We’ve been hearing about the impending Sirius/XM merger for about a year now, and today it finally became official. It’ll be interesting to see what this means for what has been largely a niche market. Satellite radio is cool, for sure, mostly due to the availability of commercial free and narrowly-targeted content, and some cool hardware options, but as an industry they’ve had to rely mostly on new car purchases (with satellite equipment included and free trial periods offered) and big-name talent acquisitions (like Howard Stearn or Martha Stewart) to get new subscribers, rather than the preferred method of word-of-mouth buzz or straight up product dominance.  

Will this merger allow the new company to make the push for mainstream acceptance by shedding overhead and removing the major competition for the big-name deals, or will it be a sign that satellite radio as an industry has “jumped the shark” and is doomed to be a novelty item of the future? Let’s hope they make it, or thousands of us (and by “us” I mean “those of you who are rich enough to actually buy a car with satellite pre-installed!”) will feel pretty silly driving around with useless antennas on the tops of our cars!