XM and Sirius have announced details about their plans to merge. In short, you can get a bunch of channels from each service or have a choice of 50 or 100-channel “a la carte” packages. The 50-channel deal will be cheaper than the current prices, but seemingly restricts you to one service, while the 100-channel deal will cost more, but gives you a chance to pick channels from the competing service. They will also have music-only, sports-only and family-friendly packages. The press release goes into greater detail.
I have had XM for close to five years now. I hardly listen to more than 25 channels on a regular basis so am up in the air on what I will do if this passes. The 50-channel package will more than cover my interests, but I would love the chance to have Sirius’ Elvis, Margaritaville or Sinatra channels on my radio.
The A La Carte packages are cheaper or close to what I pay now, but you need a new radio to get those. They always find a way to make you pay. The packages which let you keep all your XM programming and choose some Sirius channels will cost me about three extra bucks a month. I have to decide if those Sirius channels are worth a few more dollars a month.
I also have to see what kind of sports programming will be available to choose from the Sirius lineup. I don’t listen to sports a ton on my radio, but might want to pick package that gives me NFL games or soccer just in case I am in the mood.
Who the hell am I kidding? I’ll switch to something new I’m sure just because it’s available. You can’t go wrong with two seperate 80s channels on the radio.
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