Ny Post claims xmsr/sirius news comes today

[tankedsecondchance]

http://http://www.nypost.com/seven/02192007/business/heavenly_deal_business_peter_lauria.htm

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.

this link below is to the interoperable device site. which is now hidden from public view, the information show is from june of last year http://www.selectsatelliteradio.com/about_us.html the dual devices are done....

from what I gather, this deal has been in the works for the better part of a year now...

 

[MikeRadknowski]

from what I gather, this deal has been in the works for the better part of a year now...

The real question is whether this is reality or Mel's patented posturing and masterful maneuvering, which have gone on over the last 18 months. Not to demean the Post, but one might expect a story of this magnitude to be found in The Wall Street Journal or Radio & Records. As of this writing, it has not.

Both XM and Sirius are bleeding red. Each has sizeable debt service. Each tries to spin the financials, but it's not pretty. Mel and Friends at the top will get their platinum parachutes. The guys in the trenches will get crumbs.

The more important issue may be whether the FCC and DOJ will approve the merger deal. As of a few weeks ago, an FCC commissioner is on record as saying "not a chance."

[/MR]

 

[deadman]

O&A was live on CBS this morning and then went into replay on XM. I think something is up.

 

[PaulO]

from what I gather, this deal has been in the works for the better part of a year now...

The real question is whether this is reality or Mel's patented posturing and masterful maneuvering, which have gone on over the last 18 months. Not to demean the Post, but one might expect a story of this magnitude to be found in The Wall Street Journal or Radio & Records. As of this writing, it has not.

Both XM and Sirius are bleeding red. Each has sizeable debt service. Each tries to spin the financials, but it's not pretty. Mel and Friends at the top will get their platinum parachutes. The guys in the trenches will get crumbs.

The more important issue may be whether the FCC and DOJ will approve the merger deal. As of a few weeks ago, an FCC commissioner is on record as saying "not a chance."

[/MR]


I need to remind people of something here. On that faitful day in 2004 when John Kerry announced his vice presidential running mate only the NY Post reported that it would be a different person than John Edwards before the announcement.It was said that Rupard Murdock told them to put another name in their paper. Another way to say this is that they didn't get it wrong; Ole Rup made it up.

Here is a question I haven't heard asked yet. If this is true which subscribers radios won't work anymore? I don't know anything about satellite band width but it would seem to me like a big problem.

 

[SirFreebie1975]

ABC News is saying that they have "confirmed" the merger between XM and Sirius.
http://abcnews.go.com/

 

[Adric1963]

fox news and drudge report have the news now.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

The joint XM/Sirius press release is here:

http://xmradio.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=1423

 

[deadman]

Financially it make sense, but it's a sad day for XM and O&A fans.

 

[MikeRadknowski]

The real question is whether this is reality or Mel's patented posturing and masterful maneuvering, which have gone on over the last 18 months. Not to demean the Post, but one might expect a story of this magnitude to be found in The Wall Street Journal or Radio & Records. As of this writing, it has not.

Now we know the story is legitimate and Mel will be popping open the Dom. Radio & Records updated its website and the news is being reported in other forums. Props to the NY Post for scooping the other news services.

Now the real posturing and speculation begins. Is Wall Street going to spring into action, will the FCC approve or disprove, will the Justice Department scrutinize the deal and will Congress, populated by a Democratic majority, approve.

So many questions... so few answers. Don't touch that dial!

[/MR]

 

[jegrant]

I have seen that site before. What intrigues me is this statement "It is acknowledged that SIRIUS, XM and their manufacturing partners already produce receivers that permit end users to access all Satellite Digital Audio Radio systems in compliance with FCC interoperability obligations." Which receivers are these? Would I be able to tell if I had one? And in fact if I did have one, why have I not been made aware of this capability?

Also, that statement is phrased in a curious way. "It is acknowledged", by *whom*?

Furthermore, I just had another merger-related thought pop into my head: Since Sirius appears to be the more bandwidth-limited of the two (having 40 fewer channels than XM, yet requiring significant, extensive pre-emption of other programming to carry live sports) - if they do want to add some XM content, they should do it on their hierarchical modulation bandwidth, which will prevent them from having to lower quality even further. This means only newer US and all Canadian subs can benefit, but older US subs will not lose anything - they will just have to wait for the new/unified hardware or go buy a newer Sirius unit.

 

[TheRover]

Conference Call Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 8:30 AM ET

The joint XM/Sirius press release is here:

http://xmradio.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=1423

A Highlight from the Press release"

Conference Call and Webcast Information

The companies will hold a joint conference call and webcast on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 8:30 AM ET to discuss this announcement. The conference call can be monitored by dialing 800-573-4840 within the U.S. and 617-224-4326 for all other locations, passcode 29490052. The webcast can be accessed at http://www.sirius.com/ and http://www.xmradio.com/ as well as on their satellite radio services by tuning to SIRIUS channel 122 and XM channel 200. The webcast will be archived at http://www.sirius.com/ and http://www.xmradio.com/.

 

[tankedsecondchance]

from the confernce call

from the conference call.

please note the current chipsets in use will allow content from either service

Q follow up: At what point in time will you begin to migrate users to the dual chipset?

A: (GARY) We can work with an exclusive OEM to allow for a dual-content through the current chipset - it's just negotiations with the content partners

heres another quote from mel

“We think one of the big drivers of demand for satellite radio at retail will be interoperable radios and once we get the approval, we would look to bringing that quickly to market.”

the link in the first post was a combined joint venture site from xmsr/sirius.......I can also tell you some hearings/talks took place on the hill recently prior to the news release specificly about these devices.

they will come to market with or without a merger both parties now know this.....

mels buying the badly needed spectrum and related consumer market .....dont be fooled, this is not just about satellite radio... in the dash board .....like most suspect.