XM and Sirius Merger?

chipset writes "Well, it seems Sirius and XM are in talks again. This story from FoxNews indicates they are in merger discussions and want to expand their reach into all communications from space. This includes Cell, Music, and TV. I would love to see something like this take place. Give DirecTV and DishNetwork a little competition."

Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?!?!

[sulli]

By reducing competition in satellite radio? No thanks.

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[savagedome]

I think the Sirius CEO denied the marger.

http://www.forbes.com/2005/01/26/0126autofacescan0 4.html/ [forbes.com]

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[Zorilla]

No word yet on the Homer-er from the XM CEO.

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[FrYGuY101]

Don't worry.

It's a hoax [forbes.com].

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[AKnightCowboy]

It's a hoax.

It is most certainly NOT a hoax. My brother's neighbor's cousin's roommate works for Sirius and he's positive he overheard something in the lunchroom about this.

Hoax

[ackthpt]

Don't worry. .. It's a Hoax ..

Cripes. I read about it this morning and could see it wasn't even remotely likely as it would have to cut the mustard with the feds, i.e.:

It's Ok for there to be a monopoly if one goes out of business, but not Ok if the only two merge.

That aside... that's the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) logo up there in the corner. WTF does the defunct maker of Vaxen and PDP's have to do with satellite radio????

Re:Hoax

[Ohreally_factor]

And why for fuck's sake is this in science.slashdot?

Re:Hoax

[Ohreally_factor]

Wait. A moment after I posted that I figured it out. It's because of the satellites, which are in space. And space is all scientific and stuff.

Re:Hoax

[Zeinfeld]

Cripes. I read about it this morning and could see it wasn't even remotely likely as it would have to cut the mustard with the feds, i.e.:

And you think that Dufus would treat Fox News and Murdoch any less favorably than they treated their pals in Enron? Bush does not beleive in any restrictions on corporate power, Kenneth Lay is still free despite his role in the biggest fraud in US history.

Murdoch is a big investor in XM radio, the Republicans would like to control satelite radio before it can become

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[fm6]

A hoax? They just got their facts wrong. You must be one of those moderators that can't tell the difference between flamebait and a simple difference of opinion.

What's really weird is that this ended up in the Digital topic [slashdot.org]. Not the mistake -- the fact that Slashdot still has a topic for a company that disappeared 7 years ago!

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[fm6]

So if somebody disagrees with you, they're a fraud? Then I'm a fraud, and you're wasting your valuable time arguing with me.

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[Colonel Cholling]

t's a hoax.

Much like your sig.

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[nadadogg]

DTD is where it's at, man. We have the president of Chile's and Will Ferrell.

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[Martin Blank]

It wasn't even written by a Fox staffer -- it was written by a staffer from the NY Post.

Then again, that alone should be reason to avoid it. I don't even believe the Post's sports pages.

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[Kick the Donkey]

Fox News has a better accuracy rate...

...of reporting inaccurate exaggerations of the truth...

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[bill_mcgonigle]

Competition? You mean after I rip out my factory radio and replace it with another radio, just to try out the other service, and then if I liked the first one....

If there was a broadcast standard there would be competition. Right now it's two proprietary semi-monopolies for most consumers.

Re:Give DirecTV and Dish a little competition?!?!?

[pchan-]

Don't worry.
If you look at the slash logos on top, you'll see the logo of Digital Electronics Corporation, and Albert Einstein's head. Now, what do DEC and Einstein have in common, besides being dead? That's right, absolutely nothing. This proves that neither the submitter, nor the slashdot editor, actually has any idea what they're doing. Therefore, this story is probably bullshit.
QED.

Uh, no

[Anonymous Coward]

Sirius CEO says no merger. [billboardr...onitor.com]

Re:Uh, no

[game kid]

Thank you for replying just when I pressed Back on my browser.

I would have ranted on about how I couldn't afford sat-radio before the merger--but now I just have new reason to hate Fox News. They like to report on rumors, or sensationally (especially their 10-o'clock news in New York [fox5ny.com]--it's hard to tell from the site though), or (worse) both.

