XM and Sirius announced their plans to merge fully aware of FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin's stance on the matter. I think there's a decent chance this merger will go through. The question then becomes what does this mean for XM and Sirius subscribers?
The companies acknowledged during a conference call Tuesday that they would have to continue to operate both satellite systems in parallel for an extended period of time so as not to obsolete existing radios. Turns out the differences go beyond mere encryption to more fundamental incompatibilities between the two systems that would prevent the merged company from turning off one set of satellites without leaving half its subscribers in the dark.
That said, XM and Sirius could merge content almost immediately after the merger goes through, ensuring the XM customers can listen to Howard Stern and Sirius customers can listen to Oprah and Friends. Overlapping programming could be pared down. The combined company would also avoid the bidding wars for talent and exclusive broadcast arrangements with the NFL and the like. It will be interesting to see how Honda and other auto companies market satellite radio in the future. Will they still use the brand names or simply promote the fact that they've installed "satellite radio" on board?
