XM-Sirius Deal Approval Still Not a Sure Thing

FCC chairman Kevin Martin seemed to lend some support to a merger between XM and Sirius on Thursday, while at the same time another commissioner seemed to suggest he would be voting against it.

Martin made his comments at a conference of broadcasters, and said he doubted that the combined company would cause local advertising revenue to fall, one of the industry's complaints over the merger.

XM and Sirius can only broadcast national ads and have no way to target local ones. He seemed to suggest that he would be more concerned over the deal if it was attempting to become a local broadcaster.

While the two satellite providers do provide local programming, such as news, weather, and traffic, they can be heard nationally. There is no prohibitions against the satellite radio companies that would prevent them from having such content.

This followed comments Wednesday by a Justice Department official which seemed to suggest the merger was on track to get approval from regulators there.

However, not everybody is positive. Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps told reporters at a briefing Thursday that the marriage faces a "steep climb" for him to vote favorably upon.

Copps said so far he had seen no evidence that the XM-Sirius deal is in the public interest, although he stopped short of saying he would vote 'no.' He did say media consolidation overall was one of his biggest concerns.