sirius is a much better service than xm by a long shot,and with all the issues that xm has right now,i would hate to see sirius get mixed up in xm's problems.
1. WELCOME!
2. Way too early to worry about; and although maybe more serious talks than even, I still see it as NOT happening; or at the very least, 2+ years away.
3. Likely the #2 (the purchased company subscribers) would be in some swap-out program IMHO. AND it better be a 110% free swap.
There is a lot more teeth to this rumor than is apparent. The CEO's of both companies are talking and to each other. It will not be XM taking over SIRIUS, imo.
I had XM for 2 years, then had a car that offered Sirius, had that for 6 months and in IMO I thought Sirius reception (technology) sucked, constant drop outs. But their sound quality seemed better and from a music stand point I found their content to be better. XM has better transmission technology (never drops out), but tends to be very repetitive and plays more obscure content and their sound quailty seems more muted or flat. Of the main genres i listen too (Dance, Techno, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Metal) I found for me that execpt for Jazz where i feel XM had the edge, the otheres were better on Sirius, and as an added bonus i got to listen to Stern (ex-NYer so it was nice to have him back for a while)
Yahoo News also has a confirmation.Radioandreacords.com is now reporting that the merger is confirmed