XM and Sirius Merger?

chipset writes "Well, it seems Sirius and XM are in talks again. This story from FoxNews indicates they are in merger discussions and want to expand their reach into all communications from space. This includes Cell, Music, and TV. I would love to see something like this take place. Give DirecTV and DishNetwork a little competition."

Comments

dupe!

[syukton]

The thing I find funny is that the exact same story was submitted yesterday.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl ?sid=05/01/2 6/2319240&tid=91&tid=14

I mean it's the exact same story.

The link in the blurb is the same.
The blurb itself is the same.
The submitter is the same.
EVEN THE POSTER IS THE SAME.

Last time it was in "digital" and "science" and this time it's in the same sections (which are, relatedly, a totally wrong categorization, for which samzenpus should be flogged with a bundle of cat5 ethernet cables)

I emailed daddypants@slashdot.org about this, to no avail; the dupe got posted anyhow.

Re:dupe!

[rdwald]

Actually, in addition to the similarities you noted, both stories were posted at the exact same time. Literally the only difference is the date. This makes me wonder if there wasn't some sort of software error that somehow duplicated the post. Either that, or samzenpus decided to make the most dupeful dupe in the history of /.

I have XM and love it

[sdo1]

Having had XM for a few months, I can not even begin to tell how absolutely sucky broadcast radio is. I know you think you know that it sucks. I thought so to. But I just didn't realize how horrid it had become until I had a wealth of listening options in my car. Just the thought of yet another inane "radio personality" (I refuse to use the term DJ... they're not) screaching at me makes me shutter. And if I have to go somewhere in my wife's car (sans XM)... ugh.

As far as a merger... well, I must admit that I'm a bit miffed with their exclusive sports contracts right now. XM has (or will have) Major League Baseball and Sirius has (or will have) NFL. I'd love to have both, but not if I have to get two sets of equipment and pay two subscription charges.

I think most of the rest of the programming (Stern and company excluded) is mostly duplicated between the two. The music selections are very similar as is much of the other programming.

Right now, I think they need to grow the subscriber base and I don't know as if the competition between XM and Sirius helps matters. I've heard a lot of people say that they're waiting to see which one survives before jumping on board. That's not a good thing for the long term viability of either one. In the long run, I think a merger would be helpful. They're competing against the status quo and against "free" broadcast radio. That alone should keep rates down. I don't think the XM vs. Sirius competition really means as much.

-S