[Feb. 21, 2007]

A day after the announced merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, both the would-be CEO and chairman of the combined company agreed that the respective constellations of the companies would not be affected anytime soon.

XM and Sirius unveiled an agreement Feb. 19 to combine their operations, a deal the companies expect to take close before the end of 2007.

"Sirius-5 is to launch in 2008," Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin said in a Feb. 20 conference call. "This [merger] will not in any way alter that – not that it would be a bad idea if we could, but we both agree in honoring agreements and [original equipment manufacturing] agreements," he said.

Gary Parsons, chairman of XM, added "The pure and simple fact is that it’s not like turning off one satellite for another. You have millions of listeners and subscribers, each with a radio relying on one or the other’s satellite, and they’re not easily replaceable. No one looking at it will consider those possibilities. … We each have constellations that we’re expecting to be operational for the next 15 years and millions of subscribers who rely on that. It’s simply not feasible to eliminate one of those platforms."