theres already a thread comtemplating the idea, but its too old to post in now:

http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=426948

apparently its expected to be announced today. i had a feeling this would happen eventually:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02192007/business/heavenly_deal_business_peter_lauria.htm

Quote :

"HEAVENLY DEAL SIRIUS, XM SET TO CONFIRM MERGER PLAN TODAY By PETER LAURIA February 19, 2007 -- Satellite radio operators Sirius and XM are expected to announce their long-awaited merger today, according to a source familiar with the deal. The two sides were locked in negotiations over the weekend trying to hammer out a final agreement with an eye toward going public with the merger today in Washington, D.C., where XM is based, this source said. Talks were still going on at press time and the deal could fall apart at any time. With antitrust issues of paramount importance, this source said lawyers for both companies were working overtime to fine-tune the language of the agreement and frame the discussion around the deal itself and not regulatory concerns. The transaction is expected to be structured as a merger of equals, but given Sirius' higher enterprise value, shareholders in the Mel Karmazin-led firm will likely come away with a larger percentage of a combined company. According to the source, XM Chairman Gary Parsons will retain that title in the combined entity, with Karmazin likely taking the CEO role. It is unclear what role, if any, XM CEO Hugh Panero will play. Combining Sirius and XM would result in a single satellite radio operator with more than 12 million total subscribers. A deal would also marry Sirius content, such as Howard Stern, Frank Sinatra and Nascar with XM's Oprah Winfrey, Bob Dylan and Major League Baseball. More important, analysts widely predict that a deal would also save the two companies nearly $7 billion annually. Karmazin and Parsons have been dropping hints since last summer about a possible tie-up, believing that competition from terrestrial radio, online radio and mobile music devices such as iPods have not only expanded the marketplace but also lowered the regulatory hurdles to a deal. In a note on Friday, Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck speculated that Sirius and XM needed to move quickly before their window of opportunity closed. Gaining regulatory approval "could take up to 15 months; hence, we think any proposed deal needs to be announced by the end of March to close by mid-2008," Peck wrote. On Friday, XM shares hit their lowest point since early November while Sirius shares were approaching 52-week lows. Shares in both companies did trade on heavy volume and ended the session higher, with Sirius gaining 10 cents to close at $3.70 and XM jumping a dollar to $13.98. "

[Edited on February 19, 2007 at 9:58 AM. Reason : s]

2/19/2007 9:39:04 AM

Damn, that sounds like a sweet merger. Personally, I've only heard Sirius from my friend's ride, and I love it. Satellite radio is WAY better than terrestial.

2/19/2007 9:43:46 AM

I love the massive selection of sat radio. And I like it static free, but I'll be damned if they don't compress the hell out of it. To my ears, it sounds like a 112kbps or worse mp3. The bass and the highs are severely compressed and often times the vocals sounds like they are being sung into a barrel with noise absorbing treatment on the insides to damp the echo.

At least, this is Sirius. Maybe XM sounds overall much better?

2/19/2007 9:59:53 AM

GG, take note HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

2/19/2007 10:02:15 AM

maybe XM subscribers will get access to howard stern

plz plz plz plz plz

2/19/2007 10:14:54 AM

I've noticed some compression on some songs on some stations on XM but overall it sounds great. Maybe somewhere between a 128-160kbps in quality.

2/19/2007 10:22:00 AM

XM sounds greaton certain channels (the twenties I think) but not so good on other channels. Any ideas on cost increases for current subscribers and if a new radio is required to get all the channels from both companies?

2/19/2007 10:25:27 AM

I love this deal, escp. since Sirius just got real gay and removed Channel 67 while XM still has "The Torch"

that station was solid, yet they go add another bluegrass or some random station that 2.3 people listen to on average

The crappy thing is that this will take a LONG time to implement -- I doubt we'll see playlist changes within the year. Plus, the FCC is going to crap a brick at this. This has monopoly written all over it, but who cares. I'd wager that we'd all shell out $1-2 more to have NFL *AND* MLB, and Big east *AND* ACC, not to mention the talk icons.

