Merger Line Has Been Drawn
Consider that Sirius and XM have promised that existing radios would work, and that existing subscribers would still have access to the quantity and quality of programming that exists today. If Primospere were to get 30% of the spectrum how could Sirius and XM keep their promise? The same is the case for the Georgetown Partners proposal seeking 20%. In either situation, both subscribers and shareholders absorb the pain.
Simply stated, the Primosphere plan is a deal breaker. So is the Georgetown Partners plan or any plan seeking a swath of the current spectrum. They are all deal breakers.
Sirius and XM have committed to 4 channels each (a total of 8 channels). Perhaps that will become 10 channels total, but they are not giving up spectrum to accomplish this. Public Knowledge has sought several conditions in the merger process, and much of what they are seeking can be accomplished if the merger is allowed to proceed without further cannibalization. However, if Primosphere or Georgetown were to get there way, none of this can be accomplished. Georgetown recently committed to Public Knowledge and Media Access Project that they would facilitate the goals of each IF Georgetown got their 20% AND these groups got what they were seeking. This will never happen, and hopefully Public Knowledge and Media Access Project are aware of this. The Georgetown proposal is a deal breaker.
The FCC now needs to consider whether they want something or nothing. If the FCC wants A-La-Carte, Interoperable Radios, some Public Interest a programming, and Open Access, it will only happen with a merger. If the FCC steps into the realm of stripping away spectrum, they will squash the deal and then none of the consumer benefits will come to fruition.
Simply stated, the merger and all of the benefits will not happen if spectrum loss is part of the equation. The FCC, Public Knowledge, and others need to weigh weigh the benefits that can be brought vs. the thought of having the merger fall apart, and a status quo situation (Sirius and XM with exclusive OEM deals, exclusive content, no interoperability, and no A-La-Carte) for current subscribers as well as future subscribers. There are 17 million existing subscribers that have a certain level of service right now. To disrupt that service or take away from it is something that the FCC should weigh carefully. Many existing subscribers are the very people that have committed to and are fans of satellite radio. To take away from these subscribers would be a disservice to them.
Georgetown’s Proposal – Deal Breaker
Primosphere Proposal – Deal Breaker
Public Knowledge Proposal – Workable
Media Access Proposal – Workable
At this point the cards are on the table. If this was not clear to people earlier it should be now.
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I wouldn’t blame SIRI for wanting to call off the deal if they have to surrender spectrum, heck they paid for it they should be able to use it. I am not sure if this is possible but why doesn’t the FCC allocate more spectrum for SDARS and give that away instead of taking from XMSR or SIRI.
I see you still haven’t read the original license agreement. It mandated interoperable radios from day 1. Both SDARS providers have failed to follow the agreement, what makes you think that they would start to now? And if a la carte pricing is so great, introduce it now.
Say no to merger, say no to $20/month sat radio.
Say no to 7$ a month sat radio and free educational/public access!
As a consumer, I’ll decide where to spend my $20.00. I don’t need no NAB surrogate speaking for me.
I’ll gladly spend $30.00 a month to hear fresh and exclusive programming on Siri and XM.
My alternative, listen to my CDs, IPOD, MP3 Player, Sat Radio, or music streamed from my cell.
I still am shocked by the greed of GP. With all the monies and effort invested over the past decade to get XM & Sirius to the point of still trying to become profitable, they feel because they are a minority group they should just step in and get a bargain. What about the minority shareholders that have already invested their money into these companies stock? Why should they suffer for the benefit of a few? Rev. Jackson sure knows how to play the race card to get the big bucks for “himself”. If they are going to give up channels please give them to non-profit orgs. Besides Sat. radio does a good job on it’s own of offering diverse ethnic programs. While the FCC is at it, give away some terrestial radio stations at a bargain too! What about the Hispanics,Asians,Middle Easterns,American Indians, etc. Don’t they deserve some bandwidth too! Come on Mr. Martin, let the deal happen fairly or just call it off!
