Comments on: Satellite Radio, Monopolies, And Legislative Stupidity http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/ Life. Liberty. Property. Defending individual freedom and liberty, one post at a time. Wed, 22 May 2013 03:02:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: What Would You Say If You Weren't Afraid? http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14710 What Would You Say If You Weren't Afraid? Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:15:45 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14710 Ignorance about monopolies…

The head of XM radio has a letter to the editor in the Washington Post responding to an idiotic piece in the Post from two weeks ago….

]]> By: Stephen Littau http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14541 Stephen Littau Fri, 02 Mar 2007 20:43:05 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14541 Yeah, he’s on the ABC News & Talk station for Sirius as well so its apparently Sirius that is doing it.

]]> By: Brad Warbiany http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14540 Brad Warbiany Fri, 02 Mar 2007 20:21:17 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14540 Stephen,

I don’t think another company will enter the market because the government won’t let them fire satellites off into space without permission. Other than that, I would say sure, they might compete.

But I think the price might stay the same as well, because they won’t have to duplicate their talent pools. They can consolidate some of their programming on the music stations (i.e. does XM’s classical music stations need to be different than Sirius’?) In addition, right now XM has MLB and College sports, Sirius has NFL. If they were to share that programming with both services, people would find it a lot more compelling to order one service with both options than both or either individual service.

I’ve never had Larry Elder get pre-empted on XM for a sporting event. He’s on the “ABC News & Talk” station, and I don’t believe I’ve ever heard sports on that station.

]]> By: Stephen Littau http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14539 Stephen Littau Fri, 02 Mar 2007 20:08:11 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14539 Great post Brad! I would also point out that even if the two merged, who is to say that a third company wouldn’t enter the market to compete with (using your example) SiriusXM’s $30/month fee?

I currently have Sirius in my Explorer but like you said, I wouldn’t pay $30 a month to keep it. There is a price above which I will not pay.

I tend to believe that the price would stay reasonable and would have the added benefit of more stations when the two are put together.

On a slightly related note, On the Sirius station that carries Larry Elder the show is usually preemted in favor of college sports or hockey. Do you ever have that problem on XM? It seems like just when the show is getting good a stupid sporting event I don’t care about takes its place. Man that pisses me off!

]]> By: Brendon Smith http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14468 Brendon Smith Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:28:15 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/03/01/satellite-radio-monopolies-and-legislative-stupidity/#comment-14468 Totally agree.

Brendon
San Diego, CA

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