interesting)
My wife used to love the 80s music channel they had under the old system. But now they replaced that with "Ethel" or "Fred" or somesuch, and it sucks ass. The selection isn't as good as it used to be. And invariably they wind up throwing in stuff that doesn't even fit. The "80s" channel they have now has a "wider" definition (ie. only what they consider to be 80s instead of what was REALLY definitive 80s) of 80s in that it doesn't just feature punk and new wave stuff like the old one. Now they throw in all sorts of things (some of which aren't even 80s) that are vaguely "alternative" with the occasional crap country song thrown in. My guess is that since country is such a popular format (even though it sucks ass in my opinion) they are hoping that by dropping in an occasional tune, they might get some new buyers from people on the fence.
Yet another annoying factor is that the old system used to tell you on screen what was currently playing and which album it was from. It was very informative. The new system just gives you a little info and 90% of the time it's completely wrong. If that's what XM is like, then they can shove it. I hope they die a spectacular death because music lovers don't want satellite or subscription radio. Music lovers want a smörgåsbord of endless new and old music that is either thrown in as a "freebie" or totally free. And if the selection is varied enough, THEN and ONLY THEN will the music lover plunk down the cash for the goods. That's the way I roll. I listen to college radio and the BBC via the net (and I'm approaching 40) because in many markets it's the only place to hear good new music. If it's good enough, I check and see if eMusic has it and download it. If not, then I get it from Amazon on CD. Satellite radio is only for boring old people who still think Cadillacs are cool looking cars or who think they're being radical when they buy a modern Volkswagen Beetle. LastFM is about the only other option, but I fear that it will be pounced on by the big players and hence ruined once they reach a certain critical mass.
Re:Guess it was just a matter of time... (Score:3, Interesting)
Its clear that XM and Sirius were in competition for a limited market. The iPod in the end was what brought these two together. XM and Sirius had a small window before cars started installing adapters for iPods. Since almost everyone who listens to music has a iPod, it meant that the benefits of satellite radio where lost when you could just plug in your iPod.
Whereas the two radio networks were counting on subscriptions continuing to increase each year for the next 4 years, in reality, they started leveling off this year. And now they have a business model based on a subscription base neither is likely to meet.
As a result, I think we'll see one of two things out of the new company. Either a substantial rate increase or a substantial content decrease. At any rate, its unlikely that the new company will have the variety of content that we see on both today.
Re:Radio is a coercive monopoly (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Gettin' it free! (Score:3, Interesting)
I hate those stupid ads - are they a Clearchannel specialty? - about not paying for something you can get for free. Well, where I live, I have the choice of Clearchannel Pop, CC Rock, CC Country 1-5, and CC "greatest hits of 80s, 90s, and now". So, I opted for Sirius to hear the great stuff I can't hear over the airwaves here.
I'm too cheap to ever pay for anything I could get for free. I don't drink bottled water, but I do pay for satellite radio.
Guess it was just a matter of time...and space (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, FM may have a large library, but what good is it if they have unimaginative program directors who maintain limited playlists?
When FM radio abandoned the wonderful idea of letting on-air deejays play whatever the hell they liked, they lost my interest.
I love my mp3 player, but no matter how big the storage, I know what I've got, even with thousands of songs and shuffle. The beauty of radio is that you can be surprised. I would trade the knowledge that I will like everything I'm going to hear for the excitement of the occasional wonderful obscurity or cut from a musician I've never heard before.
Before I grew a wife and daughter, I used to go to sleep with the local "underground"(!) FM station, NPR (when they still played music) or one of the TWO (!) classical stations we used to have here in Chicago playing softly. Once in a while I'd be wakened from a sound, stoned sleep because some stunning, unexpected bit of beauty was coming over the airwaves. Those experiences nurtured a lasting, ever-young love of music and of the unexpected. Even after the underground station morphed into a common "adult-oriented rock" format and one of the two great classical stations went out of business (WNIB) and I grew out of my fascination with cannabis, I will still occasionally give the micro-SD that goes into my mp3 (Sandisk) player to a friend onto which to put something he/she likes. The thrill of hearing something fresh and/or surprising gets my head up even better than the weed used to, with the added benefit of not finding empty ice cream or Entenmann's cartons on the coffee table in the morning.