Sirius Satellite Radio to merge with XM?…

Just over a year ago, Sirius signed a deal with Howard Stern for a total of about $250 million (stock and salary). There was alot of questions surrounding this deal. Sirius gave Howard two channels, where he could do his thing. As a Stern fan, I grabbed a Sirius radio and tuned in. The music channels that came with Howard where just a plus! Many people thought that Sirius made a bad decision, and it would hurt the company. In contrary, the other side figured that XM would be toppled. Along with Howard, Sirius signed the NFL, Tony Stewart, Eminem (Shade 45), Playboy, Martha Stewart, those are just to name a few. XM has its big names as well, Snoop Dogg, Ellen Degeneres, Oprah, sure there are some others…but I’m a Sirius subscriber.

The two companies would combine to share and enterprise valued at around $13 Billion, and that is including the debt of approximately $1.6 Billion. XM stockholders would receive 4.6 Sirius common stocks to every 1 XM common stock held. Pretty good deal for XM stockholders. With this announcement it would pretty much give them [XM/Sirius] control of the “free” radio airwaves. As of today, the satellite radio industry can pretty much say anything they want. As a consumer this is interesting to me, because there are some stations on XM that I would probably listen to. The only thing that I don’t like, is a subscription increase. It is already $12.95 per month, and I think XM is a bit cheaper. If anything it may be lowered, which would be good. What about the stations, equipment, etc.? I would love to get 200+ stations of radio to listen too! Anyhoo, it would be interesting to hear other peoples opinion about this.

~ by mccraer on February 25, 2007.