See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117202490243714421.html?mod=djemTECH; alas, one must be subscriber to view.
A couple key points: "A big concern is pricing. "A monopoly satellite radio provider would be able to raise prices and cut programming to a growing number of consumers that have come to rely on satellite radio for news and entertainment," fumed Chris Reale, founder of the Washington-based Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio." The companies counter that the availability of free-to-air radio limits their ability to jack up fees willy-nilly. "Modifying existing satellites to serve all of the radios out there would be an unlikely solution, engineers say." "The merger "is not going to help their subscribership," says Jimmy Schaeffler, senior analyst at consultancy the Carmel Group. "They should be doing whatever they can to clarify consumer confusion." He says the companies should consider promising a free upgraded dual-format radio to anyone who joins either service this year, subject to merger approval." "Gary Bradt, a psychologist in Summerfield, N.C., and an XM subscriber, says he hopes the deal goes through so he can get NFL games that are currently available only on Sirius. "I'm not worried about them jacking the prices too much, at least right away," he says. "If they were stupid enough to do that, they would fail -- and good riddance."" Richard -- Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA International broadcasting / shortwave blog: http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above.
