XM & Sirius merge
20 02 2007
The rumors were true. The two companies have merged today. They are hoping to take on the iPod and other emerging radio devices (ie. HD Radio). The XM shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of Sirius stock for every share they own, valuing them at $17.02 each based on Friday’s closing price for Sirius shares.
Neither company has turned a profit yet, but together who knows what will happen. Right now XM receivers can’t receive Sirius and vice versa, but look for devices in the near future that can get both companies signal.
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More correctly, they will attempt to merge; they have some big regulatory hurdles to overcome.
i’ve heard rumors in the past, that future generations of iPods will have saellite receivers to connect to sirius or xm. now that they’re one company do you think that sirius would really try to compete with the iPod? they have a device now with a 4GB MP3 device and it’s as small as an iPod (kinda) but the limitations of the device are not justified for me to replace my iPod. a portable satellite radio with a 4GB for $350 and you still need a hard wired car antennae, home docking kit, etc.
if sirius were smart, they would partner with apple to develop a satellite enabled iPod and get a royalty for each sold that on top of the subscription fees would make them profitable.
remember though, this deal still needs to be approved by the FCC.
a letter sent by sirius last night from the CEO to all sirius subscribers stated they’re expecting this to be finalized by the end of 2007.
personally, i can’t wait. i have sirius for their programming and i’m a huge howard stern fan. but i’m also a huge baseball fan so having the MLB games broadcast would be awesome. so i’ll be able to listen to every 2008 MLB game on my sirius subscription…pitchers and catchers report to camp in 360 days
OM