Sirius, XM Merger Gets FCC Approval 187
Multiple readers, including koavf, have written to tell us the FCC has finally approved the Sirius-XM merger that has been in the works for quite a while now. CNN has picked up AP coverage as well. We discussed approval of the merger by the Justice Department a few months ago. From CNN:
"The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the buyout, with the tiebreaker coming Friday night from Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. Tate had insisted that the companies settle charges that they violated FCC rules before she would approve the deal. The companies agreed this week to pay $19.7 million to the U.S. Treasury for violations related to radio receivers and ground-based signal repeaters. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed the final vote Friday night. 'I think it's going to be, in the end, a good thing for consumers and be in the public interest,' he told The Associated Press."
Re:Satellite Radio is a joke (Score:3, Interesting)
Unfortunately, consumer demand drives it. People listen to what's comfortable. I don't understand why the top40 stations are some of the most popular. Even the "indie" and punk stations play all the same crap. It's clearly selling though.
Oversight as usual (Score:5, Interesting)
No place to go. (Score:2, Interesting)
I had considered XM radio then the merger rumors started to fly so I held back. The problem I have is supporting content I strongly dislike. I can't stand Howard Stern. Yes I know he's God to some people but it reminds me of high school and I escaped from that place a long time ago. I was thrilled when he went satellite but it did drop Sirus off the options list. Now if I get satellite period I have to help pay his over sized paycheck for being annoying. I realized most reading this are likely to be fans but he creeps me out. One of the reasons for preventing monopolies is to give you options. You get to vote with your money. My only vote left is to not financially support satellite radio and hope it goes away. Not much of a choice involved. Far more important than ala cart cable we need ala cart satellite radio. Then everyone has options. There are plenty of Sternies to keep him afloat and I can have my rock stations. I competely agree about DJs and I thought the point of Satellite was to avoid them as well as commercials? DJ are there to save a buck no matter what they claim. Their mindless chatter is cheaper than playing music. I'm stuck in Phoenix now and when I drive back to LA I notice a massive difference. Here there's at least half the air time that is DJs and commercials with little actual music. Two thirds is music in LA. If I'm paying a fee can't we have at least a handful of rock stations and not have a bloody playlist?
Re:Satellite Radio is a joke (Score:2, Interesting)
Unfortunately, consumer demand drives it. People listen to what's comfortable. I don't understand why the top40 stations are some of the most popular. Even the "indie" and punk stations play all the same crap. It's clearly selling though.
There's not that much to understand, and you said it yourself- it's what's comfortable. Radio is listened to primarily (really, almost exclusively) in cars and in offices. It's a passive medium, just on in the background while the listener is doing something else.
That's why "shaking things up" rarely works in radio. For the most part, listeners don't want a challenge or to be actively entertained, they just want some inoffensive noise to keep them company.
The problem is too much regulation (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Satellite Radio is a joke (Score:2, Interesting)
*Major genres unrepresented.
Name 1. I dare you. A major genre must be a genre of music, let's say, more than 10,000 people in their market (The United States) listen to.
*Station playlists that would become predictable within a week.
No. Not even close. I have an XM system and the exact reason I have it is because the play lists are constantly in flux. Adding to the mix is that most stations have weekly radio shows that feature brand new (some of it without a label or release yet) music. An example if this is XM 82 The System's hosting of Armin van Buuren's A State of Trance. It doesn't get much fresher than the music he plays.
*Sub-genres within all genres utterly unrepresented in general (for example, one Metal station on all of Sirius, and it only plays death metal).
I'm sorry there isn't an entire channel devoted to speed metal, or 70's speed metal, or 70's speed metal by bands whose members included a man named Bart. Holy crap how can people be this picky?
*A whole slew of stations essentially devoted to playing the exact same stuff that you hear on standard Top 40 radio.
I assume you're also aware of the button on most SR receivers that forces you at gunpoint to listen to the stations you don't like (/sarcasm). Here's something you might also not be aware of : A LOT of people like that sort of music and have SR to listen to it on a nationwide, commercial free basis.
*Commercials, despite being advertised as commercial-free.
All of four XM stations have commercials. They will be gone once their contract with Clear Channel expires.
*Annoying DJs (the receivers display the name/artist playing, you do NOT need DJs trying to be funny between every song).
Most of the stations I listen to have few, if any, DJs. The DJ's name and the name of the program (For example The XMU After School Special With Toby) while she's talking and the instant the song starts the information changes. Most receivers also have the capacity to remember song names, so you can recall them later.
*Oh, and a monthly fee on top of that.
Oh, I forgot, I'm on slashdot where everything should be free and Economics is a dirty word. You're a real peach there Anonymous Coward - OH MY GOD A FEE HOW DAAAARE THEY BWAAAAAAAAAAAAA ADS TOO?!!?!? You can't have it both ways.
When I think of your post, I think this:
*Someone call this guy a wahmbulance.
Re:Business as usual (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh please. Their struggles are about as legitimate as Microsoft's whining that there aren't enough H1B visas being handed out and that there are no qualified Americans for X thousand jobs.
Re:Satellite Radio is a joke (Score:3, Interesting)
Have you ever listened to satellite radio? I'm not sure who modded you up, but they (and you) have no clue.
There's a few top-40 stations, but I never hear them. I have my favorite songs and groups programmed in and it'll alert me when any of them appear on any channel (try doing that, HD Radio).
There's a monthly fee. There's a monthly fee for your Internet service too I bet. So what?
I'm not sure where you get commercials from. A few stations have them, and I don't think any of the music ones on Sirius do (Clear Channel programs some on XM and thus do).
What genres are unrepresented? There seems to be a great mix.
Re:Business as usual (Score:5, Interesting)
You miss the point entirely. Honda has a monopoly on Honda Civics. Only Honda is allowed to make a Civic by law. Despite this, we don't consider Honda a monopoly, simply because there are lots of other cars by other companies that we consider "civic like" such that you can easily find an alternative. If Honda was to double the price of a Civic tomorrow, you would just by a different car and feel only mildly annoyed.
On the other hand, if Honda was the only one allowed to build cars in general, we would call them a monopoly. Many people need a car and have no real alternative to a car. Sure, airplanes, trains, and buses compete with cars, but they compete poorly in many instances. Only a car is going to drive you 25 miles through a New England winter from one small town to another.
The Sirius and XM merger is not a big deal for two reasons.
1) There are lots of alternatives. If the price of cars doubled, many people would simply shell out double the cash to get one. If the price of XM/Sirius doubles without a quality improvement that people find fair, they will simply stop using the service. Free AM/FM radio are direct competitors with satellite radio. MP3 players are also direct competition for satellite radio. I can't substitute riding the bus for buy a car in many instances, but it is pretty trivial to substitute an iPod for satellite radio.
2) There is going to be only one satellite company, like it or not. Neither Sirius or XM are profitable. One of them WILL go bankrupt in the next couple of years. Once that happens you will be left with... one satellite radio station. They are begging to be allowed to merge because they want the destruction of the companies to be productive, rather then have one scattered to the wind while the other scrambles to pick up the pieces.
Like it or not, there will be only one satellite radio station. The only question is if it is going to happen in a couple of years when one finally throws in the towel, or because they merged and combined programing in an attempt to better compete with AM/FM and MP3 players.