We (I at least) need more competition, not less. I'm glad they won't merge.

Re:Uh, no

[ForestGrump]

A small correction. It's pronounced "FOX News" but its actually spelled "FAUX News".

Grump

Re:Uh, no

[Dutchmaan]

..and Bungie said there was no deal with Microsoft days before they were bought out. Point being, you cannot trust business press releases..EVER.. they have no obligation to tell you the truth and they may very well be under some form of NDA...

Re:Uh, no

[telstar]

That's right ... given Sirius's financial state, millions owed to Stern ... and low subscriber base ... it'd likely be a takeover ... not a merger.

How to read Corporate Spin

[instarx]

And you believe him? Read his quote carefully...

"I have not met with the [XM] chair or the CEO, so I have no idea where this has come from," he said during his firm's Wednesday morning (1/26) earnings conference call.

What he actually said was that he has not met with the XM CEO, which says absolutely nothing about any merger or merger talks since their lawyers may be meeting. It also simply says he doesn't know what the source of the leak was. Again, this does NOT say anything about a merger, pro or

If this happens...

[benna]

I hope they don't get rid of any of the superior Sirius programming. We don't need another merger like G4/TechTV (though I know, its not to that extreme).

Re:If this happens...

[AtariKee]

Truly spoken like someone who has never experienced Sirius...

Re:If this happens...

[benna]

I don't know what your talking about. I hate top 40. Sirius has "Sirius Disorder," which might be the best radio station ever to exist. They play ANYTHING. They give their DJs on that station total control. One song might be REM, the next, opera.

False.

[LordJezo]

Nope. Sorry.
http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news /business/digital/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_ id=1000777229 [billboardr...onitor.com]

dupe!

[syukton]

The thing I find funny is that the exact same story was submitted yesterday.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl ?sid=05/01/2 6/2319240&tid=91&tid=14

I mean it's the exact same story.

The link in the blurb is the same.
The blurb itself is the same.
The submitter is the same.
EVEN THE POSTER IS THE SAME.

Last time it was in "digital" and "science" and this time it's in the same sections (which are, relatedly, a totally wrong categorization, for which samzenpus should be flogged with a bundle of cat5 ethernet cables)

I emailed [e-mail] about this, to no avail; the dupe got posted anyhow.

Re:dupe!

[rdwald]

Actually, in addition to the similarities you noted, both stories were posted at the exact same time. Literally the only difference is the date. This makes me wonder if there wasn't some sort of software error that somehow duplicated the post. Either that, or samzenpus decided to make the most dupeful dupe in the history of /.

Re:dupe!

[dnaboy]

Sweet. I hope this is a trend. I'm going to sit at my computer all day tomorrow and tick off the seconds until I get a shot at being the first to make some witty comment about Bill Gates' Lexus, maybe crap on the cost of Mac upgrades, and maybe, just maybe, I can be quick enough to get first post on day 3 of the XM / Sirius merger rumor.

Re:dupe!

[daveo0331]

There's also some weird stuff going on with the comments [slashdot.org] in the previous posting of this story. Maybe they reposted the article so people would have a chance to comment? Either that, or there's some weird slashcode bug causing both the missing comments and the reposting.

What would be really funny

[suso]

What would be even funnier is if the comments were the same too.

Slashdot is dumb sometimes.

[EvilStein]

.. they put up dupe stories, but rejected one that was submitted about the US Copyright Office actually requesting comments from the public about what to do with stuff like abandonware. With all of the copyright talk that goes on around here, one would think that an article about possible HUGE copyright change would get posted. But no, the article about the history of the space suit and then this dupe beat it out.

Article was mirrored in its entirety here [pbp.net]

What will it cost us?

[kosmicki]

I just hope they take over XM's price.

Re:What will it cost us?

[kosmicki]

If it was real that is....

Re:What will it cost us?

