XM and Sirius to Merge

Man, oh man. I was wondering if this would ever happen. More importantly, what it means to subscribers.

But according to the latest reports, an XM Radio and Sirius merger is in the works.

Now I’ve been an XM subscriber for nearly two years now and I love it. Out-of-market MLB games, XM Chill, and Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio are just some of the programs I enjoy on a regular basis. (Baseball when it’s the season, of course.) And XM Chill and Theme Time Radio have introduced me to some amazing songs I would have never heard otherwise. In fact, some of my most recent downloads have been because of what I’ve heard on either.

As far as Sirius goes, it was included with the purchase of my `06 Explorer and I’ve only had it on one station since: 1st Wave, which is just fantastic. They play 80s New Wave favorites and as they advertise, “not just the hits.” It’s completely true and much better than XM’s 80s station where you might hear Whitney Houston right after Depeche Mode. And that ain’t cool.

But what does this proposed merger mean to subscribers? Will the programming change? What about pre-paid yearly subscriptions? Will I have to replace my equipment?

There are lots of questions that subscribers will need to be answered soon. And I sure hope it’s for the best, or else I’ll have a useless MyFi xm2go receiver and speaker dock because I won’t be renewing my subscription if I don’t find the merger to my benefit.

So I guess It’s a good thing the radio in my Explorer has a CD/MP3 player.