w00t! XM / SIRIUS Merger Approved

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a merge doesn't necessarily mean higher stock.

sprint merging with nextel... nextel's stock was higher than the combined is now.
 
a merge doesn't necessarily mean higher stock.

sprint merging with nextel... nextel's stock was higher than the combined is now.
it does mean a better product for the consumer though.

this still needs FCC approval though.
 
that said, i have a good amount of SIRI and have had it for a while... it's pretty much dropped since i bought in ($3.42) so i'm not looking to turn much of a profit on it i don't think.
 
it does mean a better product for the consumer though.

im gunna have to go ahead and disagree with you on that one... i had nextel shortly after they came to CT (was with them for about 7 years)
their service got better and better every week, i had minimal dead spots anywhere in the state, it was the shit
then sprint merged with them (took them over) service steadily got worse and worse... i would notice a new or larger dead spot every week or 2, to the point that my nextel service only phone was practically worthless
i was offered an "upgrade" to their dual network service (not really dual network) its actually only about half of the coverage of the true sprint network... and there are areas where only half of your device will work (ie: 2 way but no phone) fuck that
so i held out until the end of my contract and told them to fuck off... and the sons of bitches didnt want to give me the information i needed to get my number ported over to my new carrier
which brings me to one of the other points of this merger... the customer service quality went directly down the fucking toilet when sprint took over

fuck sprint
 
im gunna have to go ahead and disagree with you on that one... i had nextel shortly after they came to CT (was with them for about 7 years)
their service got better and better every week, i had minimal dead spots anywhere in the state, it was the shit
then sprint merged with them (took them over) service steadily got worse and worse... i would notice a new or larger dead spot every week or 2, to the point that my nextel service only phone was practically worthless
i was offered an "upgrade" to their dual network service (not really dual network) its actually only about half of the coverage of the true sprint network... and there are areas where only half of your device will work (ie: 2 way but no phone) fuck that
so i held out until the end of my contract and told them to fuck off... and the sons of bitches didnt want to give me the information i needed to get my number ported over to my new carrier
which brings me to one of the other points of this merger... the customer service quality went directly down the fucking toilet when sprint took over

fuck sprint
so you don't think twice as many satellites and twice the number of stations for the same price will make a better product?
 
i don't know if it will be good or not
I'm just stating that specifically with the sprint nextel merger it sucked balls

having listened to both XM and Sirius I'm not overly impressed with either... but for my listening $ i prefer the stations on XM (i don't give half a fuck about howard stern) i have heard mixed stories about how the satellite and station issue will unfold, none of which were double the sats and double the stations for the same money... mostly heard you will be able to buy packages in addition to your base channels (kinda like cable)

i dunno... i listen to regular radio and CDs (or internet radio at work) so this merger really doesn't effect me at all

i just know that lack of competition rarely benefits the consumer
 
how did this get an aproval? Dosen't this fly in the face of Anti-trust? Won't the newly merged company hold a monopoly on the satalite radio industry, or do they look at it as a small portion of the entire radio industry?
 
how did this get an aproval? Dosen't this fly in the face of Anti-trust? Won't the newly merged company hold a monopoly on the satalite radio industry, or do they look at it as a small portion of the entire radio industry?
it's not a monopoly. they aren't controlling the other satellite stations out there, there just aren't any others. if i wanted to create satellite radio stations, i could fund it.

the post office and railroads are the only real monopolies out there. and they are fading fast.

i hate local radio. we are just too limited. it's like watching trl. it's the same britney spears and t-pain songs for 24 hours. i like the hip hop, old school, the rock stations. i really like my sirius.
 
how did this get an aproval? Dosen't this fly in the face of Anti-trust? Won't the newly merged company hold a monopoly on the satalite radio industry, or do they look at it as a small portion of the entire radio industry?

In the satelite radio industry this is considered a monopoly, but in the greater entertainment industry the satelite radio industry does not comprise even one full percent. There's still traditional AM/FM radio and other devices to compete with satelite radio, therefore its unlikely that this will be ruled as a monopoly.

With that said, the government turns a blind eye to certain monopolies it feels are beneficial to the consumer or that have nice, large political contributions. Legislation seems to have finally realized that phone companies work in economies of scale and ultimately the end consumer benefits, at least in the traditional land line sense, when there are larger phone companies. AT&T will never be what it once was but legislation did not block the large baby bells from re-merging, the other year, and essentially undoing what the anti-trust case broke up in the first place.

This is directed towards Nick. You have to remember that a monopoly isn't simply about whether a company holds patents or proprietary technology. Those are only two barriers to entry. There's other barriers to entry; economies of scale, product differentiation, start up capital requirements, switching costs, access to distribution channels, government policy, expected retaliation, cost disadvantages (proprietary technology, patents).

Those are all a part of the Porters Five Forces model and comprise just one section of model, there's other sections with subsections like; diversity of rivalry, buying power of suppliers, buying power of sellers, threat of substitution.

There's so many things blocking a start up company's entry to the satelite radio market, i.e., Sirius/XM would retaliate fiercely, has much proprietary technology (after all, those are the only really companies to use this technology successfully), huge capital requirements, switching costs for contracted customers, high brand loyalty, etc., etc.

Consider this, the Europe Union sued the hell out of Microsoft for being a monopoly and won its case overseas. We tend to have lax laws in some areas, but surely Microsoft was a monopoly in the United States for quite awhile and was never really prosecuted fully; they just received warnings and slaps on the wrist.
 
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