Sul suo blog per il Los Angeles Times il commentatore del mercato radiofonico americano Jim Puzzanghera si occupa della fusione tra Sirius e XM Radio e sulle possibili offerte del nuovo operatore unico. Per il momento il risultato sembra essere negativo: i futuri abbonati dovranno districarsi tra offerte variegate e complesse legate alla nuova tipologia di sottoscrizioni “à la carte”. Prima almeno si potevano scegliere due pacchetti da 12.95 dollari ciascuno a seconda dei propri gusti in materia di palinsesti. E’ già un primo segnale, piuttosto eloquente, di uno scenario che si poteva prevedere. Se approvi la creazione di un monopolio, le regole di controllo e tutela del consumatore che imponi artificialmente, si ripercuotono a sfavore di tutti. Pegio el tacon del buso…
[…]Sirius and XM customers, who have gotten used to simplicity (both companies offered only one package at the identical $12.95 price) now will have a somewhat confusing array of other choices.
With three months, Sirius XM must ….
… allow customers to choose whatever channels they want — the a la carte offering mentioned above — and introduce a radio capable of allowing them to do that.
There will be two a la carte offerings.
One for $6.99 a month will allow you to choose 50 Sirius channels from a subset of 100 Sirius channels (Sirius has more than 130); or 50 XM channels from a subset of 100 XM channels (XM has more than 170).
The other, for $14.99 a month, will allow you to pick 100 channels, with Sirius customers able to select from a company-determined “best of” XM’s channels, and XM customers allowed to select from the “best of” Sirius channels.
Those programming selections haven’t been released, but it’s a good bet they’ll include some exclusive content, such as XM’s Major League Baseball broadcasts and channels featuring Oprah Winfrey and Bob Dylan. They likely will also include Sirius’ National Football League broadcasts, NASCAR coverage and Howard Stern channels (he’s so popular, he has two).
But for those options you’ll need to buy a new radio that is capable of receiving individualized channel packages.
For customers who don’t want to buy a new radio, there will be several other packages available within three months.
For $9.99 a month, customers will be able to choose either a “mostly music” package or a “news sports and talk” package. For $16.99, Sirius customers will get all their existing channels, plus the best of XM, and vice versa for XM customers. And finally, in a concession to FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, the companies agreed to offer a family-friendly version of Sirius or XM channels (presumably without Stern or Opie & Anthony) for $11.95 a month. There will also be a family-friendly “best of” offering that will cost $14.99.
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