Long wait for satellite radio deal may end soon

[ShockediSay]

Source: yahoo/ap

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s acquisition of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. may be cleared by federal regulators this month, and it can't happen fast enough for XM.

As the regulatory review drags on, the company is struggling to add enough new listeners to cover its massive operating costs, and slumping automobile sales further dim future prospects. Analysts say lobbying by traditional broadcasters opposed to the deal is one reason the regulatory review is taking so long.


Read more: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080706/xm_sirius_government_review.html

---

It's the lobbyists stupid !

Corruption by the lobbyists is the biggest hidden tax increase this nation has ever witnessed

[Grown2Hate]

1. No kidding!

Exxon Mobile merged quicker than Sirius/XM! If it weren't for the National Association of Broadcasters (read: terrestrial radio), this deal would have been done LONG AGO. There is clearly no monopoly, and it's not a necessary item. If they merge and then jack the price through the roof, CANCEL. How the fuck hard is this to get? This can't happen soon enough. :)

[VeraAgnes]

7. I purchased Sirius when

Air America joined them. I now have two radio lines; one for the car and secondly; for a boom box..a third; that would also be online but it comes free with the subscription. I'm lost without it!

[newmajority]

2. If XM wants to know why they're losing subscribers

It might have something to do with them having 7 or 8 blatantly right wing channels and only one supposedly "left wing" channel which doesn't even have the capability of airing Thom Hartmann, Rachel Maddow, or Mike Malloy's shows in entiretly and in their proper time slots.

Who's going to pay to hear partial programs??

[pattmarty]

3. My opinion, Sirius blows away XM. XM SUCKS!!!!

[newmajority]

4. Music channels, possibly. Political channels, Hell no!

Sirius Left is a fucking joke. True, they do air the entire Mike Malloy show at the proper time, but they don't do the same for Hartmann or Stephanie Miller. And their morning lineup of Alex Bennett, and especially Harriet Christian's twin sister Lynn Samuels - cannot even remotely be called "liberal", "left", or anything else implying that they are Democrats, because they clearly are not.

And (at least in this part of the country) Sirius's signal completely sucks. I could pick up XM in any room of the house. I'm not about to install a rooftop antenna for a fucking radio.

Hopefully when the merger goes through, they'll convert the Sirius programming over to the XM satellites.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. I can't stand talk radio of any sort,

but I find the music on Sirius much better than the music on XM, however I some shameful level I am a fan of Opie and Anthony.

[pattmarty]

10. Let me qualify my statement; I get it thru Dish network, before I......

.....had Direct TV and they had XM. When you have satellite TV you only get a small percentage of the stations with NO talk stations. I meant as MUSIC only, in that respect Sirius is WAY better. Personally, now I would not pay to have either on a stand alone basis.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. This freakshow needs to end NOW

The NAB and their lobbyists are trying to drag out this farce until one or both satellite radio providers go under in the false belief that in the absence of satellite radio people will return to the open sewer of terrestrial radio.

They shit in their bed and now they are trying to destroy the medium that resulted from making ordinary radio suck.

[mac56]

8. "open sewer of terrestrial radio"?!

Get back to me when your beloved XMSirius, or whatever the hell the Fisher Price system will call itself, goes under because they can't get enough subscribers to break even.

Old school local radio will be there to say, "We told you so."

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

11. it might be there but we won't be listening

I had no idea Clear Channel had so many supporters here,

[mac56]

12. not Clear Channel

I'm PD for a small market independently owned station.

I deeply resent being tarred with the Clear Channel brush.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. well I am glad your holding out

but radio everywhere else in America has been destroyed so please don't fault us for looking elsewhere.

[mac56]

16. Then don't bash those of us who are still doing it right.

Ready, fire, aim.

[high density]

14. local radio??

Yeah the broadcast tower may be local, but the vast majority of content on the FM band is probably coming from Clear Channel HQ in Texas.

[mac56]

17. See above.

Ready, fire, aim (part II)
.

[Steerpike]

9. Yup,

Pretty soon there will be a thousand stations, and nothing good to listen to.

[high density]

13. I'm thisclose to cancelling my XM subscription

I've had XM radio for a couple of years now, but the three or four music channels for the genres I like the most play the same songs over and over. I can recreate the same experience with a $60 MP3 player and my CD collection, with songs that I consistently like. Paying $156/yr for this is not worth it. I might come back if/when the cheap a la carte plans become reality, but the value just isn't there currently.

[MiniMe]

18. I gave up my XM this year due to budgetary restraints

I just can't justify the cost anymore. Luckily I can get cspan and air america on local channels, of course the reception isn't great. I'm also not crazy about the AAR lineup now with the exception of a few exceptions. I can stream at work and at home and I don't spend much time in the car anymore, who can afford to drive much?