When I heard the news that XM and Sirius are going to merge, I was delighted.
Satellite radio is a great concept – think cable TV for your car radio (or home or wherever). Hundreds of commercial free, static free channels for a monthly subscription price. The reason I haven't subscribed to either network yet? I owned a BetaMax.
Being on the cutting edge of technology has always been dangerous because there are usually competing technical standards. (See the current battle between HD-DVD and BlueRay standards for high def DVD.) Eventually one of them wins out, making the other obsolete, so if you buy into the wrong one, you end up with expensive equipment that is useless. But I'm savvy about technology, so I should be able to pick a winner, right? Nope. Turns out that superior technology is not as important as the manufacturing partnerships, channel marketing deals, and regulatory influence. Betamax was a better quality home video than VHS, but Sony wouldn't license the standard to anybody else.
So I've been waiting on satellite radio, waiting for Sirius or XM to emerge as the winner. This merger could be great for consumers. However, there are concerns by many that this will create a monopoly, and therefore the FTC might prohibit the merger. Yeah, maybe, but when there are so many different options for consumers (like free broadcast radio, web radio, etc.), it seems like more of a benefit around the technical standards than a monopoly burden.
If the merger goes through, the only question is whether consumers will care enough to subscribe.