[wayward_son]

And give us free, unlimited, internet streaming from muliple locations.

Since I use the streaming at work (no signal), Sirius was actually a better deal. I still got XM because I preferred XM's content.

I don't think so.

[uncoveror]

XM and their lone competitor merging? You can't be Sirius!

Because everybody's

[The Pi-Guy]

Because everybody's VAX needs satellite radio for that high-quality audio sound! :)
joshua

Re:Because everybody's

[forkazoo]

Naw, I just need a good radio to drown out the sound of my VAXServer. That thing has case fans fo make any PC user run in fear. Seriously, they are like 10 inches across... :)

Re:Because everybody's

[forkazoo]

At least they put wheels on 'em so you could use them as a VAXume cleaner.

(queue drum hits)

Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week.

rumor put down (I think)

[bersl2]

http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/prin table_version.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000777229 [billboardr...onitor.com]

My link's also a dupe. Mod up somebody else.

[bersl2]

OK?

Not true says Mel!

[Stubtify]

http://www.forbes.com/2005/01/26/0126autofacescan0 4.html all the lovely details on the official response to this merger. The story broke this morning and not an hour later Mel Karmazin (Sirius CEO) had a response out. Its up to you to decide if that's spin control or the truth.

Re:Not true says Mel!

[bersl2]

My source says that the story broke in the New York Post, obviously a paragon of journalistic integrity.

Huh?

[blackmonday]

"I would love to see something like this take place"

You've got to be kidding me. We need competition in this market, to drive down prices and increase the quality of service. Plus, with Sirius you get a no-ClearChannel service. Can't say the same about XM.

Re:Huh?

[jerw134]

Actually, ClearChannel sold off their entire share of XM a while ago.

Exactly

[ad0gg]

There's a reason why the FCC created two broadcast frequencies for sat radio. If Sirius wants to merge, I say allow them to but they can't bring over their frequency but allowed to auction off instead.

BTW, clearchannel only owns about a 2% stake in XM, I dont' even think they have representative on the board now. Considering clearchannel has been trying to get XM to drop their localized weather and traffic channels, they have very little control over XM.

Clear water complains to FCC about XM and Sirius [slashdot.org]

Hope they combine services

[digitalgimpus]

That way for 1 fee:

Howard Stern
Opie & Anthony

awesome!

Really?

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

I flipped past Fox News just a few minutes ago and they reported that the president of XM had no idea where this story came from.

Re:Really?

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Please note my use of the words 'flipped past'.

;)

Re:Really?

[game kid]

Noted and much appreciated.

Rumor Denied

[spin2cool]

Yep - the denial was reported earlier today on several sources:
br / http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news /business/digital/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_ id=1000777229

That would really suck

[mkop]

It would be worse than say, oh HP and Compaq merging. Less competition is a very bad thing

Re:That would really suck

[mboverload]

They were both crappy companies, not like anyone bought anything from them anyway.

Competition in some markets, but...

[dnaboy]

I can understand wanting to encourage competition, but DirecTV and Dish already have some stiff competition from Cable. I really don't see this fundamentally changing that landscape. What does change though is that you would only have one provider of sattelite radio. In the end, I think there's a net negative effect on competition if this were to go through.

The one thing that I think would be really cool, but I'm not sure of the feasability of, would be to eliminate the need for a perfectly aimed dish

Re:Competition in some markets, but...

[cloudmaster]

I think Dish'd competition is themselves. They keep saying "swith to us, because cable rates are constantlyrising", but then, every year, I've gotten a $2 or $3 increase letter from them.

"We're adding a bunch of shitty channels that you don't want, and so you'll be paying us more money again this year. Enjoy not being able to just keep what you have - here's a free pay-per-view movie coupon, valued at almost $2."

fake news story guys..

