Bridge Ratings has released a new study examining satellite radio subscribers' perceptions of the potential merger between XM and Sirius. Most of those surveyed expect negative results from a merger. Some of the possible results that respondents said were likely to occur included an increase in subscription rates, an increase in hardware costs, a decrease in the number of available channels, reduction in programming quality and more commercials.

Potential satellite customers were asked how a merger would affect the decision to subscribe, more than half said they would wait to see if it happens before making up their mind. As seen in the chart below, only 24 percent said they would subscribe in the next 60 days regardless.

Bridge also asked 1000 XM subscribers about their interest in Howard Stern, if his channel became available to them as a result of the merger. Those surveyed do not rank Stern as a high priority, as seen in the next chart, with 88 percent saying they were not likely to listen to Stern's channel regularly.

Bridge Ratings estimates that if that total 12 percent of XM subscribers tune in to Stern, that would give him an additional 912,000 listeners.