Separately, Mel sought to clarify a new pricing scheme, a confusing part of past hearings. He said, “Today you pay $12.95” to get each service. If the companies merged, “We would create a lower price package.” He threw out a possible figure of $8.95 a month “or some lower price” and said the merged entity “would be willing to work with regulators” on that point.
Now we know more. In some very dry SEC filings today, mostly rehashing what we already know, the companies did clarify the pricing: “After the merger, customers may elect to receive fewer channels at a monthly price lower than $12.95; substantially similar programming at the existing $12.95 price; or more channels, including some of the ‘best of both’ networks, at a modest premium to the cost of one service, and considerably less than the cost of subscribing to both services.”
One interesting chart at the end of the filing illustrates the corporate structure of the merged entity, with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., “holder of earth station and wireless licenses,” perched at the top, above both Satellite CD Radio Inc., “holder of the satellite radio license,” and XM Satellite Radio Holdings, XM Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Radio Inc., “holder of satellite radio, earth station and experimental licenses.”
