XM and Sirius to merge.

[DesertCat]

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For one thing, your current XM & Sirius head units are incompatible, and will not be able to receive transmissions from the other, under any circumstances.


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That doesn't matter, it means they'll have to pick one system as the future system and new users will only be able to buy one type of head units, but they'll still keep the old satellites running and provide all the same programming on both systems.

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Two, there are major antitrust implications here. Unless both companies can show that both will end up going out of business without a merger, it is highly unlikely this deal can pass antitrust muster (regardless of what the FCC says).

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This is the other problem, but neither of these money losing companies can continue successfully without being subsidized by more investors. I believe that's going to greatly help their antitrust case.

And I have a theory that if necessary they'll spin out the satellite management business from one entity (Sirius?) and make it a separate company. Then they can merge the entertainment side of Sirius (with all the programming contracts) into XM, while XM signs a long term deal with Sirius Satellite Services to maintain the old satellites. The FCC won't be able say squat about that, since one company won't own both sets of satellites.