Their justification for allowing two companies to merge when there are no other competitors is that XM/Sirius really does have competitors aside from terrestrial radio, and they’re the internet and iPods.
I’ll roll with that as far as non-live content. Sure shows like Stern are live, but that can easily be offered as a podcast later that day and the listening experience be just the same. But when you are talkig about live events, like NFL games, that’s where I totally disagree with that decision. Now there is only one non-terrestrial radio service as a medium, and that is XM/Sirius. No competition for contracts, no competition for suscriber fees, etc… Those can’t be offered as podcasts (yet).
Oh well, I’m not, and don’t plan to subscribe to either, so guess I can’t complain much. I’m sure the XM fanboys are bitching that “Great, now XM is going to suck just like Sirius” and the Sirius fanboys are saying the same thing.