Okay, first I thought XM Satellite Radio was really off it’s mark for announcing a price increase earlier this week after losing NASCAR to it’s competitor, Sirius. I guess XM thought less is more. Apparently this sent a strange signal (pun intended) to the boys at the doggy radio network and they think that they’re just so great that they now need to bark up their rates.

Your eyes deceived you not, just your satellite company (if you’re on Sirius.) Someone in the marketing department figured it was time to jack their customers even more money since they have the same amount of digital satellite music and about the same programming and about the same coverage. Only thing they don’t want about the same is the price. I mean, you’ve got to have something that makes you stick out, right? What I thought was a stupid move by XM to raise their prices just got one upped by Sirius.

What do you do when you rival in a duopoly raises its prices to essentially match yours? You increase your prices, too.

Huh?

Sirius’s CEO Mel Karmazin speaking at an analyst’s conference (suspiciously close to spring training venues) said that XM bringing their price up to meet Sirius’s means that Sirius can choose to raise its prices because it offers superior programming though less sophisticated equipment.