[Acid-F1ux]

Mel Karmazin characterized a New York Post report of a potential XM-Sirius merger as the "third rumor" he has had to deal with in his first eight weeks as Sirius CEO. "I have not met with the [XM] chair or the CEO, so I have no idea where this has come from," he said during his firm's Wednesday morning (1/26) earnings conference call. Commenting later in the call on a question about potential antitrust restrictions for such a merger, Karmazin said he would never try to predict what the government would or

Re:fake news story guys..

[xanadu-xtroot.com]

1. Howard, is that you?

Ha ha!

[zobier]

WTF? [slashdot.org]

Why the DEC logo?

[Jozer99]

Why the DEC logo?

Re:Why the DEC logo?

[kalidasa]

I'm guessing that the category is marked "digital" in the submission interface, and the submitter is too young to remember DEC and thinks the category is for digital lifestyle devices.

Re:Why the DEC logo?

[tverbeek]

{sigh} Last summer I had to explain this to my new 24-year-old coworker, who thought it was funny that one of our computer labs was full of old computers that bragged (with the above logo) about being "digital", as if that was some kind of fancy feature or something. The first computer I ever logged into was a PDP, I got most of my formal CS education using VAXen, and I even went to DECUS back in the early 90's, so it was a bit painful having to explain to him what DEC was, and that it was founded back when "digital equipment" was something pretty fancy.

Re:Why the DEC logo?

[Tim Fraser]

I loved Digital's VT terminals. I've still got three, but none of the last few machines I've bought have RS-232 ports to connect them. Sad...

- Tim Fraser

Re:Why the DEC logo?

[tverbeek]

Coincidentally, I learned a few weeks later from an older coworker that he'd once worked for DEC, and had done the case design for... of all things... the VT-100, a device which - as much as the $ prompt - was central to my computing experience in college. He seemed pleased to hear that... but less than thrilled about what it implied about his age. :)

A story from DecPark Reading

[hughk]

A sweet young thing arrives for an interview as a temp at Decpark in Reading, UK. She no doubt passes the large corporate logo at the entrance saying "Digital". After being asked the usual questions about her skills (i.e., being pretty), she is asked:

Do you now what we do here?

Well, you make watches, don't you?

Many of the engineers there were extremly upset that the company had so many good things, which were then being marketed so badly. This really ground the whole thing in.

Re:Why the DEC logo?

[bladesjester]

This 24-year-old would have gone "oooooh" and dashed into the lab to check out the DECs. I've had a little experience with DECs being used as servers for a few things at a previous job (I was an admin/network analyst/tech) and the bloody things ran like tanks until the hardware finally started to fail.

Re:Why the DEC logo?

[Jozer99]

I'm 18, and for the last 2 years one of the computers in my room has been a DEC Alphastation 500 with 8 SCSI hard drives. It is a great machine, sadly I need to sell it before I go to college, or else I fear that it will be trashed by my parents. Anyone interested? I can't say that I am suprised that people don't know what DECs are, though. In this industry, if you don't release a new product every 6 months, you will be completely obsolete in a year and forgotten in 4. Anyone remember Voodoo or Number N

What Should Happen

[tobes]

While this is pretty unfounded, it does open the door to further speculation. My personal choice (if I were CEO of XM or Sirius) would be to acquire Real and merge my subscriber base with the Rhapsody subscribers. One account and you can stream Rhapsody to your computer or sat radio to your reciever. Personally, I'd subscribe to such a service.

The name of the new company

[Anonymous Cowherd X]

It's a good thing the merger rumour was just that because if it were true the new company would probably be named Sirius-XM. Serious sex, mmm... Now imagine a merger of the new company with SK-Earthlink... Ask a earthling: serious sex, mmm? I suspect alien involvement...

Not possible

[mboverload]

I seriously doubt their satellites are equipped to broadcast video, or anything other than satellite radio for that matter.

And the name of the new company will be...

[kclittle]

... Xirius.

No, xeriously!

The story from Fox News is...

[TheLittleJetson]

"George Bush is the bestest president since JESUS!"

Stay tuned...

Re:The story from Fox News is...

