dollar sign There were some interesting tidbits that came out of the Congressional hearing held Feb 28, over the proposed Sirius XM merger, none of which were more interesting than the comments made by current Sirius Chief Executive Mel Karmazin. When asked about what would stop him from raising prices, Karmazin responded by saying, not only will the new company not raise its monthly price from $12.95, it very well could lower it!

Mel wants to make it clear to those at the House hearings that he would be willing to agree to pricing restrictions to prove that the proposed merger of the two satellite giants would do nothing but help consumers.

This is good news for those penny pinching fans out there but, I don’t think this comes as any surprise. Mel has always said that raising the cost for 10% of radio listeners is not smart business and that Sirius is more concerned with converting the other 90% of listeners who have not yet made the change. It should also be noted that if the merger is approved, the new company will have far less overhead, a savings that can easily be passed along to consumers.