Sirius XM confirms rate hike coming

Chris Shunk — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:29:00 EST

If you love your Sirius or XM satellite service, now is the time to re-up your subscription for another three years. The newly unified Sirius XM is charging $2 for additional subscriptions and adding another $2.99 fee for Internet radio. The Internet radio feature does add a 128k premium feed option, which is nice. Subscribers can avoid the price hike by locking in their service before March 11. The increases are seen as a way for Sirius XM to raise money to fund its massive piles of debt. The satellite radio conglomerate wins either way; if you rush to lock in rates, the company gets an immediate cash infusion. If you wait and subscribe for more money, your individual subscription will bring in more money than it did before. We're obviously not too thrilled about this news, especially since it comes on the heels of a competition-killing merger. But to be fair, the two companies kept prices steady for many years, and that's not sustainable forever.

[Source: Kicking Tires]

Sirius XM confirms rate hike coming originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sirius / XM merger approved by Justice Department

John Neff — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:58:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal

On February 19th, 2007, rival satellite radio providers Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio announced a merger worth $5 billion. It was approved by shareholders last November, but many weren't confident the Justic Department would approve the merger of satellite radio's only two providers. Today it has done just that, removing one of the last obstacles to the holy union of these two companies. The feds' main justification for its approval is that the companies compete as much with other forms of radio (terrestial, HD, etc.) and entertainment as they do with each other, therefore, consumers will likely not be harmed satellite radio will still face stiff competition. If satellite radio is to survive the onslaught of in-car entertainment options, which will soon include the web itself, this merger is a must. Howard Stern (Sirisu), meet Oprah (XM).

[Source: Engadget]

Sirius / XM merger approved by Justice Department originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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