Written by Dipul Patel on Wednesday, 13 February 2008 Category:Random Rants Hits:1805

Febuary 19th, 2007. As of this day, 360 days. That's how long it's been since XM and Sirius decided to merge.
 

That's longer than the Chevron/Texaco Merger, the AT&T/Bell South merger, and the Sprint/Nextel merger. Those are small time deals right? Yea, if you consider 43 Billion, 67 Billion and 36 Billion small. 

Natrually, This merger should take longer than Chevron/Texaco. (Courtesy of Orbitcast.com)

The XM/Sirius merger, is valued at 12-13 billion. Yet, here we are, almost a year after it's been announced and still no action.

Why? Well, the FCC says its to make sure the customer is getting the best deal. Please, take that BS and send it somewhere else. Manrants is a strictly no BS zone.

Manrants. Strictly a NO BS Zone.

This merger has taken almost a year becasue it is being reviewed by everyone, and their cousin. This is not a trivial document, and the more people that have to sign it, the longer it takes.

Of course, this should require more signatures than say, two gas companies merging, or large telecommunications companies merging. Perhaps mergers are inversely proportaional  to the company size?

All douche connoseuirs know, Summer's Eve is better. A merger would be devastating.

Lets hope Summers Eve and Massengill never merge, it may take 10 years to go through as the FCC's regulators buy these products daily, to cleanse the amount of BS they spew.

I'm going to make this abundantly simple. The only one that loses with the XM/Sirius merger, is the FCC, and large bloated companies like Clear Channel or Viacom. Do you really think all this GARBAGE that is on terrestrial radio is the choice of the DJ?

Please.

Do you think we're subjected to the same dribble from these morning DJ's with the bubbly voice talking about how they got the wrong amount of mocha in their lattes? Do you people actually buy this crap? All these DJ's are hung over from the uncontrolled drinking and sex they had the night before. Face it, they hate it just as much as we do. The difference? They get paid nicely and have a good time.

So, I'll go over why this is a good deal for everyone, everyone that matters anyway.

Who Wins? 

These are two companies that have grossly overspent their budget. They are operating at a loss right now. XM has over spent on some talent, and sports like MLB. Sirius has done the same, with talent and the NFL. These companies have spent more than they can afford, and are in deep shi!t. Even with the current subscriber rates, they aren't turning a profit. Why is that? They are competing with each other, instead of with terrestrial radio.

The average consumer says, "If I go to satellite radio, which should I choose, XM or Sirius?"

This means XM and Sirius have to spend money competing with each other, and competing with the nonsense we call radio. If they merged, they could focus all of their marketing on having people convert from terrestrial radio, to one unified satellite company. What's better is that there will be less overhead. These companies can share their satellite constellations and cut double content. This ultimately leads to the satellite companies making a profit, without charging more. I love satellite radio. I listen to it every day for 90 minutes. I have an ipod, and a six disk mp3 changer in the car, but I still turn on Sirius. I WANT this company to stick around.

People will harp on about how this is an anti-trust issue, and you cant combine both companies because it would create a monopoly. Think about it, do you have to have satellite radio? No. So, could there be a monopoly in a small niche? Sure, there will be a monopoly in radio being served by good DJ's over a quality medium. Here is the beauty of it, THERE ARE OTHER MEDIUMS TO CHOOSE FROM. Satellite radio has to compete with Terrestrial Radio, Mp3 players, internet radio, and Cd's. The way I see it, terrestrial radio has had a monopoly for the last 20 years, serving crappy music, by a craptastic DJ, over a craptacular medium. Don't think so? When is the last time you hear Rakim on terrestrial radio? Talib Kweli? How about Common?

Nope, but you can quote me that garbage Fergie crap all day cant you? 

You got me trippin (Yes, thats real)

HipHop may not be your choice of music, but believe me, regardless of genre, you're not getting a majority of the good stuff on terrestrial radio.

Clear Channel and Viacom CONTROL terrestrial radio. These DJs are FORCED to play this garbage over and over again, so that the artists that big record companies decided should be rich, get rich.

The Bottom line is as the customer, you get BETTER CONTENT if this merger goes through.

If XM/Sirius merges, and more people move over, then terrestrial radio will have to start to play decent music instead of this same crap over and over.

How about price? Everyone is worried about price right? Well, the price WONT INCREASE. How about that? The plans stay intact as they are, only they offer more choices! How about a sports package that has MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA, NFL and NASCAR?

These companies, will be sharing overhead and overall cost, and as such, the price wont go up! More options will be offered, but it wont go up.

Granted, this takes a leap of faith on my part, but the thing is, if they raise the prices, I CAN JUST SHUT IT OFF! What I want, is a choice.

XM and Sirius are in big trouble. Without this merger, they may not survive. This is what the FCC is banking on. This is what makes me sick.

This is an agency filled with people with a huge inferiority complex. They do nothing but flaunt their power and censor stuff just to annoy people. Honestly, when is the last time anyone had anyhting good to say about the FCC? 

The FCC already tried to censor satellite radio, but failed. As terrestrial radio loses customers, so does the FCC.

These guys are in each other's pockets, so I group them together.

Face it, there is no reason the artists on radio should be on radio. They are terrible. How much variety do you get on radio? I turned it on in a rental a few months ago in NYC and FOUR, thats FOUR, stations were playing Justin Timberlake. The reason these big record labels are so rich, is because MCA or Sony produces this crap, and asks Clear Channel and Viacom to ram it down our throat.

Then we begin to like it since it's all we hear all day. We find ourselves humming it in meetings, instead of listening to mindless drivel.

Wow, HD radio. Digital Radio!! Let me put the word DIGITAL in front of anything and its magically better? No. Basically, you get more channels! Great news right!!!  It could be, provided the content on those other channels are actually decent.

Look, if I eat a crappy steak, its a crappy steak. You can make it better by offering me a better steak next time. What HD radio is, is saying, "we're not gonna give you a better steak, we're gonna give you 6 more steaks!"

Wow, so I get more crap! Fantastic! At least, I'll have more ammo:

Here is the bottom line, I don't care what anyone listens to. I don't care if you love terrestrial radio, and think its the greatest thing ever. I want a choice. I want to be able to choose to listen to something better. Right now, I have that choice and I subscribe to Sirius. In 5 years, I may not, as these companies may be bankrupt. This merger needs to happen. This merger hurts no one, its almost all positive and no negative. The fact that it hasn't gone through is a travesty.

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