Chad D, The interopperable radio issue is a matter of opinion. Both say they have done all that has been requested of them by the FCC. There was a intreopperable radio developed, Nobody said they had to take on the expense to market it. As for the a la carte, they have made it clear that the price to subcribers would be so good, that they cannot aford to do it, unless they can get the savings from the merged company. Are you just playing ignorant, or are you really that ignorant.
>> The interopperable radio issue is a matter of opinion. Both say they have done all that has been requested of them by the FCC.
I agree they’ve done all they’re required to do. No doubt about that.
>>> There was a intreopperable radio developed, Nobody said they had to take on the expense to market it.
The fact is that that interoperable receivers make no sense, financially, regardless of whether there is a merger, and unless it is mandated, it is unlikely such a device will EVER make it to market. There is just insufficient market for it to justify its production.
Were there such a market, it would have been done already. The BS from Mel about how nobody will subsidize it now because (for example) SIRI doesn’t want to subsidize an XM sub — that utter bull crap. If they can keep multiple sets of books to overstate their subscriber #s, they can damned sure keep track of who owes whom for splitting up receiver subsidies.
>>> As for the a la carte, they have made it clear that the price to subcribers would be so good, that they cannot aford to do it, unless they can get the savings from the merged company. Are you just playing ignorant, or are you really that ignorant.
They’ve made lots of things clear, but ala carte is nothing more than a carrot for FCC, never was any more than that. It is a money loser for the combined company, and they wouldn’t offer it if it wasn’t necessary to get the monopoly power.
It is important to remember that XM did ala carte early on — on a small scale — and abandoned it. From the earliest days of XM, ala carte was part of its game plan, but they gave it up when they increased prices to those of SIRI’s services. If they wanted to bring it back in a revised form, it should be quite simple — although, they would need to develop a web interface which I don’t believe they had before.
Hippo, when or if both become one it will be the only logical way for them to go as far as the interopperable radio. Your idea that they would switch all of SIRI subscribers to XMSR codec makes less sence. They cant do that and still keep their promise to subscribers that they would still be able to get all the content and quality they used to get before. Besides if what you said was the way they planed on going they would have no problem leasing spectrum. They would have all of SIRI’s to do that with.
>>> Hippo, when or if both become one it will be the only logical way for them to go as far as the interopperable radio.
Actually, it is quite difficult to see how interoperable devices make sense when most of the content will be duplicated on the two services (unless one believes they won’t combine music channels, which seems far-fetched to me). 70-85% of the content will be duplicated other than NFL/MLB, neither of which has sufficient draw to warrant it.
Bottom line, if the receivers aren’t worth building without a merger, they aren’t worth building with one.
>> Your idea that they would switch all of SIRI subscribers to XMSR codec makes less sence. They cant do that and still keep their promise to subscribers that they would still be able to get all the content and quality they used to get before.
They are under no obligation to keep that “promise”. The day after the merger happens, it all becomes about how to make the most money. Promises are meaningless.
What makes the least sense of all is to continue putting receivers into the channel that will require them to tie up the spectrum, in perpetuity, with duplicated broadcasts. They aren’t idiots; they can see that.
>>>> Besides if what you said was the way they planed on going they would have no problem leasing spectrum. They would have all of SIRI’s to do that with.
Spectrum & licenses are far and away their most valuable assets. The most sensible thing they could do, financially, is to get moved over to XM’s ASAP then sell SIRI’s — it would yield a billion in cash, plus eliminate the need to spend a billion on new sats — the one way synergies might actually be realized (keeping in mind that not ONE of the analysts who are projecting massive synergies has proposed this type of arrangement).
Hippo, While it will take some time 5 to 10 years for them to fully intergrate into one company. Once they do the interoperable radio will allow them to cut overlapping content, It being one company on one radio it will not matter if you have to switch to the other codec to get the other content. SIRI codec carries the music/tv, XMSR codec carries the talk/sports. The worth comes from them being able to do other things with the remaiming room. Something they do not have, with each acting as one company with the same content.
I disagree, They are under the obligation to do as they stated. What do you think all the people would do, that got their SIRI radios on what the company promised would be the case. They company would have to at the vary least replace all the SIRI radios that were sold at least for the past year and any under the life time plan. Their also would most likely be massive suits filed.
