Sirius/XM Merger Gets DOJ Approval!!

Well, it finally happened. The first step towards a New World Order in broadcast radio is upon us. The DOJ has approved the Sirius/XM merger and now it's off to the FCC for approval. According to the DOJ:

"After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers..."

Personally, I'm looking forward to a merger. I've been a Sirius subscriber since it launched in my area, and have subscribed to XM off-and-on for many years as well. I'm a fan of Sirius' programming more than XM's, but I have found a few channels on XM I'd like to subscribe to as well. XM and Sirius will offer a couple different subscription packages from which to choose, ranging from...

...$6.99 to $16.99. You can go to Sirius or XM's website to get the details, or the guys over at Orbitcast have it broken down. Check out XM post-merger line-up here, and check out the Sirius line-up here. After the merger, XM will adapt adopt a few Sirius channels into their line-up and XM will do the same. However, if you want to receive full line-ups from both services, you'll have to purchase new equipment.

It might seem like this could create an overwhelming amount of content, but the crafty folks at Sirius/Xm have it all figured out - an "a-la-carte option" will be available as well. This is a first for the subscription service industry, and something that is LONG overdue. The a-la-carte packages will let subscribers choose their top 50 or 100 channels, coming in at $6.99 and $14.99 respectively. This is the coolest deal of them all... Both providers have 120+ channels of content, but most subscribers find they only listen to about 10 channels all the time, myself included. It's going to be interesting to see how this turns out, but I"m looking forward to it.

Source: Dealerscope
Source: Orbitcast