[feed_me_cereal]

I actually don't see this as a troll... Personally, I think linking to foxnews for nearly any reason other than to point out how poor of journalists they are is pretty silly.

Re:The story from Fox News is...

[Ohreally_factor]

I don't want to alarm you but there are some people who believe he is Jesus, second coming. They haven't come out and said it, but they hint it.

If it ain't broke...

[interstellar_donkey]

I really hope something like this doesn't happen.

I have Sirius, and I'm pleased as punch with it. I can't see how merging with XM (if the story is, in fact, true) would make things any better.

Sirius has some great stations with good DJs. The bigger you make the company, the more whitewashed it becomes. I don't know what XM is all about, but people who have it tell me they like it. That's fine. But a little compitition never hurt anyone. Monopolies, on the other hand, usually don't work, espically with something as subjective as music.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

One player in the satellite radio market...

[hendridm]

I would love to see something like this take place.

I think most current XM and Serius customers who already think they're paying enough money would disagree.

I think Microsoft and God should merge - that way, you wouldn't have to worry about where you go when you die.

Compete with Dish?

[MrZaius]

I don't know what the relationship is, exactly, but Dish Network already rebroadcasts/picks up the Sirius radio stations. Why bite the hand that feeds you?

See:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/program ming/sir ius/index.shtml

I have XM and love it

[sdo1]

Having had XM for a few months, I can not even begin to tell how absolutely sucky broadcast radio is. I know you think you know that it sucks. I thought so to. But I just didn't realize how horrid it had become until I had a wealth of listening options in my car. Just the thought of yet another inane "radio personality" (I refuse to use the term DJ... they're not) screaching at me makes me shutter. And if I have to go somewhere in my wife's car (sans XM)... ugh.

As far as a merger... well, I must admit that I'm a bit miffed with their exclusive sports contracts right now. XM has (or will have) Major League Baseball and Sirius has (or will have) NFL. I'd love to have both, but not if I have to get two sets of equipment and pay two subscription charges.

I think most of the rest of the programming (Stern and company excluded) is mostly duplicated between the two. The music selections are very similar as is much of the other programming.

Right now, I think they need to grow the subscriber base and I don't know as if the competition between XM and Sirius helps matters. I've heard a lot of people say that they're waiting to see which one survives before jumping on board. That's not a good thing for the long term viability of either one. In the long run, I think a merger would be helpful. They're competing against the status quo and against "free" broadcast radio. That alone should keep rates down. I don't think the XM vs. Sirius competition really means as much.

-S

Re:I have XM and love it

[Dachannien]

That's an interesting thought, actually. My kneejerk reaction to this story was that regulators would never let such a deal go through (assuming that they were actually pondering such a move), but now that you mention it, this may be one case where competition (at least of this magnitude) is bad for the consumer.

Specifically, as you've mentioned, XM and Sirius have already split up two entire major sports leagues (MLB on XM, and NFL on Sirius). This sort of exclusive contract bidding limits the listener'

DJ is an honorific?

[Valdrax]

Just the thought of yet another inane "radio personality" (I refuse to use the term DJ... they're not) screaching at me makes me shutter.

Wait... you think "disc jockey" is more of a honor to them than saying that they are/have "personalities?"

uhhhh

[nocomment]

but what does this have to do with DEC?

Nooooooo!

[CTachyon]

Are you insane? Big corporate behemoths merging together never results in competition. The elephants are mating, and customers are the grass.

Probably not a whole lot of competition

[rfc1394]

In addition to running a series of about 60 music channels of their own, Dish Network carries about 68 from Sirius Satellite Network as well. So even if XM and Sirius do merge, Dish Network would still probably carry their channels as well. As long as they don't provide a video service, neither XM nor Sirius is truly any kind of competitor to Dish Network or DirectTV. As Dish Network has realized, an audio service can be a compliment to their offerings, not a competitor. An audio-only service is not a competitor to a video service. Dish Network, DirectTV and your local cable TV franchise are competitors, but XM and Sirius are not.

