DISH, DirecTV to merge?

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I have 2 Dash kits. 1 says Sirius and 1 says XM. The channels are on the same "numbers" on both of them
 
Where the hopper belongs

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I am confused. I have Sirius XM in my 2014 Honda Odyssey. I just assumed that Sirius and XM had combined. Are you saying I only have XM and not Sirius even though it says Sirius XM? If so, how do I tell which one I have?


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I have 2 Dash kits. 1 says Sirius and 1 says XM. The channels are on the same "numbers" on both of them
The company did combine. But, just as if Dish and DirecTV should merge, there are two competing technologies out there. The Sirius platform and the XM platform that both existed pre-merger. To add to the issue, automakers had exclusive deals with either Sirius or XM.

Post-Merger:
Phase one, first they combined the programming into one operation. That's where we saw XM channels like Squizz get replaced with it's Sirius counterpart Octane. It's also where we saw Sirius channels like Buzzsaw get replaced with its XM counterpart, The Boneyard. The new combined platform kept their channel numbers on their respective platform. As an O&A fan I'd hear how The Virus was XM 202, Sirius 197. At that time, only the decade channels (which the XM version continued, and the Sirius version went defunct), and Howard Stern seemed to have the same channel numbers on both services. Even Sirius Hits 1 was on channel 1 on Sirius and channel 2 on XM.

Phase Two, they combined virtually all music channels to the same channel location on both services. That's where Sirius Hits 1 became Sirius XM Hits 1, and was moved to channel 2 on both services. Classic Rewind became channel 25 on both services. Certain channels remained premium on one service, yet standard on another service. Opie and Anthony were standard for XM listeners, but was premium for Sirius listeners. The NFL was standard for Sirius listeners, but was premium for XM listeners. This still remains for some channels. Most XM channels are now standard across both platforms, but The NFL and Howard Stern still remain premium services for XM listeners. That explains why HipKat has the two services with the same numbers on both units. There are some slight differences, and if you look hard, you'll find them.

I am leaving out how XM originally had licensed space to iHeart Radio to carry certain FM channels (Z100 New York and KIIS-FM Los Angeles) on their platform, but the most recent renewal of the agreement made it available on Sirius as well.

Phase three, begin rolling out one technology branded as SiriusXM and uses the Sirius platform. Essentially, as there are countless XM subscribers out there, it would be too much to force them all to SiriusXM equipment, so they keep the two separate technologies operational, just with the same programming on both services. It would be nothing to split both services and operate XM one way and Sirius another way, if they wanted to.

Dwebber has of '14 Oddessy with a SiriusXM radio. Funny. My wife has a '12 Oddessy with a XM radio. Just two years before your car, it was XM's old technology. We don't pay for XM, and I take the free two months whenever we go in for service on it. That's how I keep up with it. I use Dish for SiriusXM music.
 
As a former long time Radio Shack mgr we sold both Sirius and XM.It seemed to me that XM customers had more reception issues ie station cutting in and out.I attributed that to the XM satellite(s) being closer to the horizon.Vermont has lots of valleys.I never did research to see if my instinct was correct.
Which reminds me-I was in some forum months ago and some guy was refusing to admit cds didn't sound better than Sirius/XM.
 
I’m sick of cord cutters.

So as most of you know we sell Comcast. Atleast once every week I get a customer call me up acting like a smart a$$ wanting to cancel service because they are switching to streaming.

I tell them to hold while I run their address to see what other internet providers are in the area....

Customer: I want to cancel all my service with you. I hate your company.

Me:sorry to hear that, may I ask why before I transfer you to customer service.

Customer: I got a fire stick, I don’t need y’all anymore. Your prices are too high.

Me: you do realize you need our internet to make your fire stick work.

Customer: I can get internet through AT&T

Me: I just looked it up, AT&T offers 1.5 meg in your area. Fire stick won’t work.

Customer: you people lie

Me: I’ll transfer you to retention, but remember your fire stick won’t work without your internet, and the price for only internet will be higher because your breaking your bundle .

Customer: whatever

Me: have a nice day :)

I agree with this 100%.
 