2/19/2007 10:27:39 AM

im pissed sirius got the frank sinatra rights and took them away from XM. that new sinatra channel on sirius sounds awesome. now it'll be nice to get them back if this deal goes through

2/19/2007 10:29:55 AM

attn sirius, dont mess with my lifetime listening subscription or ill kill you all.

2/19/2007 1:25:36 PM

attn sirius, dont mess with XM's rock lineup or I'll kill you

2/19/2007 1:42:10 PM

^^ thats because xm blows

nancy sinatra was on stern last week talking about how xm really didnt have it together

2/19/2007 1:42:24 PM

^^ same goes for sirius's rap. rock i could live with a change, though the metal station is good.

2/19/2007 2:13:55 PM

I rented a Caddy when I was on a trip a few weeks ago. It had XM Radio. I was very unimpressed. as this was a new car with a fairly decent Bose stereo, the sound quality was shitty. It sounded very compressed with a noticeable lack of bass or treble. Until that point I was considering adding the service to my deck, but after the 4 days trying it out, decided it wasnt worth the money.

2/19/2007 2:24:51 PM

attn XM, dont mess with sirius's rock lineup or I'll kill you

2/19/2007 3:30:14 PM

I love the outlaw country on sirius. I hope that they will continue that if this merger goes through.

2/19/2007 4:08:26 PM

Quote :

"new car with a fairly decent Bose stereo,"

psst.... bose's car audio is even worse than their home audio.

2/19/2007 4:12:47 PM

psst... Its better than 90% of the other crap installed in cars.

Let me put it in a different light... When comparing XM to quality FM radio, the XM sucked. Thats a statement I can make, regardless of the speakers I was listening to. I purchased a headunit that allows me to control music off my IPOD. I have been able to go back and forth to and from the radio without noticing a horrible difference. When I was out of town, I was wondering if there was something wrong with the unit, but after someone mentioning hearing noticeable compression, I guess my ears did not deceive me.

[Edited on February 19, 2007 at 4:42 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2007 4:38:22 PM

Quote :

"attn XM, dont mess with sirius's rock lineup or I'll kill you"

yeah for real......stay the hell away from alt nation and octane

2/19/2007 5:03:45 PM

I've got a beef with some of this shit. Mel is known to screw customers, but the shareholders come out good. Thats why the Street loves him. No competition will raise the fucking prices undoubtedly, and we will lose content. I love Squizz and Liquid Metal, but other people like Octane and whatever shit is on Sirius. Chances are, somebody will be pissed off as they will not leave all the content intact.

Quote :

"Greater Programming and Content Choices -- The combined company is committed to consumer choice, including offering consumers the ability to pick and choose the channels and content they want on a more a la carte basis. "

This means that now instead of just one flat rate like both have now, we are going to get the distinct pleasure of tiered service, much like cable and satellite TV. Also the other disadvantage is that they will likely have to relinquish one of the two satellite carriers bandwidth, which will probably cause more compression problems. Also to make the NAB and other groups happy, I'm sure we will soon see FCC regulation and also see commercials now.

I'm so disgusted. I hope the fucking FCC tells Mel and Sirius to go fuck themselves. If they would basically allow us to get all of the content from both for just a dollar or two more then I'd be interested. But gonna charge me more for the same, or worse, kill off some of my programming? I'll be dropping ALL of this then. Mel and Howard have had a bad relationship with Opie & Anthony and I am concerned for the future of the content I currently enjoy.

2/19/2007 5:25:37 PM

i think that if this happens and the quality of service gets worse, or i have to pay more than i am now to get what i am getting, ill just drop it even if it makes me sad

sirius 4 life

2/19/2007 5:39:05 PM

yeah for real......stay the hell away from alt nation and octane and left of center


and raw dog comedy for that matter

2/19/2007 6:17:45 PM

It'll be interesting to hear the Opie and Anthony show tomorrow. I'm wondering what they will say about the merger. They always tell their true feelings on things, so it'll be interesting to see what they have to say.

