Make satellite radio keep competing

[Bill O'Neill]

Howard Glazer wrote:
> Should the
> merger be denied and one or both fold, will any of the established
> large-media companies (i.e. News Corp., Disney) even consider scavenging the
> remains and getting into satellite radio, or will the concept just die?
What are the odds?  What with the infrastructure and other capital on 
the books. 

You hit it on the head when you reference highly compensated talent like 
Stern as albatrosses.  Not sure what the other 'names' receive, e.g., 
Martha "Britain or Bust" Stewart, Barbara Walters, etc.  More than they 
bring in, for certain.  I think that was a miscalculation from the 
get-go.  They needed to sync their technologies from the start (as Uncle 
Charlie anticipated) and then just have at it with competition, service 
delivery, niche programming.  They needed to be giving the units away 
beyond XM's sister Delco. 

Every car entering America should have been loaded with a receiver that 
could reach either network (perhaps with some firewall, etc.)  It worked 
for Gillette and other companies to razors.  Give away the handle and 
then charge up the blades.  And continue to get better.  As with razors, 
they will be around as long as hair continues to grow.  I have to think 
that satellite radio will be around as long as people have ears to 
hear.  In 20 years we may look back on the birth pangs of the industry 
with a chuckle.  And close shave.

Bill O'Neill