I have been thinking about the
XM-Sirius Merger. I think it is sad that XM and Sirius got to the point where they feel that they have to merge. I think this is because of how they built their business.
I think the problem they made was to sign too much exclusive content. They think the exclusive content is going to drive subscribers. The problem with exclusive content is that XM or Sirius has to pay the whole cost for that content. The two sat TV providers have a majority of channels that a customer can also get from cable. There are lots of TV channels that would not be able to survive if they had to get all of their views from satellite TV.
There is a lot of radio content out there. I would pay money to get programming from other cities. If I could get the best radio channels from Philadelphia, Portland, Washington DC, that would be interesting. How many people who grew up in Philadelphia would like to tune into WIP or WMMR. I know that I would. I think you could sign these kinds of content deals for a lot less money. On top of that you could also have commercial free content.
I hope that the FCC does not allow this merger to go through. I think it would mean the death of satellite radio. I do not see anything interesting coming out of either of these companies if they do not need to compete.
Labels: business, content, satellite radio, Sirius, XM
