America News: Sirius CEO testifies before Senate re: Sirius-XM merger

Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin testified this week in a hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation regarding the Sirius-XM merger.
Karmazin highlighted the significant benefits for consumers resulting from the proposed merger and the extensive competition that satellite radio faces from a wide range of players in the audio entertainment market.
Karmazin’s testimony included:
The combined company would offer consumers more choice at lower prices
- The key to gaining more subscribers is not in widening the price gap between free and payable subscriptions, but in offering consumers better value.
- Significant portions of the savings achieved through the merger will be shared with customers, immediately and in the long-term, through lower prices and improved service offerings.
Satellite radio is a small part of a highly competitive and ever-expanding market for audio entertainment
- The combination of Sirius and XM will intensify this competition, expand the choices for consumers, and reduce prices.
- Sirius and XM must compete directly and intensely with a host of other audio providers for consumer attention in the rapidly evolving US market.
The merger will help accelerate deployment of advanced technology
- The combined company will be able to offer consumers access to advanced technology sooner than would otherwise occur.
- The two companies’ combined engineering organisations will ensure better results from each dollar invested in R&D.
- While no radio will become obsolete as a result of the merger, it is expected to stimulate the development of new interoperable, highly portable, low-cost and user-friendly devices.