2/19/2007 10:27:48 PM

do O&A talk about stern/sirius often or something? seems like O&A fans are always talking shit about them... i just don't get it.

so on the same topic, does the question become "is there room for both in a merged provider?"
and if the answer is no, i think we all know where that ends up.

2/19/2007 11:55:11 PM

Yeah, occasionally Howard will say something about O&A and they will go off on a rant about Sirius. For example, when O&A were on Letterman last October (I think) Howard said on his show that he could stop the Letterman appearance if he wanted to. O&A went on a rant where they begged Howard to prove it by actually stopping the appearance. I'd personally like to see them both on the same provider. That could be some funny shit, however O&A would be the better show. I think O&A's CBS show is better than their XM show, since they must be more creative because they can't curse.

2/20/2007 12:25:39 AM

yeah i would love to have both in the same provider. but like most have said, we won't get it all for the same price

2/20/2007 1:36:32 AM

I had sirius first, then switched to XM. I hope they don't fuck it up. I love some Lucy, Ethel, Squizz, and BPM.

2/20/2007 2:07:27 AM

Quote :

"do O&A talk about stern/sirius often or something?"

At times they talk about him and Mel, yes. In fact they said they would ask to leave if Mel would be their boss. Hope that one was bullshit. Here is the backstory, paraphrased.

At WNEW, O&A were afternoon and Howie was AM drive. They both killed. They even used to be on Stern show a little, Ant did. Problems arose however when they got popular, Howard was concerned it wasn't all about him. They started poking fun at him, and he had Mel Karmazin put a gag order on them, saying they couldn't talk about Howard. This was very hypocritical of Howie because he was the King of Free Speech on the radio. Eventually they had the Sex for Sam deal go down and Mel told them to hit the fucking pavement.

2/20/2007 7:31:46 AM

heres quite possibly the dumbest article on satallite radio i've ever read:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2007/db20070221_580780.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

Quote :

"This is a brilliant piece of journalism. Real in-depth that really gets to the heart of the issue: Sirius and XM are doomed to fail because 17-year-olds won't buy them. Ergo, financial ruin. In other news, Ford and GM are on the brink of bankruptcy: The theory is that 15 year olds prefer the cars offered in Gran Turismo more than Chevy Impalas. p.s. How many 12-17 year olds pay for their own cell phones? *GASP* They could just use Skype and AOL instant messenger for free! The wireless industry is going to be ruined. Ruined, I tells ya! "

2/21/2007 2:26:05 PM

I got pissed enough about Sirius removing channel 67 that I cancelled today

it also helped that Mopar FINALLY released a hardwired iPod adapter for Grand Cherokees recently too

might hook back up if both merge channels and all

2/21/2007 2:33:40 PM

bump

11/12/2008 10:20:23 PM

Has anyone else's XM receiver change station names a few minutes after selection? This only started happening after this latest, most recent change. Some of the stations I used to listen to are off the air, some are the same, and others start out normally but change the station title which is a little confusing when I try to change stations later. I gotta say Sirius's metal/rock lineup is a hell of a lot more dynamic than XM's was. I wonder how long til they downsize the selections available now that the monopoly is complete.

11/12/2008 11:07:48 PM

I noticed problems on my Sirius radio today where the artist and song would change really early. It was happening on Octane and Lithium. Didn't listen to any of the new stations really. They got rid of BuzzSaw and replaced it with XM's Boneyard, which is still a temporary (until January) AC/DC station.

New Sirius Lineup:
http://www.sirius.com/newlineup

11/12/2008 11:13:47 PM

Yeah, thats pretty much the problem mine would have, but for artist, song, and station all together.

