CNet reports if the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio goes through, the combined company plans to offer packages of channels at reduced rates, including a 50-channel offering that’s almost half the price of today’s lowest-price option.
XM Satellite Radio (170 digital channels, 8 million subs) and Sirius Satellite Radio (130 digital channels, 6 million subs) announced the merger, then valued at $4.7 billion, last February. The move was met with concern from radio broadcasters who feared a combined XM-Sirius would crush radio competition.
New “a la carte” options, which will enable consumers to pick 50 or 100 channels from both XM and Sirius lineups (minus “premium” offerings) for $6.99 or $14.99 per month, respectively, are scheduled to kick in within one year of the merger’s completion, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin and XM Chairman Gary Parsons said in a joint statement Monday.
With the 50-channel plan, subscribers could opt to add additional nonpremium channels for 25 cents each.
Those packages will, however, require the purchase of a new radio capable of processing channel-by-channel requests. The gadgets, which are still under development, will “be priced at the same price as our other radios,” Sirius’ Karmazin said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday. (The cost of existing receivers currently appears to range from less than $50 to more than $200.)
Sirius and XM said they plan to offer more details about their new pricing plans in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday.
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so less competition means lower cost? wow. thats not what i learned in economics class.
Left by Don Park on July 24th, 2007