According to the NY Post, Satellite radio companies XM Radio and Sirius are rumored to merge even though there might be some anti-trust concerns. The merger will create a monopoly in the nascent satellite radio business. XM is currently the market leader with 3.2M listeners, and Sirius has around 1M users. More here:
The satellite radio industry is currently a Federal Communications Commission-licensed duopoly, and both XM and Sirius are hoping they can convince the FCC to redefine the market to include all content over wireless broadband services.
As mobile technology in the United States advances, XM and Sirius are hoping the FCC will consider satellite radio as part of the broader industry of delivering music and other content through mobile devices, such as cellphones, say sources.
A merger between XM and Sirius — neither of which is yet profitable — would alleviate a price war for premium content and allow the two companies to save significant amounts of money on marketing costs.
Merrill Lynch analyst Laraine Mancini said in a conference call earlier this week that one of the chief risks of investing in the companies' stock is a potential price war and "irrational bidding" for content.
Update:
Mel Karmazin, boss of Sirius has denied rumors about the merger.
Related:
: Convergence of satellite radio and cell phones?
: Mark Glaser on whether Will Satellite, "Podcasting" bring a renaissance to radio journalism?
: Nokia teams up with Cingular Wireless to offer online radio services to it’s subscribers. The service can be accessed with the Nokia 6620 and strong competition already exists with mp3 players that are capable of picking up FM signals.
: HP to promote a technology called Visual Radio for cell phones where you can find information of the artist, download ringtones as well as buy tickets for future gigs. More here , here, here and here.
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