Monday, February 19, 2007

XM Gets Sirius: A merger of "equals"... two companies that, equally, have lost a lot of money. I know a lot of good people who work at both companies and you know that if this goes through, layoffs of equals will ensue. Bottom line: Satellite has a long way to go to get close to FM/AM radio in terms of reach, influence and most importantly, profits.

1 comment:

Buzz Jackson said...

Right on the money, Joel. Both satellite companies have been bleeding money since they launched. I don't know what's worse: letting them merge, or keeping them from merging and having one of them go out of business anyway. The end result would be the same: one satellite radio company.

The problem, as I see it, is, they overpaid for content, and there aren't enough Howard Stern listeners at $12.95 a month to help them make their money back.

The FCC denied DirecTV and Dish Network their merger a few years back, and they both seem to have turned out OK.

Good read, Joel. Thanks,

Buzz @ KIIM