Wow, four X’s in a post title. Ok, so I’ve been following the Sirius-XM satellite radio merger story and read this today:
XM/Sirius Approval One Vote Away
http://www.smartmoney.com/breaking-news/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20080711-000744-1650
This is just another example of Xeno’s Paradox in business, i.e., the idea that if you move halfway closer to something with each step, theoretically you’ll get extremely close but never quite all the way. In reality, there is a minimum step size that can be taken. The good news with the XM-Sirius Merger (which has been dragging on for almost 2 years) is that we seem to be at the point of minimum step size.
I’ve talked to many people about this merger, and the issue is NOT just a Republican-Democrat divide. There are some very pro-market (“Conservative”) folks out there who regard a merger approval as a government bailout from mutually destructive hypercompetitive behaviors. There are some very pro-diversity-in-media (“Liberal”) folks who regard this as an effort to preserve a threatened but otherwise viable medium. There are some people who regard the merger as a moot point in the face of on-demand online radio. The way I understand it, the main business development process for XM and Sirius – exclusive contracts with automobile manufacturers — renders the idea of “consumer choice” in satellite radio a purely academic discussion. Every competitor-lobbyist has come out of the woodwork at this point. I say the point of diminishing returns has been passed in this deliberation. Let’s move on with our lives, folks.
Filed under: Business
