Not really IS specific but....


NEW YORK - XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. have agreed to merge, the two companies said Monday.



The deal would consolidate the only two companies in the emerging business of subscription-only satellite radio, and is sure to face tough scrutiny from federal regulators. Investors and analysts have been speculating about a deal for months.

 

i heard about this a while ago, i actually started a thread before, but nobody really believed me. I'm kinda glad this is happening because i really want Sirius but lexus only offers XM. now i can hopefully have the best of the both worlds.

My previous thread..https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=259158

 

Yeah it will be nice and hopefully they will have the hardware out soon after .

 

XM, Sirius announce merger
The two satellite radio operators will combine in a merger of equals, leaving Parsons as chairman and Karmazin as CEO.
February 19 2007: 4:11 PM EST


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Rivals XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio announced Monday they would enter into a merger of equals, creating a satellite radio giant.

XM (Charts) and Sirius (Charts) said they would each own half of the combined company, which would have a market value of roughly $13 billion, including approximately $1.6 billion in net debt.


Shock jock Howard Stern has been widely credited for much of Sirius's success, helping the satellite radio operator finish 2006 with more than 6 million subscribers.

As part of the deal, XM Chairman Gary Parsons would remain chairman of the combined firm, while Sirius' Mel Karmazin would assume the role of CEO. XM chief executive Hugh Panero will remain as CEO until the merger is completed.

The two companies, which have a combined 14 million subscribers, said they had not yet determined a new name for the combined company or where its headquarters would be located.

XM shareholders would get 4.6 shares of Sirius stock for each share of XM they own.

"This combination is the next logical step in the evolution of audio entertainment," Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS Satellite Radio said in a statement.

The deal would also provide listeners a substantially wider variety of programming. Sirius is currently home to shock jock Howard Stern, while XM boasts a number of shows hosted by high-profile entertainers such as Bob Dylan.

"The combined company will be better positioned to compete effectively with the continually expanding array of entertainment alternatives that consumers have embraced since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first granted our satellite radio licenses a decade ago," Parsons and Panero said in a joint statement.

Speculation has run rampant on Wall Street about a possible tie-up between XM and Sirius since the beginning of the year.

David Bank, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said he was not surprised by the deal since the merger makes a lot of sense, but he warned the tie-up was not a "slam dunk."

Besides getting shareholder approval, XM and Sirius will also have to get the endorsement of regulators, including the FCC.

Bank added that as a condition of the merger the Department of Justice might impose some sort of price caps so that the combined company can't raise monthly subscription rates by a big amount, if at all.

Right now, both Sirius and XM have tiered-payment subscription packages, which start at $12.95 per month or $142.45 per year.

 

mods need to merge the threads on the merger.

 

so when will this be available for the IS???

 

Right so lets hope our existing hardware will let us get signal from this *merger*

 

expecially those, like myself, that did the life time or the several years payment. Here are a couple articles that say just the oposite. That the FCC will not allow the merger. Just thought I'd share..

http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/58894

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16676005/

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/rec..._id=1003534096

 

I don't think so...

From what I have gathered they work in different ways. XM is a cell phone style signal where they have stations on the ground making it so you can receive the signal in a up and down as well as side to side. Sirus is a up and down signal only. I COULD BE WRONG!

 

This still has to be approved by the FCC - which could take up to 15 months. I wouldn't be expecting this to actually happen - if it actually does - until 2008 at the earliest.