Mark Ramsey (Hear 2.0): “C3SR – the consumer group that was created to oppose the merger between XM and Sirius – is in fact supported by the NAB.”
Also at Hear 2.0: “…the average consumer is more likely to die by accidental drug overdose or by hanging, strangulating, or suffocating themselves than they are to own an HD radio.”
I’d love to hear from any smays.com readers who have HD radios. How’s it sound? What are you listening to? Use Comment link below.
The Wall Street Journal reports: Former Attorney General John Ashcroft approached XM Satellite Radio in the days after the merger was announced offering the firm his consulting services, according to a spokesman for XM. The spokesman said XM declined Mr. Ashcroft’s offer to work as a lobbyist for the company.
Mr. Ashcroft was subsequently hired by the National Association of Broadcasters, which is fiercely opposed to the merger. On its behalf he conducted a review of the effects on competition if the two satellite radio companies were allowed to merge and concluded the merger would have a significant negative impact on competition in the market and urged the current attorney general to withhold approval for the merger.
That tells you just about all you need to know about our former Attorney General.
The New York Post is reporting the long-awaited merger of Sirius and XM may be announced today. Combining Sirius and XM would result in a single satellite radio operator with more than 12 million total subscribers. A deal would also marry Sirius content, such as Howard Stern, Frank Sinatra and Nascar with XM’s Oprah Winfrey, Bob Dylan and Major League Baseball. More important, analysts widely predict that a deal would also save the two companies nearly $7 billion annually.
Total radio silence from XM Ben on this story. And XM and Sirius have to get this just right to keep me. I’m spending more time with the nano and less with my XM. If they don’t make the merged service better/cheaper… I’ll be gone at the end of the contract.
They held a little celebration in Metropolis, Illinois, to mark the release of the “Superman Returns” DVD. UPI photographer Bill Greenblatt shares this photo of one Superman “look-a-like” adjusting the cape of another Man of Steel dead-ringer.
I have to wonder if Bill was being ironic when he captioned this image with “A wooden cut-out of Superman hangs on a building as hundreds lineup for a free DVD on the release date of “Superman Returns” in Metropolis, Illinois on November 28, 2006. Metropolis is the adopted home of Superman.”
The hopeless boredom on the faces of the people in line… the “Man of Plywood” missing an arm… thank you, Bill… thank you.
Tom Chartier’s election day advice:
“On Election Day, vote for the candidates who will tie up the system in knots. If enough quarrelsome fools are “elected,” the new members of Congress will spend all of their time squabbling amongst themselves and never get anything done. Perfect! That was the Founders’ plan. Government at its finest… unable to function!”
This sounds like a good idea, regardless of which party is “in power.” Mr. Chartier’s full post is worth a read. I found his quote from Atlas Shrugged especially chilling:
“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?… We want them broken… We’re after power and we mean it… There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.”