My September 2007 prediction on the upcoming Sirius/XM satellite radio merger:
Okay, one more and then I’m done: the Blues Channel on Sirius Radio. How come they have such a restricted playlist? It’s the same old stuff, all the time, and never any new blues. Apparently they’d rather spend my subscription money on executive salaries, not royalties. My son tells me XM’s blues channel has a larger play list. I’m considering switching over, but what’s holding me back is the proposed merger between Sirius and XM. Based on my experience with the Blues Channel, competition is XM’s sole impetus for offering better blues. If the competition goes away, you can bet your bottom dollar the surviving satellite playlist will shrink.
Now that the merger has happened, XM and Sirius customers alike are up in arms. Favorite channels have gone away, playlists have indeed shrunk, commercials are rife, and satellite radio is more terrestrial than ever. What happened to the vision? What happened to the promise? God-damned bean counters and greedy executives, that’s what happened. Dissatisfied customers . . . and economic hard times . . . are probably going to kill what’s left of satellite radio.
I recently decided to run out the clock on my Sirius subscription, which expires at the end of this month. What’ll I do on my next long car trip? I’ll check out a few books on CD from the library. No commercials there!