Is the slashdot editor on drugs?

[slashdot_commentator]

What on earth does a potential commercial transaction between two companies specializing in transmission of audio entertainment through satellites have to do with science ????

This has nothing to do with science; the collection of empirical data and experimental analysis to derive a physical truth. Its not a merger between two science research centers or science periodicals. It doesn't affect transmission of data between science research centers. It doesn't even affect scientific research funding. This

Re:Is the slashdot editor on drugs?

[Ohreally_factor]

You said it in your first sentence. Satellites. Satellites are in space, right? And what could be more scientific than space. It's like science fiction, but without the fiction, right? Isn't that science? Spaceships and stuff?

Re:Is the slashdot editor on drugs?

[slashdot_commentator]

Satellites. Satellites are in space, right? And what could be more scientific than space.

That depends. Computers. Computers are used in space, right? Then almost all /. stories should be in science then, right?

It's like science fiction, but without the fiction, right? Isn't that science? Spaceships and stuff

Oh, now I get it. A satellite is a form of spaceship, except its doesn't convey anything in space. Spaceships are science fiction, so by linguistic reduction, that makes it science . How

Re:Is the slashdot editor on drugs?

[Ohreally_factor]

You got it, Tator!

You must be a scientist or something, doing science and stuff!

samzenpus

[njfuzzy]

This is the same poster that let about a half-dozen duplicate posts go up late at night a couple of weeks back. No surprise that he's reposting his own stories as dupes now.

My question is, is this someone who is just really bad as his job, or a password that got out?

Re:they would give traditional media good competit

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearchannel knows this and that is why they own a large percentage of one of the companies. XM I think.

Repeat after me: Clear Channel no longer owns any substantial percentage of XM. [yahoo.com]

Re:they would give traditional media good competit

[jerw134]

ClearChannel used to own part of XM, but they don't anymore.

Re:they would give traditional media good competit

[Joey7F]

Because one would assume the price of bottled water would go up. At some point, it no longer becomes worth it to some to have bottled water. They then drink tap water. So the price is not determined by competitors but by what one is willing to pay before they decide that the quality difference is not that great.

If they merge, I hope they can bring back some of the old XM stations that are currently online only like On the Rocks, Special X etc.

--Joey

Re:How would it give sat TV competition?

[nuclear305]

The summary indicates they would expand their products into TV and other markets in addition to radio.

I forgive you for stopping midway through the summary to post a question which is answered in it...

Re:How would it give sat TV competition?

[Bluetick]

I know most people don't RTFA, but you can at least RTFS.

Re:Competition through merging. . .

[chrismcdirty]

Yes. I prefer competition through exclusive contracts, like EA and Take Two do things.

Re:Give DirecTV and DishNetwork a little competiti

[nuclear305]

"Try creating a monopoly on satellite radio before the industry even gets off its feet"

I'm not sure the industry is going to get any more off its feet as far as additional competition.

This isn't exactly like a Windows -vs- Linux battle because these are both pieces of software that more often than not will run on the same hardware.

In the case of satellite radio you have to buy hardware specific to that company. I'd equate this more to Betamax -vs- VHS. Betamax may have been a superior format but for t

XM, brought to you by Clear Channel

[metamatic]

You mean they have nothing to do with each other, apart from XM being part-owned by Clear Channel [xmradio.com], right?

Stupid astroturfer.

Re:Someone please

[hobo2k]

Yeah, this is very sad. Viewing the Digital category takes you on a quick time warp back to 1998. It is filled with articles like "End Of The Line For Alpha", "VAX Users See the Writing on the Wall", and finally articles posted by people who have no idea what DEC was.

Rest in peace DEC.

Re:Someone please

[n0mad6]

That's not true at all! DEC and Alpha live on as part of Compa... oh wait, never mind.

Re:Someone please

[Ohreally_factor]

Well, isn't a digital satellite a type of digital equipment? And before anyone mods me down, think about it. Samzenpus and chipset really might be that stupid.