Full FeedFive reasons why Sirius and XM won’t merge
Everyone has been talking about a possible merger between Sirius and XM for the past two weeks. The discussions were spurred by comments from management on both sides of the story. The story has seemed to gain ground even though a single company is a very unlikely result.
Here are the top five reasons from Orbitcast on why a merger would never work:
- The FCC - From a regulatory standpoint, it’s hard to say whether or not the FCC would approve such a merger. Here’s the single biggest defining question: Does the FCC consider satellite radio as part of a broader market for the distribution of music?
- The Democrats - Historically in a Democratic-controlled Congress, major media mergers are looked upon less favorably. Democratic committee chairs are expected to call for increased antitrust scrutiny of mergers in certain sectors, including energy and telecommunications.
- The NAB - If you think the National Association of Broadcasters opposed the satellite radio industry as a two separate entities, imagine how they would react if a merger was proposed?
- The Technology - Both companies broadcast from satellites using the 2.3 Ghz S band, but the similarities stop there. Using different codecs, different encryption routines and different modulation techniques. Each receiver is unique to its respective provider.
- Who Buys Who? - XM’s enterprise value is 20% smaller than Sirius’ is, but XM has a larger subscriber base and more OEM penetration. Both companies believe their individual strategy for growth is the “right” strategy.
There are so many more points on why the merger would never fly, as well as a host of reasons why it could be the best thing to happen to satellite radio. Either way, the likelihood of it working is extremely low.
Read the whole story [Orbitcast]
Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - 
Subscribe to our feed
Who's on Crack in Tech?
Gadgetell's own version of William Shatner, JG Mason tackles the seemingly bizarre moves in the tech world. Catch his Friday column to see who gets called out this week..
Palm Pre and Palm Pixi Information
Interested in Palm? Want to know more about webOS, the Pre or the Pixi? Not to worry because Gadgetell's got the latest news and information right here.
Do you even own any stock in either of these 2 companies??!! The comments you make are very much opinioniated and furthermore, you have no clue what you are talking about. Everything you mention in your article is nothing more than second hand news that is availble to every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” that follows these publicly traded companies. Lesson 101: Make a statement based on FACTS and not assumptions. Please refer to the first 3 letters of the word “assumption”...that speaks for itself. And next time you care to offer a self-proclaimed opinion of a publicly traded company, it is in your best interest to examine the financials of said company.
Regards,
Facts not fluff
on January 8, 2007 at 08:43 AM - LINK