The XM and Sirius merger has a lot of people nervous. Whichever side you currently are a subscriber with, you most likely have your favorite stations — losing some or all of them would not be good. I have been a Sirius subscriber for years (way before Howard Stern) and have my favorites and would hate to lose them.
The latest news-rumor about the XM-Sirius merger has some good news, it looks like you will be able to get a low cost $6.99 package that will get you 50 channels or a $16.99 deal that would give you channels from both XM and Sirius. You will also be able to add and remove channels as you desire. Sounds like a good deal to me, I love Sirius but I listen to just about five channels, it would be nice to be able to get somewhat of an a-la-carte offering.
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The a la carte sounds good but what they don't tell you is that you'll have to pay to get a new receiver to operate both systems. I work closely with the national association of broadcasters and I am suspicious of the merger. XM and Sirius originally told the FCC they would create an inter-operable system but I haven't seen anything until now. They have a poor record of FCC violations. I doubt they'll change should the merger proceed.