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Anyone have any idea if this will happen? I upgraded my radio last year so it could get "best of xm," and was surprised to find it doesn't include MLB-- not even ESPN Radio's national broadcasts. I need to be saved from John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, but even they're not worth having to buy an additional radio and subscription.
I, too, am very interested in the outcome of this for 2010. Every couple weeks I Google it to see if there is anything new, but all I see are 2009 articles on the subject. It is late January so I expect to see activity on the subject soon. If MLB and Sirius don't come to terms on this, I will feel that all Sirius radio owners have been ripped off.
I wonder why it is taking so long to get MLB onto Sirius. Aren't XM and Sirius one happy family now?
I hope Sirius adds MLB play-by-play very soon. Spring Training games have already started on the XM side and it's very frustrating for a huge baseball fan like myself not to hear the games. Hopefully soon we'll hear something about it.
I think Sirius should add FOX Sports Radio as well on the Sirius side....
Boy, I am with you on that! Can't the play by play soon enough.
I heard an ad on Sirius today that mentioned a Seattle Mariners vs San Diego Padres spring training game will be broadcast on MLB Home Plate Channel 210...I hope it's going to be heard on the Sirius side.
I have heard them advetise specific games too. I had XM until I got new car, which has Sirius. XM has ALL games, both home and away feeds. I really miss it.
Wonder if this their way of continuing to sell two services.
I sure hope the games will be broadcast soon. Last season, because i wanted to listen to the games i had to pay for the MLB Gameday Audio package via MLB.com. I'm a Rockies fan living in Michigan so i have my fingers crossed that Sirius will step up to the plate.
Opening day is in 2 wks and still no word!
MLB's contract is with XM, so I am sure they want more money from Sirius if they want to broadcast to a wider audience. The merger didn't give Sirius free access to all XM content, rather only the content not restricted by contract (which I am sure MLB is). If Sirius is around when that contract expires, we might gte MLB then.
It does not make me want Sirius more nor am I willing to buy yet another radio and subscribe to yet another service. If they were going to merge, they should have merged it all.
By a MiRGE radio, w/ a all-in-one-plan, and then you can get everything that XM & Sirius has to offer, if you get any of the Best of packages @ 16.99 + Tax, even with the Best Of packages, you still don't get ALL channels on both bands, but, having the MiRGE-radio is only $3 dollars more @ 19.99 + Tax :)Quote:
Originally Posted by rwalker
SPENCER OSBORNE
As I stated in my article, any contract can be renegotiated at any time provided that the interested parties are all in agreement that a renegotiation be conducted. The "merger of XM Radio holding and XM Radio has NOTHING to do with whether or not Baseball will come to the Sirius radio dial.
The MLB contract with XM pays baseball $60 million per year through 2012. MLB has the option to extend that contract at the $60 million per year terms for 2013, 2014, and 2015. XM has no say in this option. The option is MLB's alone.
At the end of 2012, MLB will either end the contract, or extend it. In my mind, they will extend it. The reason? Because they will not get $60 million per year for their content any more. Simply stated, who is going to pay $60 million for content that is more widely available now than it was when the original deal was struck!
At the time of the contract, MLB had worries that XM may not be able to pony up the money. This was a likely reason for the $120 million escrow account that was controlled by MLB. Should XM not be able to pay, the escrow would take care of two years of the contract. If MLB was astute enough to demand an escrow, one can imagine that they would have had thought about "change of control" as well.
Baseball has all of the cards. They can sit back and know that they hold a three year option. Thus, there is nothing Sirius XM can do about it but accept it. Unless they want to pony up the additional money that MLB is certainly seeking. Sirius XM wont do that, thus, a stale mate exists where MLB will get a pretty penny for content that is not worth as much as it used to be.
It only takes some REASONABLE thinking to see this clearly. REASONABLE PEOPLE ARRIVE AT REASONABLE CONCLUSIONS.
I too Have the Lifetime Sirius with the Best of XM for life and think this sucks for us Sirius Guys. Seileg is the A-hole holding this up and wanting more money! I ended up buying a Xm Xpress RC Receiver two years ago before the merge hoping to swap it to my Sirius at some point since I liked the XM Hardware over the Sirius Stuff, I now have Five XM Subscriptions as I bought two cars with the XM Built in and Three Express RC for various family members as well as two best of Sirius on those for Howard. If I someone asked me what was better to buy a Sirius or XM Lifetime subscription, I would tell them XM and get the Best of Sirius. I bought Wunderradio one time fee app for the iphone that allows you to connect to Sirius with your online ID and get all the Sirius Channels and most of the XM Channels INCLUDING HOWARD!! Don't waste your 2.95 on the iphone Sirius App, you can even put Home Screen shortcuts for your favorite channels on the iphone including the artwork and logos(Howard Fist)on the home screen,just tap and your on that channel,no need to log in. The Quality(kbps) is not available, I don't think it's 128 probably it's 64 which is FM Quility,not too bad,it's worth it for Howard or other talk shows. Sorry I went on so long..Tony