Update on a merger

Back on March 1, 2007, I went on a rant about the pending merger of Sirius satellite radio and XM satellite radio. I was complaining that in spite of the fact that the merged company would be the only satellite radio company (is that called a monopoly?), [updated - they were arguing that] they should be allowed to merge because they had a lot of competition from free (although commercial) radio which would force them to keep their prices low. They said that merging would make them stronger to meet such competition. Well, I guess it didn't work.

I heard this morning that the combined company may be forced to file for bankruptcy. I guess they weren't stronger after all. You could just chalk it all up to the recession we find ourselves in but the chief executive had said that the weakening economy wouldn't affect them. I wonder if they had stayed separate if this would be happening? We'll probably never know. I wonder how long it will take them to blame the government for allowing them to merge?

I do have to admit that the purpose of my rant two years ago seems to have been wrong, though. According to the New York Times article the link above points to, "But satellite radio failed to win over many younger listeners, and competition from other sources slowed subscriber growth." So, I guess they were competing with free radio after all. Or were they competing with the Internet. Or maybe they were competing with TV. Or maybe even people who decide to read books. Or maybe...