Monday, February 19, 2007

SiriuXM? I Say "Yes!"

There's word this evening that Sirius and XM, the two satellite radio competitors, plan a "merger of equals." Looking at this from a purely personal standpoint, I think this could be a very good thing.
Sirius and XM said as a result of the merger it hoped to offer listeners an "a la carte" option, allowing them to pick and choose the channels they wanted, such as Sirius' "Martha Stewart Living Radio" or XM's "Theme Time Radio Hour" with music legend Bob Dylan.
I like this idea. I chose Sirius based on their jam-band and NPR offerings. I regret the fact that all the baseball games are on XM, now maybe I will have a chance to get those as well.

Some object to this merger based on the idea that it would create a monopoly which might result in higher costs to consumers. That's a valid concern, but I think it would be worth it if we, as listeners, get a wider range of choices.

1 comment:

Richard said...

Is it a monopoly if there are similar offerings in the market? You could choose to listen to over the air radio (we used to call it just radio). I can even plug my phone into the car and listen to internet radio.

Your point that the two providers have different shows is exactly the reason that I haven't gotten satellite radio yet. I would like the baseball from XM, but Sirius also has good stuff to listen to.

Perhaps this is an appropriate evolution of the medium. Price should be kept down by compeition from the other options above. We shall see.

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