10 Things You Might Not Know About the XM and Sirius "Merger"
1. It's being touted as a "merger of equals," but in fact, Sirius is buying XM for nearly $4.6 billion in stock. (Source:Bloomberg)
2. Sirius and XM's receivers are incompatible: it won't be elementary to combine the two services, and to get both, you'll probably have to buy a new receiver. The companies have promised to merge channel lineups, however, letting customers pick and choose on an "a la carte" basis.
3. Sirius offered one-time payments for a lifetime subscription, but tied it to a receiver. These users could be offered deals to add XM or upgrade their receiver, or could be told that one-time payment forever applies only to Sirius-branded content on the original box. What deal will the merged giant offer?
4. The merger effectively creates a local monopoly in digital radio (excepting that provided through cable television services.) Under scrutiny from the Justice Department and FCC, Sirius and XM may claim to be competing not with each other, but with iTunes and other music download services. If they do, might it have consequences for XM's claim that they aren't a download service, in regard to an RIAA lawsuit? However it pans out, the phrase "regulatory hurdles" could haunt the deal for months.
5. Channels will die. There's a lot of duplicated content across the two networks. It'll be interesting to see how closely culling is tied to earcount and ego.
6. Though XM has more subscribers (XM has claimed 7.6 million to Sirius's claimed 6 million) and had more than double Sirius' revenue in 2005, Sirius recently boasted about its economic performance and climbing subscriber base. Both companies have been losing money hand-over-fist for years, however: Shares for both declined about 50 percent last year. Sirius is worth $5.2 billion, while XM was recently valued at $3.75 billion. (Compare the buyout price!)
7. Sirius was originally called Dog Radio, and was founded in 1990. XM was originally called American Mobile Satellite Corp, and was founded in 1988.
8. The elliptical orbit of Sirius's satellites causes trouble for customers who receive their Musak-like business music service through stationary antennas. Sirius is launching a geostationary satellite just for them.
9. Sirius' and XM's press release contained a boilerplate legal disclaimer about "Forward Looking Statements," listing the words "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "may," as ones that predicate statements the reader should take with a pinch of salt.
10. Worldstar serves satellite radio to Europe, Africa and the rest of the world. With about a hundredth of the merged giant's revenues, it doesn't compete in its home market, instead licensing a few select channels to XM.
[Taken from Wired News]
1. It's being touted as a "merger of equals," but in fact, Sirius is buying XM for nearly $4.6 billion in stock. (Source:Bloomberg)
2. Sirius and XM's receivers are incompatible: it won't be elementary to combine the two services, and to get both, you'll probably have to buy a new receiver. The companies have promised to merge channel lineups, however, letting customers pick and choose on an "a la carte" basis.
3. Sirius offered one-time payments for a lifetime subscription, but tied it to a receiver. These users could be offered deals to add XM or upgrade their receiver, or could be told that one-time payment forever applies only to Sirius-branded content on the original box. What deal will the merged giant offer?
4. The merger effectively creates a local monopoly in digital radio (excepting that provided through cable television services.) Under scrutiny from the Justice Department and FCC, Sirius and XM may claim to be competing not with each other, but with iTunes and other music download services. If they do, might it have consequences for XM's claim that they aren't a download service, in regard to an RIAA lawsuit? However it pans out, the phrase "regulatory hurdles" could haunt the deal for months.
5. Channels will die. There's a lot of duplicated content across the two networks. It'll be interesting to see how closely culling is tied to earcount and ego.
6. Though XM has more subscribers (XM has claimed 7.6 million to Sirius's claimed 6 million) and had more than double Sirius' revenue in 2005, Sirius recently boasted about its economic performance and climbing subscriber base. Both companies have been losing money hand-over-fist for years, however: Shares for both declined about 50 percent last year. Sirius is worth $5.2 billion, while XM was recently valued at $3.75 billion. (Compare the buyout price!)
7. Sirius was originally called Dog Radio, and was founded in 1990. XM was originally called American Mobile Satellite Corp, and was founded in 1988.
8. The elliptical orbit of Sirius's satellites causes trouble for customers who receive their Musak-like business music service through stationary antennas. Sirius is launching a geostationary satellite just for them.
9. Sirius' and XM's press release contained a boilerplate legal disclaimer about "Forward Looking Statements," listing the words "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "may," as ones that predicate statements the reader should take with a pinch of salt.
10. Worldstar serves satellite radio to Europe, Africa and the rest of the world. With about a hundredth of the merged giant's revenues, it doesn't compete in its home market, instead licensing a few select channels to XM.
[Taken from Wired News]
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