Sat Merger - interesting

Sat Radio: Merger Approval = Lower cost?

Posted by samc on July 23rd, 2007

CNet reports if the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio goes through, the combined company plans to offer packages of channels at reduced rates, including a 50-channel offering that’s almost half the price of today’s lowest-price option.

XM Satellite Radio (170 digital channels, 8 million subs) and Sirius Satellite Radio (130 digital channels, 6 million subs) announced the merger, then valued at $4.7 billion, last February. The move was met with concern from radio broadcasters who feared a combined XM-Sirius would crush radio competition.

New “a la carte” options, which will enable consumers to pick 50 or 100 channels from both XM and Sirius lineups (minus “premium” offerings) for $6.99 or $14.99 per month, respectively, are scheduled to kick in within one year of the merger’s completion, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin and XM Chairman Gary Parsons said in a joint statement Monday.

With the 50-channel plan, subscribers could opt to add additional nonpremium channels for 25 cents each.

Those packages will, however, require the purchase of a new radio capable of processing channel-by-channel requests. The gadgets, which are still under development, will “be priced at the same price as our other radios,” Sirius’ Karmazin said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday. (The cost of existing receivers currently appears to range from less than $50 to more than $200.)

Sirius and XM said they plan to offer more details about their new pricing plans in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday

source : dailywireless.org