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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."
By reducing competition in satellite radio? No thanks.
sulli
RTFJ.
Sirius CEO says no merger.
I think the Sirius CEO denied the marger.
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http://www.forbes.com/2005/01/26/0126autofacescan
Free XBox, PS2
The thing I find funny is that the exact same story was submitted yesterday.l ?sid=05/01/2 6/2319240&tid=91&tid=14
http://science.slashdot.org/article.p
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.
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
Don't worry.
It's a hoax.
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."
- Seneca
XM and their lone competitor merging? You can't be Sirius!
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
Because everybody's VAX needs satellite radio for that high-quality audio sound! :)
joshua
Yep - the denial was reported earlier today on several sources:s /business/digital/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_ id=1000777229
br / http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/new
I'm guessing that the category is marked "digital" in the submission interface, and the submitter is too young to remember DEC and thinks the category is for digital lifestyle devices.
{sigh} Last summer I had to explain this to my new 24-year-old coworker, who thought it was funny that one of our computer labs was full of old computers that bragged (with the above logo) about being "digital", as if that was some kind of fancy feature or something. The first computer I ever logged into was a PDP, I got most of my formal CS education using VAXen, and I even went to DECUS back in the early 90's, so it was a bit painful having to explain to him what DEC was, and that it was founded back when "digital equipment" was something pretty fancy.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
I really hope something like this doesn't happen.
I have Sirius, and I'm pleased as punch with it. I can't see how merging with XM (if the story is, in fact, true) would make things any better.
Sirius has some great stations with good DJs. The bigger you make the company, the more whitewashed it becomes. I don't know what XM is all about, but people who have it tell me they like it. That's fine. But a little compitition never hurt anyone. Monopolies, on the other hand, usually don't work, espically with something as subjective as music.
The Internet is generally stupid
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
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?