XM and Sirius to Wed?

It looks like satellite radio customers, and prospective customers, will have some new options by the end of the year. The two big satellite radio companies, XM and Sirius, might be merging in the near future. The merger still has to be approved by the FCC and Department of Justice but shareholders in both companies have approved the concept (each side voted over 90% in approval). If the merger is approved more pricing options will be available. This is a good thing since I’ve always thought that $13 a month is a little pricy for radio (but hey, I’m cheap). Plans could start at $6.99 a month and range up to $16.99 a month depending on what kind of package you want. The latter will include the option to add channels from the other carrier and keep what you have already.

What’s that you say? Wouldn’t that make it a monopoly? XM and Sirius reason that they have plenty of completion from other digital music sources such as MP3 players and cell phones that can play music to keep them from having an advantage. I’m kind of split on this one, but my first thought was that they are the big names in satellite radio and what other company offers what they do in the US? They’ll have the only satellite radio for American consumers. However, the price cuts and option to get channels from the other service that you aren’t currently on will be a big plus.