"Satellite Radio CEO Says It Could Take 15 Years for XM and Sirius to Merge" Edmunds Daily

Satellite Radio CEO Says It Could Take 15 Years for XM and Sirius to Merge

Sirius XM Radio Inc. CEO Mel Karmazin delivered the keynote address at SAE's Convergence 2008 here in Detroit yesterday, in what was billed as his first public appearance in Motown since the XM and Sirius merger in July. We never even realized he's been away for so long, and he told the audience that it could be much longer before we see receivers that allow the two services to be unified in new cars.

In a Q&A session Karmazin revealed that installing receivers in new vehicles that can tune in both services could take as long as 15 years due to chip requirements and the lead-time needs of automakers.

We're betting that the car audio aftermarket will shorten that by at least 14 years, if not less. And you can now buy aftermarket radios that tune in both services, although you still have to buy separate receivers.

Karmazin said that his new company expects satellite radio to be available in half of all new cars sold in 2009 (compared to 39 percent in 2008), and he also noted that the exclusive contracts that the former rival services hammered out with automakers are not up for renegotiation.

Fortunately, the 19 million current XM and Sirius subscribers won't have to wait years to sample some of the other service's channels: XM now offers a Best Of Sirius package and Sirius offers a Best of XM option, both at about $4 a month. Unfortunately, you still can't cherry-pick what you want from each service, although that may be available as early as next year.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. shareholders will also have to wait a littler longer before seeing the new company turn a profit. Neither company made a dime before the merger, although Karmazin says he expects the new company's to see positive earnings in 2009.