XM and Sirius Vs. Broadcast Radio

I was one of the early adopters of XM radio in 2002 when their subscriber count was only a six-digit number. While somewhat awkward to pay for something that has always been free, the monthly fee that subscribers paid effectively eliminated commercials and added features not available through regular radio receivers.

Since then, it’s been difficult to go back to listening to the scratchy sounding and commercial-laden radio still in most people’s cars and homes. Granted HD radio recently stepped up the quality of the local broadcast channels that we’re used to, but because of the massive number of subscribers now flocking to satellite radio (more than 17 million on XM and Sirius combined), well-known personalities are leaving regular broadcast channels behind for the higher salaries and more focused channels offered by XM and Sirius.

In February of last year, XM and Sirius announced a merger of their radio services into one satellite radio network. At the time, the buzz created was limited because the merger had to go through both companies shareholders and several government agencies – but since then everything has been approved except for the FCC’s final say, which is expected a very short time from now.

What does all of this mean for the consumer? Well, some people were hesitant to make the jump to satellite radio because of the way channels were split between XM and Sirius: XM, for example, had the rights to broadcast MLB and NHL games on their network, but Sirius had grabbed up the rights for NFL and NASCAR broadcasts. Also split between the two were a number of popular personalities that brought their own audiences with them, including Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Opie and Anthony.

Because of the merger, the new satellite radio network will be able to include all of the aforementioned content (plus hundreds of music channels), and do it at a lower price point than previously possible. If you are one of the millions of people waiting on trying out this exciting new technology, now is a better time than ever to give it a spin.