Sirius, XM see deal closing in 2007

Washington Post ^ | February 20, 2007 | Paul Thomasch and Kenneth Li

[It Aint Easy]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. pledged on Tuesday to work with regulators to close their proposed $4.9 billion merger by year's end, seeking to calm concerns that U.S. antitrust authorities would block the deal.

Sirius Chief Executive Mel Karmazin, a seasoned dealmaker and media veteran, said the goal of the deal was not to raise consumer prices but to boost subscriber growth by combining the two satellite radio services and bringing stars like Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey under one roof.

But he acknowledged that Sirius's planned takeover of XM has been clouded by worries over scrutiny from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, which are most concerned about the drop in competition boosting prices for consumers.

[It Aint Easy]

Satellite Radio (Sirius/XM) Ping List
Freepmail me to be added.

Sorry about being absent so long, I'll try and keep up-to-date with this list again.

[speedy]

Seems to me this is an issue that will solve itself. I like satellite radio, but if the price gets too high, you just drop it. End of problem.

[DalcoTX]

Streamlined content. 1 future equipment standard. Quicker financial stability.

I think this merger is a really good idea. Why spend billions fighting each other when they could be using it to expand their reach.

[Hildy]

The good news is that you'll get baseball AND football now! I suspect that's how they'll do the pricing...they'll offer different packages.

[Phlap]

I guess if you are somewhere between Butthole Montana and the middle of nowhere this could be attractive. But in the major centers, where they thought they would attract large numbers of customers, there is so much free radio, satellite just won't fly!! lol I slay me!!

[speedy]

Sounds reasonable to me, Hildy. The market will sort itself out.

[Dacula]

Why did that not work for DISH and Direct TV?

[RockinRight]

I wonder what happens to my Sirius equipment though. Also my favorite channels - will I lose Hair Nation?

[RockinRight]

I can pick up 30+ free radio stations here. But, since they all play the same crap, I pay 13 bucks for Sirius.

[Beelzebubba]

Hopefully, they will have a music-only option for those of who don't want talk, sports, or famous loudmouths (sorry Oprah!)

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"...bringing stars like Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey under one roof."

If they offered an option where you didn't get either one, I might be interested.

[SelmaLee]

I am always careful to avoid Oprah's loud mouth show, but I hate her commercials that they play on Fox News Talk.

As long as I can hear John Gibson from 5 to 8, and "Fred" - the rest of the time - its okay with me.

[kingu]

Ok. Sirius is up to it's eyeballs in debt, and XM and Sirius lost a lot of terrestrial relay stations recently. Got me how Sirius actually /can/ buy XM. Great deal for XM though - money in the pocket to basically go away. A shame though, because I bet I'll get stuck with Sirius programming, and I don't want to give up my comedy stations. Not to mention almost every station on XM is /really/ responsive to e-mail.

[OldPossum]

Consolidated Money, composed of all companies east of the Mississippi, and Magnum Finance, made up of all companies west of the Mississippi, are planning to merge. The Justice Department is looking into the matter.

[bmwcyle]

welcome back

[RushCrush]

I was excited about the merger, hoping for better conservative talk radio choices. Til I looked at Sirius' lineup.

Both Sirius and XM conservative talk choices suck.

I'm cancelling my subscription.

[DalcoTX]

I don't know what you mean. Their merger did not go through.