nytimes.com — The chairman of the FCC is recommending approval of the $5 billion merger between the XM & Sirius in exchange for 24 channels of noncommercial and minority programming & locking in fees for 3 years. This recommendation sets the stage for a final vote which could occur any time now though there is still no clear indication on how the vote will go.
Jun 16, 2008 View in Crawl 4
thundercat1971Jun 16, 2008
and stay off my lawn you damn kids!
orangeflyJun 16, 2008
i bought sirius @ 2.42
fromojoeJun 16, 2008
Howard stern IS the face of Sirius.And the 24 channels of minority programming is a bunch of B.S.Terrestrial radio has been pushing and campaigning for this merger to fail.
filovirusJun 16, 2008
Your Mom's Box
harbeasJun 17, 2008
Why in the world would I want to pay for radio so I can haved 42 channels of jazz. Pay radio is just like cable tv. So you have 120 channels. You probable only watch 5 or 6 o them.
uruururrJun 17, 2008
as a matter of fact i can. <a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opie_and_Anthony">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opie_and_Anthony</a>According to the winter 07 arbitron ratings, O&A have doubled Roth's ratings with their target of 18- to 34-year-olds. But so far that's only meant going from 2% to about 4% of the audience, a third of Stern's old numbers in NYC.[23] Following the Summer 07 Arbitron ratings, O&A's 18- to 34-year-olds ratings slipped, while their morning drive rating in NYC of 2.1 left them only ahead of sports based WFAN network in the morning.[24]the article neglects to mention that wxrk is like 19 or 20th in the market overall and opie and anthony's place in overall ratings in the morning, instead leaning on an 18-34 "targeted demo" which helps make the numbers look better when you are only taking a smaller slice.ultimately, their ratings are down and they got dropped from philly... and unfortunately they are still among the most recognizable names in radio... hence, resign.
samthurstonJun 18, 2008
peppermintpig,You are completely dodging my point. There are exclusivity contracts in place that will be a barrier to anyone else joining the market. They aren't the result of the FCC, they are the result of shrewd business. How a case of one industry giant gobbling up another could even remotely be considered a "natural monopoly" is another matter entirely. If the one did business in such a superior fashion that nobody else could compete, that's one thing, however sirius is still a viable competitor and their purchase will create an unnatural monopoly.But addressing your point, the cost of entry into the market isn't the fault of FCC regulation either, it's the fault of it being really expensive to shoot satellites into space.
danolredJun 18, 2008
Does anyone have any idea how the mechanical side of things will work? That is to say if I have a Sirius radio but want to switch to XM equipment or vice versa what is the operating system going to work under? Has anyone heard?