I hate monopolies as much as the next guy, but this could be A Very Good Thing (tm) for anyone with satellite radio. If nothing else it means the MLB package will be available to all the Sirius subscribers.
"I do not think baseball of today is any better than it was 30 years ago... I still think Radbourne is the greatest of the pitchers." John Sullivan 1914-Old athletes never change.
I never understood why some people were all in a tizzy about this. This is not a monopoly-maker. The addressable market here is audio entertainment. There are so many options between satellite radio, free radio, personal music, podcasts, etc that the competitive landscape was never in jeopardy.
There is more competition in the gasoline market than satellite radio, and gas prices continue to skyrocket while the oil companies pocket record profits. Any one of them could slash prices and still make a profit but they don't. Or look at cable television. I pay over $100 a month for cable/digital cable/cable internet, even with an already-existing cable infrastructure and competition for my eyes from satellite TV, books, magazines, nature, etc. Despite that "competition," there is only one cable provider in my town, so they charge a LOT of $$$ for that product.
What market pressure will prevent this merged company from charging their customers more than they would be charged prior to the merger?
knapplc wrote:What market pressure will prevent this merged company from charging their customers more than they would be charged prior to the merger?
The biggest competition for satellite radio is still going to be the terrestrial radio, internet radio, and portable players. They won't be able to charge an enormous amount because they don't have that big of a command on the market (their market isn't really satellite radio, it is music/news drive time). It is just the same as Dish TV competition isn't really the other satellite providers. It is the cable networks, streaming internet, etc. If XM-Sirius decides to try a market gouge people have plenty of other outlets to get media from.
KCollins1304 wrote:I've got Sirius, and I've been waiting for this for a year. Am I going to have to buy a new device to be able to get XM stations or what?
Very likely yes. It will probably be awhile before the dual receivers are produced.
knapplc wrote:What market pressure will prevent this merged company from charging their customers more than they would be charged prior to the merger?
The biggest competition for satellite radio is still going to be the terrestrial radio, internet radio, and portable players. They won't be able to charge an enormous amount because they don't have that big of a command on the market (their market isn't really satellite radio, it is music/news drive time). It is just the same as Dish TV competition isn't really the other satellite providers. It is the cable networks, streaming internet, etc. If XM-Sirius decides to try a market gouge people have plenty of other outlets to get media from.
That makes sense, but it is the same argument for reasonable cable TV prices, and in my area at least, that is most certainly not the case.
We'll find out in a couple of years when the merger is complete and the market stabilizes for them.
In certain cases, a monopoly (or an oligopoly) is actually better than a purely competitive market.
I would put this as one of those times. The cost to operate those business are extraordinary, and the customer base they cater to is rather small in comparison to AM/FM an the Internet. If those two companies continued to fight each other, they most likely would have gone out of business. By merging, they have the ability to compete with free radio, the internet, mp3 players, and any other option that can go in place of satellite radio.
So ask yourself... What's more important? Having satellite radio or not?
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by Tavish » Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:50 pm 
