Re: [Swprograms] Fwd: [ODXA] Sirius and XM Merge

["Scott Royall" <royall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was more talking about the portion of the RF spectrum, the topic of this
mailing list, used by their subscribers. I don't need to belabor how
difficult it is for would-be providers to enter this market. Lofting a
constellation of satellites is still beyond the means of most countries,
much less private concerns. How is one to enter this arena? Perhaps XM or
Sirius will eventually sell their physical plants, but I can't see that
happening soon for the reason you cite. That would definitely not sit well
with those natives suddenly island-less. Yet, I do not see the same
prohibition against massive price hikes that you do. After all, the survivor
can claim to support twice the content. The accuracy of such a claim would
be somewhat academic because of subscription contract obligations.

I don't feel for the content providers you list as their audiences are
inelastically loyal. I have no trouble imagining the average NASCAR buff
pimping out spouse and children to pay for his or her subscription! Then
too, there are always other delivery channels. Hold on to your HF radios, my
fellow Luddites, because broadband passed the 50% mark in American
households late last year. Could it be that the BBC correctly identified the
on-coming dreadnaught five years back? Some content CEOs want us to believe
that IPTV will break the Internet. They glibly ignore what makes the
Internet unique among delivery channels, the very fact that it is NOT a
fixed asset. I can illustrate that by borrowing a very flawed analogy. If
your tube gets clogged, you can either get a bigger tube or lay down
parallel tubes. Either way, there isn't an upper limit except your budget.
The RF spectrum, on the other paw, is all too finite. (I bet you wondered
how I was going to tie this together.)

-----Original Message-----
From: swprograms-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:swprograms-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Cuff
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 9:37 PM
To: Shortwave programming discussion
Subject: Re: [Swprograms] Fwd: [ODXA] Sirius and XM Merge
 
Therein lies the debate...the argument will be that the "finite
resource" is the space between one's ears and the time afforded to
fill that space.

Keep in mind this is a highly fixed-asset business.  Each new
subscriber obtained yields mostly profit -- certainly it yields a lot
of cash -- and it would be folly for the surviving operation to hike
fees by a large amount.  The last thing they want to do is tick off
the subscriber base.

The real losers in this are the content providers -- NASCAR, NHL, MLB,
NFL.  No longer will there be a bidding war between two satellite
providers.

Not that I'm sympathetic to the plight of XM or Sirius.  They have
only themselves to blame for shelling out beaucoup $$ for Howard Stern
and his ilk.

It would be poetic justice if the "king of all media" brought about
the ruin of said media...

Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA  USA


On 2/19/07, Scott Royall <royall@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> This is nothing but bad news in my view. When does creating another
monopoly
> controlling a finite resource serve the public trust?
>
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