XM or Sirius

[wingnut2u]

Well the time has come and I must make the painstaking decision of choosing XM or Sirius. Taking Howard out of the equation, which one do you prefer and why?

Thanks for the opinions and comments.

[HummerNewbie]

I have never had Sirius so can't really say. I have heard the sound quality isn't as good on Sirius but that they have a better rock selection that you get on XM. I primarily went with XM because I wanted the XM Traffic feature for my NAV system.

[GLBLWARMR]

I had Sirius in a rental car while back in the US and didn't see anything wrong with it. It had good sound great rock and metal station. Had numerous tv stations that came in really good on the dvd screens. Granted I had to watch 24 hours of Spongebob on a trip from NH down to DC. I have never had XM so I cannot say but you won't lose going with Sirius.

[usetosellhummer]

XM runs commericals on some music channels.
Sirius nascar in o7, rawdog comedy, Bubba, great 80's channel on First Wave. Sirius is going to take out XM by the end of 07 so go with Sirius.
Howard Stern is a radio God.

[BlueHUMMERH2]

I've had both. Go with SIRIUS. They have less channels that are edited for content, more "edgy" selections, and are expected to over take XM in suscriber numbers soon. If you like rock, Octane is awesome. Alt Nation is pretty good, Faction has some of the hip-hop/rock crossover stuff and punk rock, you've got Hair Nation, Jam_On for DMB type music, Buzzsaw has some edgy classic rock. All my brothers (who are in the 35-45 range) have switched or originally went with SIRIUS. They love it.

Oh yeah, what usetosellhummer said, XM played a nasty trick on us former suscribers (which is why I switched). They added all these "new" channels, and then they said they'd be adding commericals to some of the old music channels. So basically, they wedged in one new channel for every old one that was overtaken by commericals. Their variety of music just sucks anyway. About the only cool XM-specific channel is Cinemagic, but you can live without it.

[robb]

Howard sucks!
Dont get me wrong, back in his day Howard was the ****. But he got a huge 500 million dollar contract and sirius thought all of his listeners would come with him but only about 10% made the journey.

As far as "sirius taking out XM by 07", Not a chance in hell!!!! Do a little bit of research and you will see that XM's fan base is far greater than sirius.





Go with XM. Opie and anthony on XM 202 rock.

[DRTYFN]

Originally Posted by usetosellhummer

Sirius is going to take out XM by the end of 07 so go with Sirius.
Howard Stern is a radio God.

You keep sucking on the has-been's weenus. I was a huge fan of his before he got divorced, became a shill for the radical left and turned into everything he used to make fun of. Remember when he was crowing about freedom of speech and how great his website & forum were? I was the first person banned from that forum for speaking my opinion that was contrary to what he wanted to hear. Sad, but all good things eventually go away. *rantoff*

[ssgharkness020147]

My family has XM in their cars. When I went to buy sattelite I bought Sirius without ever having listened to it think "hey the music cant be worse then XM's". Boy was I right Sirius ROCKS the music is awesome.

[f5fstop]

My advice, find a few people who have both and spend some time listening to each.
XM still has the same number of commerical free stations, and more than Sirius. Yes they have added some more stations and some have commericals, but to be honest a few are good, they play six to eight songs and have two minutes of commercials. But if you want commercial free, they are still number one.
So, unless you are into Stern and need Sirius, or Opra and need XM, then the station programming and songs are personal.
And you can get XM for $77.00 a year by giving them the code GMWINBACK. It worked for me.

Besides, I certainly am not intelligent enough to read your mind and know what songs you like, so my recommendation is do some more research, but don't go with what others say is better. I did, and I cancelled Sirius after three months, a few years ago and went with XM; but XM may not be right for you.

[BlueHUMMERH2]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

Besides, I certainly am not intelligent enough to read your mind and know what songs you like, so my recommendation is do some more research, but don't go with what others say is better. I did, and I cancelled Sirius after three months, a few years ago and went with XM; but XM may not be right for you.

That's interesting. I went to SIRIUS and wouldn't dream about going back. I guess that means there really is a fundemental difference between the two.

So yeah, it does come down to what do you like. Both offer some online trials I think, so maybe you'd try that route. That would give you some time to listen to each.

