On Jul 23, 6:24 pm, Brady <watercl
...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> --------
> FCC Commissioners Will Approve XM-Sirius Deal Satellite-Radio Merger
> Will Pass After Firms Pay $20 Million in Fines
> By AMY SCHATZ and SARAH MCBRIDE
> The Wall Street Journal
> July 24, 2008
> Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission have reached a
> tentative deal to approve the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio
> Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., FCC officials said Wednesday.
> Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate is expected to cast the final and
> deciding vote on the deal shortly, the officials said, after details are
> resolved on several outstanding enforcement issues. In exchange for her
> vote, Ms. Tate and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin have been negotiating with
> the companies to pay upward of $20 million in fines for violations
> regarding tower locations and power limits, people close to the
> negotiations said.
> The companies are valued at $7.5 billion combined.
> The deal will allow Sirius to make a big marketing push at holiday time,
> traditionally a big selling period for satellite radio. Within three
> months, the company is expected to have new la carte radios on the
> market. These will allow consumers to mix and match 50 or 100 radio
> stations from the two services.
> Even without a new radio, consumers will have new options. For example,
> a bare-bones plan of just 50 stations from one of the two services will
> cost $6.99 a month, compared with $12.95 for more than 100 stations
> currently. Consumers will also likely soon see a number of programming
> changes as the companies get rid of redundant programming.
> <snip>
> [http://tinyurl.com/6z7kh6]
> --------
> Brady
I'm worried the bare-bones plans with 50 stations will include about
30 stations I'd never listen to. Kind of like basic cable. I just
don't see the consumer coming out ahead or even staying in the same
place with the merger.
Currently I have XM in my pick-up and Sirius in my car. Paying for the
XM, one year of Sirius came with the Dodge I bought in November.
I rarely lose the XM signal, when I drive through a tunnel, and I just
have a little Tic Tac box size antennae stuck on the roof. With
Sirius, the antennae is in the factory radio antennae and I lose the
signal a dozen times a day. Any time I got under and overpass and
sometimes even a big tree.
I don't know if the signal problem with Sirius is with them or with my
car. But it is bad enough that I was not planning to continie with
Sirius when the year is up? Anyone else have a problem with the Sirius
signal?
