Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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February 20, 2007

XM To Merge With Sirius

Here's a more detailed reaction to the announced XM and Sirius satellite radio merger.

They actually use this line in their press release: "The combined company will be able to compete better in what has become a very complex and dynamic entertainment market."

Translation: They never were in competition in the first place...more on this below. It sure is a "complex market" when the choice changes from just two to only one.

Here's another mind boggling statement from the press release: "...once we are fully integrated, those of you who have factory-installed satellite radio will no longer be limited to the programming provided by the exclusive satellite radio service chosen by their car manufacturer."

What does this mean? You can get both services on the same receiver after the merger...of course, this should have been the case all along, but before the companies merged, they cooperated to create the illusion that they were in competition...with identical business models and no one making a receiver that would get both services. Now we learn it was all a facade.

Here's one more line from the press release: "Between today and the merger date, as well as during the period immediately after the merger date, all of your services will remain the same. The channel lineup, the customer service number, the great music technology, and the XM Radio web site will all remain unchanged and there will be no disruption to service."

What they've just done here (in reverse sneaky press release fashion) is list what might or will change AFTER the merger date. They even throw in a promise they can't possibly guarantee..."there will be no disruption to service." I have a disruption to service every time I drive beside a row of buildings or just a large stand of Virginia pine trees.

A few questions arise out of all of this.
1. For Southern Gospel fans, will Channel 34 survive the merger?
2. How many people have XM and Sirius ripped off by selling proprietary hardware that turns out not to be proprietary after all? We should have been offered the option of switching from XM to Sirius and back again without changing hardware from day one.
3. Who is going to offer a competing product now? If the new corporate entity wants to scale back service gradually over time on the XM side and do the same on the Sirius side, there's no incentive to switch.

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posted by David Bruce Murray @ 6:00:00 PM


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