Satellite Radio

[Von Halen]

I have Sirius, and I love it.

I have listened to XM while being forced to spend the day in the car with my boss , and I was not at all impressed with their programming.

I hope they merge for the simple fact that I want all the major sports available on one service.

I haven't listened to AM/FM radio in the year and a half that I've had Sirius. Like regular television, AM/FM radio will eventually be all but extinct. And I couldn't be happier. I don't need some suit telling me what my ears should, and should not, be hearing.

 

[Mike]

I didnt know regular TV had gone away?

 

[Rich]

I've had XM for more than a year and love it. I chose XM over Sirius simply because I'm also a hockey fan and XM has a 24/7 NHL channel. But I also enjoy Joe Costello's Power Shift program that Alan mentioned. Constello is a drag racing fan and they do a NHRA program every Tuesday.

 

[Von Halen]

I didnt know regular TV had gone away?

Do you know how to read?

 

[Darryl]

In my personal opinion the concept of the merger being a monopoly is a crock that's being pushed by a bunch of radio station owners like Clear Channel that are scared to death of the potential of Satellite radio. There are thousands of radio stations across the country and XM and Sirius can't hold a candle to the number of people that listen to those 'free' stations. Free to listen to commercial after commercial with poor programming at best.

One of the comments I've heard is that Sirius was actually founded first and the powers that be allowed the satellite band width to be split between the two companies. If they get together they can use the entire bandwidth to do things like streaming video and maybe some other goodies. Merge on XM and Sirius!

 

[Mike]

Like regular television, AM/FM radio will eventually be all but extinct.






I guess not but heres your post!

 

[Darryl]

Mike, you can bet when a company finds a way to charge for something that was free you might as well get your wallet out. That being said I have Sirius and I certainly hope they stay in business. I drove to Phoenix this weekend for the Div-7 race and it was great listening to the same station all the way. No commercial music is fantastic.

 

[Von Halen]

Like regular television, AM/FM radio will eventually be all but extinct.






I guess not but heres your post!

Right. I declared regular tv "all but extinct". That would indicate that it hasn't "gone away".

I guess you do know how to read. You just don't know how to comprehend what you are reading.

 

[Mike]

Now I'm with you but dont you think the networks have to much investment in the shows like idol and stuff to go away?

 

[Sully]

"All but extinct" does imply that it's almost gone - like spotted owls and snail-darters and ivory-billed woodpeckers. TV is hardly all but extinct, but it's rapidly becoming irrelevant. AM radio is all but extinct and standard FM radio is going to become extinct in a few years, when everything goes digital.

 

[Larry]

Why me lord ! Those words seem to be a continuing part of my vocabulary these days.
First I put my vette up full of premo and a bottle of stybul fuel stabilizer and less than four months later I got it out and the dang gas went sour on me.
It belched and snorted and lights flashed calling me a idiot retard and black smoke came out the rear.
One fellow asked me when they came out with a diesel in a Corvette.
It's OK now after I burned out the old and put in new gas and additives.
If I hadn't put in the stabul It would have been expensive.
If you are putting up any gasoline powered cars you better take care and don't leave them full.
The gas is supposed to stay good for a year .
Glad I didn't take a chance cause that last Premo might have been months old already.
Gonna fill up by the University where all the professors gas up Volvo's and Mercedes from now on.
You thought I was just hijacking a thread I bet.

The other thing is I'm a couple of months away from renewing XM service and due to replace one of the units anyway. What to do?
I like the new headphones too w/optional antenna kit you stick on any window for inside listening.
Lord just let at least one of them survive cause I'm addicted now and might go postal without my fix.
Oh wow there's a huge red moon coming up over Galveston bay , man thats great.
46 is playing Bob Dylan's positively 4 th street.
Thanks Lord for the show and thanks XM for the tunes.

 

[Mike]

Larry and Vaughn, #1 rated tv shows are all on network tv. Same with radio, #1 show in most markets are all on am. I just dont see to big of changes in the very near future.

 

[Von Halen]

I know you've got a good point Mike.

I wasn't so much talking about Networks in general, as I was antenna on the roof based television. Most people have cable, or satellite, as opposed to picking up the Network channels on a antenna on the roof.

I can see where my comment could have been misconstrued.

But I don't believe FM radio can withstand the onslaught of Satellite radio like Network channels have with Cable and Satellite tv. The Network tv channels still have stuff to offer. FM radio does not.

 

[Larry]

Mike as I told Ron Dunlap a year or so ago my company as well as others should buy satellite radio for all the trucks and boats and buses or out there as when we travel we used to have to shop for a tape, CD or new station every 30 minutes or so.
With the stations all in the same place and no need for CD's there's a marked increase in driver attention to business rather than shopping and the necessary glancing at the radio.
Multiply that by how many vehicles and trucks and even boats on the roads and rivers and wallah you now have increased safety which my company preaches but have yet to fund Sat. radio.
If it saves one accident or life its paid for itself for years.
In the commercial realm one accident would pay for service and equipment for the fleet for many years.

 

[J.C.]

I have five XM receivers and one Sirius receiver in our household. I like that fact that both offer commercial-free (mostly, anyway) music. I only have the Sirius because my wife's new Infiniti came with it built in to the navigation system and it is very expensive to switch it to XM.

That said, it's actually refreshing to switch from XM to Sirius when I drive her car, i.e. I hear new music channels with "different" playlists. The only thing I do notice is that her Sirius "drops" very frequently when going under bridges and such. The XM radios rarely ever drop the signal. Maybe XM has more repeaters in Phoenix or maybe the XM radios have a larger buffer? I don't know, but either/both work for us.

As for the planned merger between XM and Sirius, this scares me. We'll end up with one sat radio provider that can charge whatever it wants for service. I know that the laws of supply and demand apply, and they can't charge $249/month, but they sure could raise the rates a few dollars here and there and still keep customers. Monopolies are not a good thing.