Regarding the merger, has anyone heard if the xm & sirius radios will pick up the signals from the other company? I have a XM radio in my car, but prefer Sirius and would like to eventually get rid of the Sirius radio in my car - I hate the way it looks.

There has been talk about having 8 or 10 of the other providers most popular channels available on the current hardware in addition to the current slate (though that will need to be reduced to make room), but that is it without buying something new (that does not exost yet and probably won't for some time) from what I can tell.

And they will duplicate the bulk of the music channels. So, for example, the 80's channel will be the same on both of them.

There is a tremendous amount of overlap on the bulk of the channels across both providers.

The big question is whether the main personality channels will be available on both. You'd have to think yes?
- Howard Stern
- O&A
- Oprah
- Martha Stewart

And of course the sports.

as long as we get all the sports, i don't care about the rest...

http://www.siriusmerger.com/site/page/a_la_carte/

i went to that link, and either i couldn't find it (which is entirely possible), or they aren't saying whether or not we'll be able to get all the sports packages...

I does not say. Essentially, from what I can tell, what they plan to do is delete a few channels on each service, then decide which 10 or so channels from the other service would be good sellers. That way, you can sign up for the XM or Sirius Everything & Select (other service) package using the existing radio. They would have to decide to allow one of those 10 or so crossover channels to be the sports package you are interested in. Since sports appeal to a smaller percentage of the total sub base and need more than (or at least close to) 10 channels to cover a sport, I would guess it will be music channels that cross over.

You will not be able to get both services (or do a al la cart of a mix of both) unless you buy a new radio, that does not exist yet.

Merger of SIRIUS and XM Satellite Radio into a single entity, one issue which will have to be dealt with is how exactly will users of both services be compensated either with new hardware or credit for new hardware to receive a new combined service. The possibility of current satellite radios becoming interoperable—or gaining the ability to switch between Sirius and XM as easily as traditional radios do AM and FM.