It seems that the big news today is that Sirius and XM satellite radio companies will be merging in one $13B deal. While I don't have an opinion on whether the new company will be better or worse than the two existing companies, I think that the advantages that satellite radio technology brings the average user has been surpassed by bigger and better technologies.
I always thought that satellite radio brought two advancements to audio content delivery. The first was that you could receive the feed virtually anywhere. Don't discount the advantages of picking up a radio station while driving across the Great Basin. The second advancement was that you could receive specialized content. Nascar, MLB, NPR are examples of this. Little did they know then, but the satellite providers were satisfying the 'long tail' before it was in vogue.
Fast forward to today and both of these advancements are handled with newer technology and for less money. (Isn't that the way it always is?)
For the price of a head end unit for the satellite system and a one year subscription, a customer can purchase an iPod or any other MP3 player. The customer can preload the player with the music or information of their choice and take this with them on long trips. Most new cars come with, and all older cars can be outfitted with, an auxiliary jack for connecting the player to the existing car stereo system. This satisfies the majority of the first advancement I mentioned above.
What owning a player does not address is how current the content is on the player. This technology is still evolving. For those you are willing to pay for it, you can get cellular coverage on most major highways. With the cellular companies data plans, you can download current content that will rival anything that the satellite companies provide. Sadly, the costs for these data plans are quite high but are coming down and should drop substantially over the next year or two.
The second advancement is completely superseded by the Internet. There is no better place to find long tail content than on the Internet. There are millions of blogs with audio content, podcasts, and web sites that provide audio feeds. You can download these to your player and listen to your hearts content. There is no way that the satellite companies could keep up with the sheer volume of content available on the Internet.
This also brings up an advantage that the player brings to this issue. Video. Satellite companies are audio only. With technologies like PVRs, SlingBox, and other devices, your TV content can go with you on your trips. (Of course, you shouldn't be watching the player while driving...) This is also the huge bank of content from places like YouTube and Google Video. Most players have enough storage space that you can also download movies and play these for the kids. This also negates the need to purchase the DVD systems for the car as well.
Bottom line, while I'm sure the merger will boost the revenue of the new company in the short term, I suspect that the industry as a whole will fade away over the next five years or so.