I can understand Claude being sick of dealing with uninformed people when it comes to cord cutting. That said, I cannot really blame people for dropping cable and satellite subscriptions when the costs continue to rise at an excessive rate. Cord cutting and streaming services are the signs that the reckoning is approaching. Of course, companies like Comcast are going to cap your connection and charge you extra if you don't have Video service with them as well because they can after making sure there is no broadband competition in most places. This is despite broadband service costing ISPs less and less per GB over time to deliver.

I am very lucky to have the choice of three ISPs where I live, so I am not stuck with Charter's forced price increases like my parents, but many people do not have this advantage. For a few cents more than what Charter charges for non-discounted 100/10 service, I can get un-capped Gigabit service from AT&T Fiber "for as long as I am a customer," whatever that means. I'll be curious to see how the landscape changes with LEO and [possibly] 5G. If it is actually as good as they promise, Comcast and Charter are going to have to modify their pricing/packages to compete.

So, cord cutters might be an annoyance for now, but I think it is just a matter of time before they are as common as pot holes in Detroit.

This is of course why a Dish/DirecTV merger would be a merger of weakness in my eyes. Why waste time combining two shrinking businesses when there is a paradigm shift underway? Hasn't AT&T already shown this was a bad move?
 
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I haven't read all the posts in this thread and I remember reading it in another post but has anyone heard anything about ATT/DirecTV and Dish discussing the sale of the ATT/DirecTV DBS transponders at 110 W or 119 W to Dish? I thought I read that ATT/DirecTV doesn't really use all of these DBS transponders especially the 3 they have at 110 W.
 
I haven't read all the posts in this thread and I remember reading it in another post but has anyone heard anything about ATT/DirecTV and Dish discussing the sale of the ATT/DirecTV DBS transponders at 110 W or 119 W to Dish? I thought I read that ATT/DirecTV doesn't really use all of these DBS transponders especially the 3 they have at 110 W.

AT&T will probably trade for wireless spectrum
 
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Dish should NOT buy DTV. If ATT is dumping it. Dish can just pickup most of the subscribers for Free, by just waiting it out. A lot cheaper than buying DTV. A lot of the DTV subscribers would prefer Dish over there local cable provider, since most of them suck. Also, it would take several years to pay off the purchase of DTV.
 
Dish should NOT buy DTV. If ATT is dumping it. Dish can just pickup most of the subscribers for Free, by just waiting it out. A lot cheaper than buying DTV. A lot of the DTV subscribers would prefer Dish over there local cable provider, since most of them suck. Also, it would take several years to pay off the purchase of DTV.

I don’t know about all that. But a DTV sub that wants a lot of sports isn’t going to be as much interested in Dish. BTW, I’m on Mediacom cable and have been for almost 3 years now. I use my own Tivo and find it to be nearly as good as the H3 and the subscription pricing is well below Dish’s. I’m paying about $90/month for all their channels including the big 4 Premiums.


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Certainly not around here. Last time I looked Cox had PAGES of fees. And FiOS, is, of course, more expensive. Neither approach the Hoppers.

Don’t we read of many complaints about Comcast and other pricing?


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Dish should NOT buy DTV. If ATT is dumping it. Dish can just pickup most of the subscribers for Free, by just waiting it out. A lot cheaper than buying DTV. A lot of the DTV subscribers would prefer Dish over there local cable provider, since most of them suck. Also, it would take several years to pay off the purchase of DTV.
Sports is truly the only thing that DirecTV has on Dish. Well, that and HBO. Honestly, if they were to merge, it would be the same as Primestar becoming DirecTV. Furthermore, Sunday Ticket would finally be available on cable. After that contract ends, Dish won't pay for those rights.
 
Certainly not around here. Last time I looked Cox had PAGES of fees. And FiOS, is, of course, more expensive. Neither approach the Hoppers.

Don’t we read of many complaints about Comcast and other pricing?


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Usually after the new customer deal runs out since then the prices are very close. I have owned Tivos so I only pay for a cablecard which is $1.99/month and the Tivos are paid for and on lifetime. Cable equipment from the company is nearly the same miserable fees that sat services charge.

And overall, name a service that doesn’t get complaints about pricing. :)


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