11/13/2008 1:15:29 AM

is it just me, or are the sirius stations that replaced most of the good XM stations (ethel, squizz, etc) of lower quality than the originals? listening to alt nation today in my car, it literally sounded like i was listening to it through a tin can - ethel sounded excellent, though.

11/13/2008 2:42:38 AM

Sirius is not very good quality sounding radio. Luckily I listen to it mostly for NFL Radio, but I would listen to more music if it didn't sound like it was coming from a tin can...

11/13/2008 3:44:58 AM

http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=548158

11/13/2008 5:49:36 AM

think the new zeppelin channel starts up tomorrow - 14. its only thru 1-1-09 tho

or maybe its 33, im not sure

11/13/2008 10:01:45 AM

its 39 on my xm.

however I did notice that the stations changed names (and it seems, playlists too ftl), also, a few of the stations I listened to a lot are gone .

wtf.

11/14/2008 9:56:01 PM

they still have jam on - they still get my subscription. Not to mention I bought a crap load of stock when it hit 22 cents....

11/14/2008 10:16:58 PM

For sound quality, its very possible that the Neural Audio processing was dumped so that it wouldn't be processed again coming out of Sirius. Technically, I'm not sure how the channels are being processed and streamed out anymore, since they both use their own codec and processing system.

As for channels, Sirius won out for the most part. They lost less channels in the bloodbath. However some of the Sirius named channels are being run by XM staff. Squizz/Octane lost Grant Random, but Bodhi (Squizz's PD) took over Octane. So just because a station is named one or the other doesn't mean that they took that SDAR team over the other. Unfortunately I think Squizz/Ethel/Lucy were dumped in name because they were much vaguer than more generic names like Alt Nation/etc. on Sirius.

And BTW the handling of this has been an absolute clusterfuck on both sides. I knew about this because I check Orbitcast everyday. But without that and the message board chatter on sites like XMFan, I would have NEVER known this was going to happen until Wednesday morning. They should have had the common fucking courtesy to send a mailer out to people just to let us know. After all, most of us are paying subs. This ain't some fucking terrestrial format change.

As for the artist exclusive payola channels, fuck them. Because of AC/DC both sides lost Buzzsaw and Boneyard. The Bridge is gone until first of the year because of Holly. We have lost several on both sides to fill these shitty stations that are one trick ponies. If I want to listen to Elvis, I'll get my MP3 player. If I want The Boss, Margaritaville, etc. I'll fill the iPod with that shit. I want variety, not the same fucking artist on a channel 24/7. Now I will say I like the artist channels that run for about 1 month and then rotate out to another artist. Thats kinda neat. But this constant artist shit is for the birds. Why do we have a Grateful Dead channel right next to a Jam Band channel??? Can't you just put fucking Grateful Dead songs on the Jam Band album and save some fucking bandwidth??? I'd really prefer to here some of the cool Christmas channels that XM put out and then give back some of the channels that we got fucked on.

Finally check this out. You'll like this if you were a Lucy fan. Its the PD of Lucy signing off on his "Saturday Night Show" that was done Tuesday night right at the end of Lucy before they switched over.

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/xm_sat_night_signoff.mp3

[Edited on November 14, 2008 at 10:23 PM. Reason : ]

11/14/2008 10:17:08 PM

OMFG MY STATIONS ARE THE ONLY ONES WORTH PLAYING OMFG

11/15/2008 12:44:32 AM

finally...a post where smath doesnt suck

11/15/2008 1:11:37 AM

^
and ^^^ yeah I was like WTF?! when all my stations changed over without really any (except for TWW and I'd forgotten about the change) notice. kinda jacked up in my opinion.

11/15/2008 2:46:47 AM

My wife is a little upset because they merged all the Spanish stations into 1, but we have ~4 French stations...
She's from Spain and like the Caliente channel before, but now it's got all this tejano and marachi shit mixed it... ( I can't spell in english or spanish)

I for one think Octane has less character than squizz did -- all the segways are gone, but hopefully bodi will turn it around.

11/15/2008 2:50:04 PM