UPDATED: Sirius, XM set to confirm merger plan today!

[[bear]]

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.

Source: NYPost

Update: Now has been confirmed by ABC Business. I think that source is a little more credible.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=2887179

Edited February 19, 2007 by [bear]

[TruckWEB]

I hope everything will work with the current radio. I'm not going to buy a new receiver.... oh no...

And this merger will not fix the number 1 problem XM and Sirius have... crappy sound quality. My FM radio can do better.

[[bear]]

I hope everything will work with the current radio. I'm not going to buy a new receiver.... oh no...

And this merger will not fix the number 1 problem XM and Sirius have... crappy sound quality. My FM radio can do better.

No kidding. Sometimes the sound is clear (like on Lucy) but then ethel starts to sound like pure crap.

[DrunkenMaster]

Are they still going to have the lifetime sign-up?

I'm signing up soon. A local shop was going out of business and I bought a sirius reciver for $10. Looking for a deal on a home-kit now (they were out). $70 Can to hook up to my home stereo is a bit much. I love the idea of commercial free radio and anything like this will be my local radio offerings!

[Slimy]

This will go up on the front page as soon as more sources confirm it. I will remain skeptical for now since the last article I wrote up regarding this made it pretty clear the FCC wouldn't allow a merger: https://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=37324 (Dated February 18, 2007 - over a month ago)

[[bear]]

This will go up on the front page as soon as more sources confirm it. I will remain skeptical for now since the last article I wrote up regarding this made it pretty clear the FCC wouldn't allow a merger: https://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=37324 (Dated February 18, 2007 - over a month ago)

I hear ya Slimy. I am so skeptical myself. I'm hoping that somehow this would help cut operating costs and produce some profitable results. Plus think of all the bandwidth they would have with all those birds in the sky. Maybe the sound quality would finally reach those promises made when the services started.

[CoLdFuSi0n]

**** that if they merge i better be able to keep my current sirius radio, i can't ****ing stand XM

[[bear]]

UPDATE: Sirius and XM to Merge

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=2887179

VIA ABC

[xpablo]

I doubt the FCC will approve this.

But I can also see the FCC may not have a choice, I'm currently an XM subscriber, I tried Sirius out for a couple weeks at first and the sound quality was terrible, XM has better sound, but the choice of music on a lot of the stations isn't that spectacular, my year long sub expires in April '07

I will wait and see if I'm going to renew it, now if they merge with Sirius It will be very unlikely I will be renewing, I not much of a fan of Sirius or Howard Stern.

[TruckWEB]

I hear ya Slimy. I am so skeptical myself. I'm hoping that somehow this would help cut operating costs and produce some profitable results. Plus think of all the bandwidth they would have with all those birds in the sky. Maybe the sound quality would finally reach those promises made when the services started.

It would be stupid for the FCC to say NO to this merger when we all know that XM and Sirius are loosing the battle and loosing money real fast. Would they prefer the two of them to shutdown their services??

Maybe they should do that. Close all services and restart under one new name. Send a sticker with the new name/logo to all their subscriber (former XM/Sirius users) to stick on your receiver and voil?.... Combine the best of both world, keep it simple and upgrade the bandwidth for a better sound.

[[bear]]

I hope they give O&A their own channel. Screw ron & fez. Go opie and anthony!

[Ayepecks]

One network to rule them all...

I hate LOTR, but it was so easy to throw that in there. :laugh:

[strekship]

Don't they need FCC approval before they merge?

[suicide_pact]

Are they still going to have the lifetime sign-up?

I'm signing up soon. A local shop was going out of business and I bought a sirius reciver for $10. Looking for a deal on a home-kit now (they were out). $70 Can to hook up to my home stereo is a bit much. I love the idea of commercial free radio and anything like this will be my local radio offerings!

-One thing, it's not commercial free anymore, especially if you're listening to something like network sports, which has alot of commercials.

[[bear]]

99% of the music channels are free though and that makes a difference in my trips. A big difference. I love xm

[codeyh]

To those of you saying that xm or sirius has horrible sound quality . . .

1. How is the XM/Sirius connected to your radio? Fm Transmitter.. if so then DUH it's not going to sound better than a local station.

2. What is the signal strength when it doesn't sound good? Standing under a tree?

There's lots of things to take into account when you judge sound quality.. personally, my SkyFi was direct connected with RCA Cables, and the sound quality was near CD when i had a strong connection.

Granted, going under a bridge or something of the sort, i'd lose my song for about 2 seconds, then get it back. but that was my only complaint.

I'm getting Sirius soon, mainly for SEC Sports and the Jam channel (which is much better than the Music Lab).

so, just trying to put some legit consideration behind the "OMG!1!!1 TEH SERVICE SUX0RS" folks.

[[bear]]

To those of you saying that xm or sirius has horrible sound quality . . .

1. How is the XM/Sirius connected to your radio? Fm Transmitter.. if so then DUH it's not going to sound better than a local station.

2. What is the signal strength when it doesn't sound good? Standing under a tree?

There's lots of things to take into account when you judge sound quality.. personally, my SkyFi was direct connected with RCA Cables, and the sound quality was near CD when i had a strong connection.

Granted, going under a bridge or something of the sort, i'd lose my song for about 2 seconds, then get it back. but that was my only complaint.

I'm getting Sirius soon, mainly for SEC Sports and the Jam channel (which is much better than the Music Lab).

so, just trying to put some legit consideration behind the "OMG!1!!1 TEH SERVICE SUX0RS" folks.

Don't be dumb. I'm not a random XM user who uses an FM transmitter. I've had XM since 2003. I don't use an FM transmitter and I never have. I route my cables through my dash to the back of my radio via the aux in port. The sound quality is great for some stations but talk stations are horrible. And ethel has its' bad days. Hopefully Xm launches the fifth bird at somepoint. Maybe they would even need it if the merger goes through. I'm just saying. Things went really downhill after the Rock & Roll sats went bad. Rhythm & Blues has helped things though. Good thing they took out some insurance on the first two.

[TruckWEB]

To those of you saying that xm or sirius has horrible sound quality . . .

1. How is the XM/Sirius connected to your radio? Fm Transmitter.. if so then DUH it's not going to sound better than a local station.

2. What is the signal strength when it doesn't sound good? Standing under a tree?

There's lots of things to take into account when you judge sound quality.. personally, my SkyFi was direct connected with RCA Cables, and the sound quality was near CD when i had a strong connection.

Granted, going under a bridge or something of the sort, i'd lose my song for about 2 seconds, then get it back. but that was my only complaint.

I'm getting Sirius soon, mainly for SEC Sports and the Jam channel (which is much better than the Music Lab).

so, just trying to put some legit consideration behind the "OMG!1!!1 TEH SERVICE SUX0RS" folks.

I have Sirius, and in my car it's with a FM transmitter but at home, it's direct in the AUX of my sound system. And beleive me, they sound just about the same. Signal strength is very good for both sat and land signal. AT BEST, it sound like a badly encoded 96kbps MP3 file. On talk radio, it goes down to what... 32kbps, terrible, worst than AM radio.

I have tested other receiver, thinking that I had a lemon or a too cheap receiver. I tried (in FutureShop, very good signal) the latest receiver only to find that it sound just about the same.

And I'm not the only one, since i've been looking into this sound quality problem. And their's tons of forums with people complaining about sound quality. We are FAR from near CD quality.