Merger Update!!!

[simonbarrsinister]

Reminds me of that scene in the wizard of oz...."pay no attention to the Mel...err Man behind the curtain".
A high tech shell game, where the consumer gets it again. I DO like the ala carte idea, i'm just waitng for the other shoe to fall.
Another device announcement ($)...additional service charges etc. etc.

 

[MHB]

I haven't located any article spelling out the eight options...... Does anyone know if one of those options would be to keep your current level of service at the current price of 12.99?

I am very satisfied with what I have and don't want to pay less for less channels or more money for more channels.
[/b]

Here are two charts from the NAB that might help to answer your question and others. Granted the NAB is something of a competitor but the information is more specific than any other I could find.

http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News_Room&CONTENTID=10050&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

(1) "Current XM" and "Current Sirius" packages will be available at about the same price. But, according to the Sirius merger site, "The combined entity will offer the best content from each company by eliminating some duplicative programming."

(2) For a lower price there will be a package of 50-65 preselected channels (either "mostly music" or news/sports/talk) from one of the two services. The news/sports/talk packages will not include the MLB, college sports, NHL, NFL, or NBA play-by-play channels.

(3) For a still lower price, an "a la carte" package will be available with 50 channels from one service, from a "select portion" of that service (again not including the sports play-by-play channels or "premium talk channels"). For an additional cost the package could include the Sirius sports play-by-play package and/or Howard Stern, or the XM sports play-by-play package and/or "Oprah & Friends."

(4) A more expensive a la carte package ("best of both worlds") will include 100 selected channels from one service including up to 11 preselected channels from the other service (the "best of" the other service).

I hope that makes it a little clearer; it's not entirely clear to me as of yet.

 

[drt]

I haven't located any article spelling out the eight options...... Does anyone know if one of those options would be to keep your current level of service at the current price of 12.99?

I am very satisfied with what I have and don't want to pay less for less channels or more money for more channels.
[/b]

Here are two charts from the NAB that might help to answer your question and others. Granted the NAB is something of a competitor but the information is more specific than any other I could find.

http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News_Room&CONTENTID=10050&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

(1) "Current XM" and "Current Sirius" packages will be available at about the same price. But, according to the Sirius merger site, "The combined entity will offer the best content from each company by eliminating some duplicative programming."

(2) For a lower price there will be a package of 50-65 preselected channels (either "mostly music" or news/sports/talk) from one of the two services. The news/sports/talk packages will not include the MLB, college sports, NHL, NFL, or NBA play-by-play channels.

(3) For a still lower price, an "a la carte" package will be available with 50 channels from one service, from a "select portion" of that service (again not including the sports play-by-play channels or "premium talk channels"). For an additional cost the package could include the Sirius sports play-by-play package and/or Howard Stern, or the XM sports play-by-play package and/or "Oprah & Friends."

(4) A more expensive a la carte package ("best of both worlds") will include 100 selected channels from one service including up to 11 preselected channels from the other service (the "best of" the other service).

I hope that makes it a little clearer; it's not entirely clear to me as of yet.

Thanks for the infor MHB; I really appreciate the trouble you went through.

I would have never thought to going to the NAB or related site for the info; one would think that XM and Sirius would prominently make this info available on their respective websites.

It looks as though I can keep my current channel line-up at "about" the same price. (I'm sure that in a year or so that could be phased out). I hope 'about' the same price doesn't mean more than a slight increase.

With Sirius and XM being so secretative about the options, destroys their creditbility; at least in my eyes.

drt
st. petersburg,fl (Canada's southern most province! )

 

[MHB]

Following up on the post yeterday, here's a link to an exhibit to the FCC document in which the companies set forth the alternate packages. The exhibit has the exact channels that are included (or can be chosen) with each package. To be fair, the companies give general information about the new packages on their merger websites but don't get specific about which channels are included.

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6519560252