MERGER

[mountaintosea]

Any opinions about new merger just annonced regarding Sirius and Xm? I'm aware that it might not happen due to regulations etc. But seems to be better deal for those holding shares of Xm stock?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Just maybe the combined entity will have a viable business model.

 

[macdaddy]

If XM shares go near $17 (the merger price) I will short them... if the merger falls apart I'm sure they will fall back down to the current level.

 

[mountaintosea]

Read that the subscribers will be able to go to either the Sirius program or the XM program. XM shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of Sirius for each share of XM.

 

[mountaintosea]

Never been comfortable shorting. I know that is not that unusual.

 

[audreyh1]

I thought the FCC (or some other govt agency?) had flatly stated that they will not allow a merger?

Audrey

 

[REWahoo]

I thought the FCC (or some other govt agency?) had flatly stated that they will not allow a merger?

Yep. Gonna be interesting to watch.

Tough antitrust hurdles seen for XM, Sirius deal

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A month ago, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said a tie-up between satellite radio companies XM and Sirius wouldn't get past his agency. On Monday, the chiefs of those companies decided to challenge that vow.

 

[Martha]

I was thinking about the antitrust issue and it seems a bit odd to say the merger would violate antitrust laws when neither company is making any money and either could fail. Neither one has market power.

And they do have competition; regular old free radio.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Reminds me a lot of the Directv/USSB merger. Dish came along shortly after that. And Martha's correct about the competition piece...Directv had cable and a rooftop antenna to contend with. Unless I was driving a vehicle for hours and day, I cant really grok spending $13 a month for radio.

 

[gindie]

And they do have competition; regular old free radio.

And more specifically the new concept of "HD Radio", which is marketing itself as the free alternative to satellite.

 

[Nords]

Wow, two crappy business models with no profits will merge into one bigger crappy business model with no profits. But think of the money they'll be saving!

Kinda reminds me of the AOL-Time-Warner merger. Or when Daimler met Chrysler. Or when Disney met Pixar. Oh, wait, that last one doesn't count because they were actually making profits.

Here's a harbinger. Sirius announced today, for about the umpteenth time, that they're bringing satellite radio to Hawaii. They have an opportunity to reach all over the Pacific, Asian Rim, & Australia with satellite coverage that could be sold to many many different niche markets.

Only one problem. Know how they're implementing this satellite radio? Not with a satellite but through a local ground station and an FCC waiver. Whoops.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/02/20/news/story02.html

I'm sure they can afford to put a new satellite into orbit for such a big & profitable market. Maybe they're just waiting for Lockheed's latest satellite upgrade. Yeah, that's it. And they'll be buying it with all the proactive synergies that they leverage from this innovative merger.

Just as soon as they figure out the "rightsizing"...

I've touched a lot of questionable stocks in my time but I've never been able to figure out whether to buy either of these two, let alone short them. Still can't.

 

[d]

Any opinions about new merger just annonced regarding Sirius and Xm?

since you asked, though it does not exactly respond, upon hearing this news i immediately thought that it was the very first time i was wishing to have more coverage of anna nicole and britney

 

[Outtahere]

Dh has XM in his truck, it came with 3 months free and he liked it so he signed up for a year. We're now closing in on the end of the year and he's not as happy as he initially was. We listened to it all the way to FL and back, yes there are lots of stations but if you like one in particular you soon find them repeating the same play list day after day. Even the comedy stations crank out the same stuff over and over. The biggest aggravation was the commercials, they have increased to the annoying level, not quite as bad regular radio but close and I'm sure it will only get worse. Then there are the TV news shows that they broadcast, something is lost without picture and we soon found ourselves changing the channel once again. In the end we both decided that it wasn't worth it and he's not renewing his subscription. I'm sure we're not the only ones dropping this service. Why pay for it when I can get the same crapola for free.

I have a friend that was sure he was going to make a killing as soon as Howard Stern jumped to Sirius. He bought Sirius stock, two weeks later it took a nose dive and still hasn't come back to his purchase price. Maybe this merger will help him out.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I just looked up the stats and there are 55 high definition (digital) stations now broadcasting for free in the Los Angeles area.

I like free and just may (one day) upgrade my car radio to HD. In my opinion HD radio just may put sirius and XM out of business.

Check out this link to HD radio

http://www.hdradio.com/index.php

 

[audreyh1]

We got XM radio years ago because in all our cross country driving, we got darn tired of searching for radio channels, trying to find decent music or news or weather reports and finding mostly garbage (for us) and lots of commercials instead. Tired of a channel fading out after 50-100 miles.

Satellite radio solved that problem, and we've used it every since. It's also nice getting the broadcast news channels while driving. Most of the music channels are commercial free - that's wonderful!

I don't know why anyone would need it if they did all their driving within one urban area, but for the constant long-distance road traveler it's very, very nice.

Audrey

 

[jazz4cash]

[

Wow, two crappy business models with no profits will merge into one bigger crappy business model with no profits. But think of the money they'll be saving!

Obviously since they ain't makin money, its easy to say the business model sucks, but really how is it any different than cable TV? XM has 7 MILLION subscribers! The service is only 10 bucks per month if you sign long term. I LOVE the service, but I am a true radio geek that drives around a multi-state area............so maybe guys like me are just too far and few between. I DO agree the music programming leaves alot to be desired, but I think it will catch on eventually.

DISCLAIMER: I get XM for free in my company car AND I have a few shares which are doing quite well!

 

[Nords]

Obviously since they ain't makin money, its easy to say the business model sucks, but really how is it any different than cable TV?

Uh, probably because cable TV has built out an infrastructure and gets people to pay for channels that they actually want to watch advertisers to pay them lots of money to show ads to captive audiences.

You just read that posters are canceling out of satellite radio because there are too many ads. Instead the satellite radio guys have... uhm... oh, yeah, Howard Stern-- and not even the one that screwed Anna Nicole, just the one that screwed the company out of his multi-million appearance fee. How's their stock doing since Stern joined them?

You mean satellite or ground-rebroadcast signals like Dish? Again I think they're actually charging enough money to cover their costs. The satellite radio companies appear to be losing a little on each transaction but making it up on subscriber volume.

I think the business model sucks whether they're making money or not. If they were claiming to make money I'd be sniffing around for evidence of fraudulent accounting. Many companies with great business models have also managed to avoid making money!

 

[HFWR]

Regarding the free v. cable debate, I'd vote cable. Yeah, being a cheapo, I'd rather not pay, but the over-the-airwaves broadcasters have chit for programming, IMHO. Only watch them for the local weather forecast.

In the p/u, however, I have many free radio choices, plus a CD player, and around 300 CDs in the collection, so paying for radio seems, well, redundant at best...

And you'd have to pay ME to listen to Howard Stern...

 

[Leonidas]

And you'd have to pay ME to listen to Howard Stern...

What, you're not into hearing a grown man with the intellect of a 12 year old talking to sleazy chicks and coming up with lines like

Oh, wow. You're hot

What would it take to let me see your panties?

 

[HFWR]

Well, don't get me wrong; I like wearing seeing panties as much as the next guy...

But not if I have to listen to Howie...