They can already save on satellites just put both on one. As XMSR said its two newer ones can already carry both.
John
I’m sorry but I cannot make any sense at all out of what you have posted.
We’ll wait and see if an interoperable receiver is released.
I think if you’re expecting that both companies’ content can be carried on XM’s satellites at the same time, you’re going to be disappointed.
I think it would be less expensive for them to put a interoperable radio out. Then replace all the SIRI radios that have been put out for at least the last year and maybe longer depending how bad suits get. Not to mention FORD and all the other OEMs would have a hugh problem with SIRI now saying all those radios they just installed are now paper weights. It would be possible in 5 years to replace those older radios at a reasonable cost. No dought at that point most would have been switched by the owner, for what ever reason such as just to upgrade or it just broke.
It was XMSR that said their newer satellites can carry both signals in full. I may have misunderstood what they said, but I know when SIRI said something simular they were clear that their satellites could only support some of XMSR signal.
As you have said we will see. As you already know though, I am a *I told you so* kind of guy, so be ready.
>>As you already know though, I am a *I told you so* kind of guy, so be ready.
I’m still waiting on you to be right about something so you can say I told you so 😉
Hippo is your memory that short or because you have changed your names so many times you cant keep track of what you said. How about what you said about both compete STRONGLY for each others CURRENT subcribers. As you know the DOJ which had all the internal documents they needed of both companies, totally proved you wrong. Something we told you along time ago and took about 30 post to try to tell you.
You tried to argue that one under the name FrontMed.
>>> As you know the DOJ which had all the internal documents they needed of both companies, totally proved you wrong.
DOJ did precisely what we knew they likely would — went against the advice of the staff (who researched the legal aspects of the merger and recommended against it) and ruled in favor of it, solely because the decision maker had decided that no merger creates an antitrust issue anymore.
His excuse notwithstanding, everyone knows what the facts are.
You, are delusional, now you say AAG went against what its sfaff was saying about how they compete with each other. He was bold enough to say the opposite of what staff was telling him, even though he did not have to say anything close to that issue.
By the way, were is your proof what staff was saying. Here is a clue you have none besides a analyst saying there is a rumor about it. If that is what you base your arguements on it is no wonder why people think you are delusional.
I also find it to be to big of a quintessenence, you did not post again after I brought it up on other articles you were just posting on. I think it was because it showed you to be unreasonable, and if you tried to argue it, it would show even more people how delusional you to be.
Yes everyone knows what the facts are, EXCEPT YOU. You call rumor fact, anyone that would do that is a moron. I will not bother with again except to say what a moron that person is. I had thought you had changed, but I see now you have not, so I will post the nutty arguement you tried everytime I see you post. So everyone knows what a nut you are and will not bother to even comment to you.
>>>> You, are delusional, now you say AAG went against what its sfaff was saying about how they compete with each other. He was bold enough to say the opposite of what staff was telling him, even though he did not have to say anything close to that issue.
Perhaps you don’t understand how these processes work. The staff does the legwork and makes the recommendation based on the LAW. Then, management decides either to follow the recommendation or not, based on other factors like the political environment.
>>> By the way, were is your proof what staff was saying.
Well, the only statements have been the leaks from Watts and Cowen, combined with the rather obvious facts on which the decision would be based. Certainly, in the final decision, Barnett would have threatened the staff members with their jobs for leaking after the embarrassment in the Whirlpool case. The facts of the case make it rather obvious, however.
>>> I will not bother with again
Oh, crap. I hate that. A man who can’t put together a complete sentence doesn’t want to discuss something with me. Well, I guess I can live with that. Just quit posting; that’s all you have to do.
What a moron, You have been proven wrong time and time again by the facts. I will post to respond to the dumb shit you post, so I can call you a moron that you prove yourself to be. I may not have complete sentence, what is your excuse for not having a coherent thought/arguement. What is it like living in that dream world of yours.
You remind me of that crazy nut that says everyone else is nuts, and he is the only one sane.