I still like Howard. I listen to his old clips from the late 80's/early 90's on Master Tape Theatre. I think that he's better today than ever before. I used to listen to him on terrestrial radio, but the bleeps were just too much to understand what they were talking about. But some people hate him, others love him. For roadtrips, I wouldn't trade having Howard for ANYTHING. He has gotten me through some of the long stretches when I'm travelling just by myself. In fact, I think the only reason I got from Kansas to South Bend for Homecoming in 18 hours non-stop was listening to his show.

[champipple]

I have xm in the car and sirrius at work. I would go with sirrus simply because of variety. XM offers a lot on the music side but seems a little too buttoned down on the talk side.

my.02

[bparker]

I had both and I went with SIRUS and I would never take it out now.. nope no way.. too much good music and a good variety... they play **** I actually WANT to hear.. I think XM is a joke if you pay for it.

Just my experience.

[raptorman53]

Sirius all the way. Just waiting for the trial xm to run out.

[mountainbiker]

How about our fellow HUMMER owners in Europe--I wonder what they are listening to for satellite radio, or if XM or Sirrus has any plans to extend their coverage? I thought I read somewhere there is a huge satellite radio company in Europe called WorldSpace that supplied technology to XM in exchange for stock.

http://radio.about.com/od/worldspace/

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by mountainbiker

How about our fellow HUMMER owners in Europe--I wonder what they are listening to for satellite radio, or if XM or Sirrus has any plans to extend their coverage? I thought I read somewhere there is a huge satellite radio company in Europe called WorldSpace that supplied technology to XM in exchange for stock.

http://radio.about.com/od/worldspace/

Reason XM, in the beginning, had better receivers for sale. Worldspace did invest in XM, as well as GM. I know of no one who actually has Worldspace, so I have no idea what they play. I'm not too sure if Worldspace still retains any ownership or large stock of XM.

Personal opinion is all that matters in this area. I work with people who will argue for hours as to which is best, and all it boils down to is personal opinion of what is being playing by each company, and are you satisfied with what you are paying for.
Who knows, someday I may go back to Sirius, but right now, I'm satisfied with XM, and I don't consider it a JOKE, anymore than I think Sirius is a joke. They are different, and for that reason we have some competition in the satellite radio market, while the rest of the world doesn't. Imagine, if Sirius and XM merged, the costs would go up dramatically. So let's all hope both companies stay in business, remain close to the number of subscribers, and keep the prices down for all.

Arguing about this is like being in a redneck bar watching to rednecks argue about Ford vs. Chevy trucks.

The reason XM was required to change some stations (4) to commercial stations:
"In March of this year, an arbitration panel settled a legal dispute between Clear Channel and XM. The panel decided that Clear Channel had the right to include commercials on 4 music channels which it gained (and programmed) from a 1998 investment in XM Satellite Radio.

XM?s response was to launch 4 new music channels, in the same respective genre, to compensate for this loss of commercial-free status. As a matter of fact, it added even more than four.

A March 27, 2006 News Release from XM stated ?XM added two new commercial-free music channels on March 1: Big Tracks (XM Channel 49), focusing on classic rock from the late 70's onward, and XM Chill (XM Channel 84), devoted to Chill music. During April and May, XM will bring the total number of new commercial-free music channels to 10??

The service positions this change by stating it has ??the most commercial-free music channels in satellite radio.? Notice it doesn?t flat out state they are all commercial-free. Increasing the number of channels allowed the company to boast of quantity ? which can easily be misinterpreted by an average listener to mean they are all commercial-free.

The Clear Channel/XM relationship is supposed to end in 2008. Then, XM can once again go back to real commercial-free music programming, should it wish."

[f5fstop]

A well written article, explaining the differences....
Depending on your interests and how you use radio, one satellite service will be right for you. Both services offer an enormous amount of great stuff and also lots of mediocre programming.

Despite the considerable overlap in programming, a handful of distinctions are so clear that you can base your decision entirely on them. Baseball fan: XM. Football nut: Sirius. Movie maven: XM. Howard Stern addict: Sirius. Bob Dylan freak: XM. NPR lover: Sirius.

If movie soundtracks are your kind of music, XM is the only service with a channel dedicated to those sounds, including long-form profiles and interviews with composers such as Danny Elfman and Randy Newman. On the other hand, if you want Playboy Radio or Korean-language programming, Sirius is your only choice.

Sirius has the only all-gay channel; XM, the only black talk channel.

As both services reach beyond the early adopters to capture a mainstream audience, they are looking to big-name celebrities to win new subscribers.

