I’m sure nobody will know the answer to this question but I’d appreciate opinions. I purchased a new GM vehicle in mid December. (2007 Chevrolet Silverado Z-71 LT it’s black and I love it) My free three-month subscription to XM is up March 15th. I was planning on renewing for the full three years and paying for the full three years at one time. My thought was I’d get the service at the cheapest price and I’d then be able to just forget about it for the next three years.

So the question is, now that Sirius and XM have merged will the price for the service go up or will it drop? Do you think I should hold off on upping my subscription or should I lock it in for three years at $350.00 (ballpark) now?

now that Sirius and XM have merged [/B] will the price for the service go up or will it drop? Do you think I should hold off on upping my subscription or should I lock it in for three years at $350.00 (ballpark) now?

Sirius and XM have NOT merged yet they just have come to an agreement to do so pending approval from the government. By years end the deal should close. Everything right now is speculation as the companies haven't decided exactly how it will happen. Questions such as price, how one's feeds will be heard off the others equipment, what the new name of the company will be and so on. Personally I would just pay for the rest of the year and then go from there.

As i understand it, your unit in your truck will be an XM only unit. The price might go up slightly, but from the news conference I heard this morning, they don't plan on raising the price. In order to get both XM and Sirius, you'll need to have a new unit once they are built that has both chipsets in it. So chances are if you renew your XM sub now, it might stay the same until it's up My thoughts are it might go up slightly cuz they where talking about merging to save those who have both units money, paying around 26 a month for both units. But any price changes won't happen until the deal is done

It's way too early to speculate, but speculating is fun so here goes:


Since ala carte programming is getting mentioned a lot since yesterday I'd bet that the price may actually DROP for some subs. Maybe $9.99 for the basic music programming. Then higher prices to add Stern, or MLB, or NFL, or a sports package.

I'd like that since I never listen to anything except music, but that just me. Other will be upset if they go to an ala carte pricing.

It's way too early to speculate, but speculating is fun so here goes:


Since ala carte programming is getting mentioned a lot since yesterday I'd bet that the price may actually DROP for some subs. Maybe $9.99 for the basic music programming. Then higher prices to add Stern, or MLB, or NFL, or a sports package.

I'd like that since I never listen to anything except music, but that just me. Others will be upset if they go to an ala carte pricing.

Odds for the merger going through are "slightly better than 50/50" according to most business analysts. Also, if approved, the merged company is still a few years away so you have little risk with a 2 or 3-year subscription. If you like the service now, you'll also like it in the future too.

As far as ultimate subscription costs in the future are concerned, I'm assuming that it will go up since both companies will no longer need to beat each other up over pricing. Increased pricing will likely be hidden with several different marketing approaches. There were a few hints at this in the press release yesterday where they mentioned ala-cart programing choices as one of the advantages. Seems like you will be able to pick-and-choose the content that you want but this will likely result in an increased cost to duplicate the content that you get now. To put it another way, my bet is that the new Sat radio company will simply copy the classic cable TV company "marketing play book".

Check the fine print and see if the 3 year deal allows you to cancel and get your money back. I signed up for a 3 yr/$315 deal a couple of years ago that allows me to cancel at any time and get my money back.

As far as ultimate subscription costs in the future are concerned, I'm assuming that it will go up since both companies will no longer need to beat each other up over pricing.
You better believe it. I'm sure that's one of the prime factors in the merger. I would bet the price will go to $15/month very quickly.

They could also go through with this a la carte pricing structure they are talking about, and do it in such a way that those who really want the full breadth of content have to pay even more than that.