JetBlue TrueBlue - XM /Sirius merger with XM = fleet-wide maintainence? cost-cutting?

I noticed that the Sirius takeover of XM radio has now passed government muster, and one article I read says it will be a done deal by the end of the year.

Does that mean all of the little buttons on all of the seats that say "XM" on them will have to be changed out? :rolleyes:

I also wonder if B6 might just decide this is an opportunity to cost-cut and not renew any agreement with XM anyway, because I would think that XM on all of the buttons probably was part of the original agreement. Its the equivalent of seat-back advertising, although its on the armrest. If they are looking to leverage LiveTV as a revenue source, one could argue that having radio on the plane as an option is just unnecessary competition.

I would assume the contract is with Live TV and not Jetblue.

The fact that the XM logo(as well as DirectTV) on the armrest button was placed, in fact the whole radio system, to derive an association benefit during a time of intense competition with Sirius may make the service less desirable for Sirius now that the competition has been gobbled. Still, it seems to be a symbiotic relationship. Who'dve thunk a satellite from space could anser to our peonic beck and call? Pretty good association is you ask me.

My guess is that any cost associated with changing out the stickers gets assumed by the purchaser as part of their (re)branding efforts. That's always the way I've seen it historically in a merger/buyout.

I cannot imagine that Sirius is going to want to pull out from the LiveTV arrangement. It is great marketing for them, even without the competition. And I doubt that it costs LiveTV all that much to have the radio in the offering, so it doesn't seem like a logical cost-cutting target to me.

Most likely result- Sirius/XM will flip a switch and start broadcasting (now) exclusive channels to current subscribers of both services. I bet the current lineup of audio channels will increase when they swap those stickers our ;)

One other thing to note - I'm not sure the merged company has announced name yet wouldn't be surprised to see them opt for the XM name.

Mel was on the Howard Stern Show and answered some of these related questions. The names will not be phased out and they will be syndicating some channels across both receivers. We are about 10 years away from a full integration. That is mainly because they cannot launch another satellite until 2015 or so.

Also they left the name as Sirius XM to avoid confusion on vehicles that are already have the equipment installed with marked buttons.