Sirius has staked its future on the uncensored Stern, while XM counters with bad boys Opie and Anthony. XM has built its version of public radio around former NPR "Morning Edition" host Bob Edwards; Sirius doesn't offer original programming of that kind, but does have the real thing, two channels of shows produced by NPR.

XM has signed Bob Dylan, Oprah Winfrey and Snoop Dogg as celebrity hosts. Sirius's stars include Martha Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Judith Regan and Mark Cuban.

But while both services vie for big names, the main attraction on XM (6.9 million subscribers) and Sirius (4.7 million) is the music. The tunes are often similar; how they're presented is the difference.

In their original visions, the competitors touted a world of musical choice unfathomable on FM radio; they promised all the formats that listeners enjoyed before corporate consolidation so greatly narrowed the kinds of tunes available on free radio, plus lots of niche formats never before heard on the air.

Sadly, however, that vision yielded to a more mainstream approach. And some of satellite's early experiments have already been pulled down from the bird. Both XM and Sirius killed their world music channels, eclectic mixes of tunes from every continent.

XM excised channels for cool cocktail lounge sounds, African pop and a free-form mix of exotica from across the decades. Sirius silenced channels featuring swing jazz, baroque classics, and tropical and calypso music.

Still, what remains is a selection far beyond what free radio offers. Both services have stations dedicated to the pop music of each decade from the 1950s to the '80s; XM adds the '40s and '90s. XM's decade channels sound like radio stations from those eras; it's a fun, cartoonish approach in which Top 40 hits are mixed in with old commercials, bits from TV shows, and deejays who adopt the style of the time they're re-creating. Sirius does a little of that but generally opts for a more contemporary, serious sound.

What Sirius lacks in fun, it makes up for in the quality and intelligence of its deejays.

XM subscribes to more of a jukebox model, providing long sets of uninterrupted music on many channels. The theory is that since song and artist names appear on satellite receivers' displays, most listeners just want the tunes, thanks. On Sirius's more highbrow channels, especially, announcers provide more background about the music than do the deejays on similar XM channels.

I've heard great storytelling about artists and their music on Sirius from pioneering New York rock deejay Vin Scelsa, whose "Idiot's Delight" is a rare satellite show that feels alive and intimate. Legendary jazz jock Les Davis and folk and rock host Meg Griffin also do shows that hark back to the era of deejay as tastemaker, educator and entertainer.

XM has compelling deejays, too, such as Jonathan Schwartz, the dean of American pop standards; and two voices who once defined D.C. classical radio, Martin Goldsmith and Robert Aubry Davis.

But Sirius gives its deejays more time to shine -- and more to fail, too.

For all the smart stuff you hear from jocks on Sirius's jazz and classical channels, the banter on its pop channels sounds just as inane as on too many FM hits stations.

In general, if you're looking to hear new music and understand where it fits in, Sirius is the place. If you'd rather the jocks let the music do the talking, XM's for you.

[f5fstop]

Here are more distinctions, by category of programming:

ROCK AND POP
Both services devote a disproportionate number of channels to various forms of rock, and both slice the niches awfully thin (is a channel playing nothing but '80s hair bands really necessary?). Sirius (19 rock channels) dedicates some channels entirely to one artist -- there's 24/7 Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and Jimmy Buffett, though Buffett's channel stretches to include similar artists. And Sirius has more channels devoted to soft rock, love songs and what used to be called beautiful music. Sirius's cool exclusive: Super Shuffle, which appeals to the iPod generation by switching randomly among all genres of popular music. XM's background music channel, programmed by Starbucks, features music heard in the coffee shops. Some aficionados say XM's rockers (14 channels) go deeper into the archives, playing more surprises than you'll hear on Sirius. Edge: XM .

URBAN/SOUL/HIP-HOPSirius is heavy on hip-hop, with four channels, including one that serves as a clubhouse for performers who leave no word unspoken, no accusation against their rivals unhurled. XM -- which has two channels of contemporary hip-hop and one of classic hip-hop -- does a much better job with old-school sounds, offering three channels of black hits from decades past. The legendary Washington deejay Bobby "The Mighty Burner" Bennett is the voice of XM's "Soul Street," a terrific trip back to the soul stations of the '60s and '70s. Edge: XM .

