News for 'SIRI' - (Sales of satellite radio receivers remain steady)
Feb 21, 2007 (Post-Bulletin - McClatchy-Tribune Business News via
COMTEX) --Whatkind of reception is a proposed merger between the two
satellite radio
providers picking up from Rochester music and sports fans?Sirius
Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio announced the plan earlier
thisweek,and it doesn't seem to have hurt sales of each company's
equipment.
Sales of both are still steady, says Rochester Best Buy sales
representativeMikeConard. Neither one seems more popular than the
other.
"Both are very, very competitive," he says.The companies do not release
subscriber numbers for specific areas such as
Rochester or Minnesota.The main differences between the two is XM's
focus on music along with
OprahWinfrey,Bob Dylan and major league baseball while Sirius has an
edge in the
sports area with pro football and racing, along with Howard
Stern.Sports is why Greg Nicholay of Rochester subscribes to Sirius, which he
listenstoin his car.
"The reason I went out and got it was that I could listen to all of the
NFLgames,"he said. "And I'm a graduate of the Naval Academy, and they
carry all
the Navy games.However the merger plays out, Nicholay wants to keep
listening.
"I use it a lot," he said. " Hopefully down the road ... in my next
car,
I'dhaveit installed."
XM previously carried NASCAR races, but Sirius picked that up in
January.
Nowthatrace season is in full swing, listeners are really noticing.
"Lately, I've had a lot people coming in who had XM to listen to NASCAR
saying,'Switchme to Sirius,'" Conard said.
The proposed merger, however, has clouded the issue of which company
offerswhich -- sports or music.
"Some people are buying (equipment) because they say it will be
lumpedtogether,"Conard said. "They say it won't matter (which system you
choose)
eventually."XM radio receivers can't receive signals from Sirius and
vice versa. The
companies are working on developing a receiver that could receive both
signals.In the meantime, they said, assuming the deal goes through, the
companies
wouldmakeother arrangements to provide programming that's currently
exclusive to
oneproviderto listeners of the other, such as getting Major League
Baseball games
-- currently only available on XM -- to Sirius listeners.By Jeff Kiger
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Copyright (c) 2007, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.-0-SUBJECT CODE:
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Source: Comtex Wall Street News |