CLASSICAL
Both services have surprisingly limited choices of classical music. Though each service offers separate channels for symphonic sounds, voice and pops, chamber music gets short shrift, as do contemporary classical compositions. XM, reflecting its devotion to live broadcasts and concerts, has a more interesting selection of full-length performances, while Sirius generally offers more daring and edgy choices. Sirius carries NPR's fine classical programs, including "Performance Today" and "SymphonyCast," which are no longer heard on Washington's talk-oriented public stations. XM counters with "Exploring Music," hosted by Bill McGlaughlin (long-time host of public radio's riveting "St. Paul Sunday") and Davis's weekly focus on early music, "Millennium of Music." Edge: Sirius .

JAZZ
Both services have channels for classic jazz, fusion and contemporary sounds, and the background music known on FM as smooth jazz. XM's fusion channel sounds more like a jazz station circa 1978, while Sirius's plays more current electrified jazz. XM's straight-ahead channel is the better place to pick up on new artists, while Sirius shows greater range, from New Orleans through bebop all the way to today's players. In addition, both have channels of blues and American standards (Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé). Sirius oddly lumps a channel of New Age and ambient sound (Enya, Yanni, Ottmar Liebert) into its jazz category. Edge: Sirius .

NEWS
A weak spot for both services. News is the most expensive programming to produce; as a result, neither XM nor Sirius has its own news operation.

Rather, both mainly use audio from TV. Both services have similar lineups of CNN, Fox, ABC, BBC World Service and C-SPAN. XM adds MSNBC, while Sirius carries Canadian and European radio services.

TV programming makes for awkward, sometimes infuriating radio, as anchors and reporters refer to visuals that listeners cannot see.

An exclusive contract with National Public Radio gives Sirius a big advantage; its three public radio channels offer fine news and talk shows not heard on Washington's FM public stations.

But the NPR deal prohibits use of the network's flagship shows, "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." XM's single-channel attempt to compete consists of Bob Edwards's excellent hour of interviews and some fine programs from non-NPR producers such as Public Radio International ("This American Life," "Sounds Eclectic.") Edge: Sirius .

DANCE/ELECTRONICA
Both have disco, chill, trance and dance hits channels. XM also has a channel for ravers, while Sirius adds nonstop breakbeats and mash-ups on its Boombox channel. XM's disco channel sticks closely to '70s tunes, both the hits and club favorites, while Sirius combines those oldies with '80s dance hits. Most of Sirius's dance channels are hosted by knowledgeable deejays; XM's are almost entirely nonstop music. Edge: XM .

COUNTRY
Today's hits, classic cuts and the real gritty stuff -- both services offer the basic flavors. Sirius's music choices are often more creative and surprising. Sirius adds Outlaw Country, where Fred Imus (Don's brother) does a weekend show for honky-tonk lovers, while XM's Willie's Place offers a Willie Nelson-branded selection of classics from the '50s and '60s. Edge: Sirius .

SPORTS
XM broadcasts every single Major League Baseball game all season long, bliss for fans who don't live in their team's home city. There's also an excellent 24/7 baseball talk station. Football isn't much of a radio sport, but Sirius broadcasts every NFL game, as well as the NBA. Both companies have a selection of college hoops and gridiron coverage, but XM has the corner on ACC, Big Ten and Pac-10 games. Both XM and Sirius carry ESPN's talk shows, and both air NHL games. XM adds talk channels from Fox Sports and the Sporting News; Sirius counters with a talk channel that's heavy on golf, wrestling, gambling and poker. Poker: not a radio sport. Edge: XM .

KIDS
Both services have Radio Disney and each has its own kids' channel. Sirius's is heavy on pop music and TV fare, such as audio from "Sesame Street" and "The Care Bears." Oriented toward the youngest set, the channel has lots of the Raffi and Barney fare that drives parents to reconsider the miracle of childbirth. XM Kids, by contrast, features Kenny Curtis, a veteran of Washington's 1990s experiment in kids' radio, the Radio Zone, on a morning show with running characters, sketches and contests; as well as radio theater, kids' concerts, science shows and a nightly lullaby hour. Edge: XM .

TALK
Sirius is trying to carve out an advantage in lifestyle talk with a Martha Stewart home channel, a health channel and stations programmed by Cosmopolitan and Maxim magazines. But the content is largely unlistenable, a nonstop parade of perkiness.

OutQ, Sirius's all-gay channel, is a great idea, but too often I heard club music rather than the talk shows promised in promotions. XM focuses more on advice, with financial experts Bruce Williams and Dave Ramsey, and all-night conspiracy mavens such as Art Bell and George Noory.

Both services feature political talkers from right and left, many of them syndicated hosts available on free radio -- Bill Bennett, the "NRA News" team, Bill Press and Stephanie Miller on Sirius; Dr. Laura, Laura Ingraham, Jerry Springer and Al Franken on XM. And both have channels of Christian talk and shows for truckers.

Since FCC regulations on obscenity don't apply, satellite has become the refuge for the raunch radio of the '90s.

Beyond round-the-clock Stern, Sirius has former Tampa bad boy Bubba the Love Sponge, and XM has added Ron and Fez, late of Washington's WJFK, to its anything-goes talk channel. Edge: XM .

COMEDY
Of all the programming satellite offers, the comedy channels are the biggest step away from traditional broadcast formats.

Both XM and Sirius have three channels of comedy routines; both have a choice of clean or uncensored stand-up.

Sirius has the channel Blue Collar Comedy (Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Kathleen Madigan) while XM devotes a channel to Canadian comedy. (A very high-concept joke? No, the channel exists because XM sells its wares in Canada, where the government insists on a certain amount of Canadian content.)

On its clean, family-oriented channel, XM relies heavily on classic bits (Bill Cosby, Rodney Dangerfield, Jonathan Winters and comics familiar to viewers of "The Ed Sullivan Show" in the 1960s), while Sirius seeks a more contemporary sound by using audio from more recent TV shows ("The Simpsons," "Monty Python's Flying Circus"). On the explicit-language channel, Sirius picks up audio from HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" shows, while XM plays more live appearances recorded at nightclubs in Washington and elsewhere. Sirius's admirable attempt to expand the form fails for the same reason all that TV news audio flops: Too often, you can't see what the joke is about. Sirius's edgier approach means that rather than sticking to stand-up, the channel also plays songs that weren't meant to be funny but are, such as Pat Boone's rendition of "Stairway to Heaven." You need to hear that once in your life. Edge: XM .

These are someone else's opinion, and means nothing, other than it gives a decent explanation of what each service offers.

[f5fstop]

Another interesting article from Business Week....
XM and Sirius Should Join Bands
The satellite-radio rivals might find that with growing competition and changing market conditions, a deal makes a lot more sense than a brawl


The idea of America's major two satellite-radio providers merging has been tossed around almost from the moment Sirius launched its service against XM back in 2002. XM (XMSR ) had a year's head start, but as Sirius' (SIRI ) share of the market surged, many analysts predicted a duopoly, with both companies eventually splitting the market in half. After all, Sirius' share has gone from about 11% in 2003 to 26% last year and is expected to approach 33% by the end of this year.

Yet, Sirius' surprising strength suggests it might be time for both companies to consider an alliance again. Continued head-butting could slow down both companies' quests to reach profitability. And they'll need financial stamina in the coming months, as they face a mounting threat from a slew of emerging audio technologies. "Financially, [a merger or an alliance] would make a lot of sense," says Craig Mathias, founder of wireless consultancy Farpoint Group.

Both XM and Sirius deny any talk of a combo. But after a year of hand-to-hand combat over programming and subscribers, the rhetoric between the two players is softening -- and that could indicate they might be amenable to hooking up at some point in the future. "It's more important to differentiate ourselves from the other technologies and services that are out there than for either Sirius or us to differentiate ourselves from one another," XM Chairman Gary Parsons told BusinessWeek Online.

DROP IN THE OCEAN. Indeed, a trickle of alternatives is turning into a flood. Digital radio broadcasts, podcasts (recordings of music or talk than can be downloaded onto PCs or portable MP3 players), and song download services via wireless networks are taking off. Come 2006, wireless-network owner Crown Castle is expected to launch an audio and TV service for cell phones -- a market that XM and Sirius are also interested in developing. Worse yet for the satellite boys, Motorola (MOT ) is planning to bring out an ad-free wireless audio service for the car market -- XM's and Sirius' bread and butter.

Just like that, the $310 million satellite-radio business is looking like a pond compared to the wider wireless ocean -- and the pond is getting crowded. Rather than duke it out, XM and Sirius may find it more advantageous to present a joint front to competitors.

XM believes it'll reach free cash flows in 2006, and Sirius insists it will break even in 2007. Yet the continuing rivalry could push their break-even targets off by a year, some analysts now estimate.

SNOWBALLING SUBSIDIES. It's not that they're hurting for cash. Each holds more than $630 million in cash and equivalents, and the satellite-radio subscriber base is exploding. On July 1, XM reported that it added 640,000 subscribers in its second quarter, 100,000 above analyst expectations.

But any delay in reaching profitability could mean XM and Sirius would need to raise additional funds on top of mounting debts -- either by floating stock or by selling a chunk of equity to a telco or a cable company. They'll each also need more capital to continue bidding for content and offering radio-hardware subsidies, designed to encourage auto makers and consumers to choose one service over the other.

These subsidies have been snowballing recently -- and they're costly. Both companies underwrite radio hardware and offer several months of service for free to entice subscribers, which means they lose money on each added subscriber for months. So in a strange twist, the recent growth spurt could lead to higher losses. Already, Sirius has offered investors guidance for more red ink this year than previously expected -- $510 million.

SHOCKS TO THE SYSTEM. Content spending is spiraling upward, too. Sirius has scored two giant deals, signing up domestic diva Martha Stewart in April to run a special channel due to launch in the fall, just months after it signed shock jock Howard Stern, whose program is due to start in January, 2006. In February, 2005, Sirius outbid XM for exclusive rights to NASCAR broadcasts from 2007 to 2011, a deal valued at more than $100 million.

At this rate, Sirius' content spending will reach $130 million -- twice 2004 revenue -- by 2007, according to J.P. Morgan estimates. And XM has been striking deals of its own, such as signing up Opie and Anthony to compete with Stern.

Still, differentiating the companies' offerings is becoming increasingly difficult. Today, "there's no structural reason why one of us wouldn't be able to copy what the other one does," allows Jim Meyer, president of operations and sales at Sirius.

PLENTY OF SAVINGS. Indeed, XM introduced its MyFi wearable device last year. Sirius will unveil its own version, which will allow consumers to listen to its broadcasts live or store them for another time, later this year, says Meyer. Both companies are developing technology to stream video to cars and audio to cell phones. "Sirius has historically been behind XM in hardware development, but they've cut the gap considerably," says David Schrier, an analyst with consultancy ABI Research. They've even recently reached parity on rates -- $12.95 a month for month-to-month subscribers for both XM and Sirius.

If they join forces, their subscriber-acquisition costs, ranging from just over $50 for XM and $190 for Sirius, would fall. They wouldn't need all their costly satellites. And their programming costs would also likely plummet.

Such reductions would allow XM and Sirius to better compete with companies offering alternative digital audio options, such as terrestrial radio, which is free and has been cutting back on commercials to battle the competition in the sky.

THE BIG DIFFERENCE. The two companies would have two options for joining forces. First, they could merge. True, they would face antitrust scrutiny from federal regulators. But chances are, the combo would pass muster.

Here's why: Unlike satellite-video companies EchoStar (DISH ) and DirecTV, whose merger proposal was rejected back in 2002 because it would have created a monopoly in rural areas, XM and Sirius aren't profitable. They could argue that competition puts a financial strain on their business. Moreover, they don't control a large chunk of the consumer market anywhere.

What's more, the licenses XM and Sirius received from the Federal Communications Commission back in 1997 don't specifically prohibit a merger, says Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a former FCC commissioner who's now president of economics consultancy Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises.

BRANCHING OUT. A content alliance is the other possibility, since Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, a key architect in the CBS-Viacom merger, might be determined to keep Sirius growing on his own. In that case, perhaps Sirius and XM might agree to pool their programming resources, says ABI's Schrier.

An alliance like this would allow them to focus on rivals as well as opening up new markets, such as delivering satellite radio to cell phone -- a potentially costly undertaking. On July 13, XM announced that it acquired WCS Wireless, which owns wireless licenses that would enable XM to offer additional data and video services. The all-stock deal is valued at nearly $200 million. Both XM and Sirius may have to make more acquisitions to address competitive threats in the coming months.

"The [satellite-radio] market is barely scratched," says Tuna Amobi, an analyst with Standard & Poor's. And with the market expected to grow tenfold by 2009, XM and Sirius could find they're better suitors than fighters.

[BlueHUMMERH2]

I hope they don't merge. I really hate XM, and would be pissed if a merger was in the works.

Sorry, I was trying to remain objective... But I really do hate XM..

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by BlueHUMMERH2

Sorry, I was trying to remain objective... But I really do hate XM..

Yea, that sounds really objective, but is only subjective.