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XM-Sirius Deal Approval Still Not a Sure Thing

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

September 28, 2007, 11:47 AM

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.

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By dngerboy29

edited Oct 1, 2007 - 5:51 PM

Couple of things to remind everyone:

People 'upgrade' their car-stereos all the time, so the 'expensive' receiver (some are as cheap as 70$) argument is a non-argument for MOST..

As for it not being good for customers / consumers, the service has already said they will broadcast BOTH companies content.. They've also outlined that they will allow people to keep their current set ups, OR allow people to tailor their service.. (I.E, you want Sirius' music, but XM's sports..)

As for the argument for 'less-choice'.. why doesn't someone else step up and create their own satellite service? You can't have it both ways.. you can't say it's a free market, and then deny a venue for other up-and-comers to create a new service to compete.

It is absolutely ludicrous that it has taken *this long* to approve a merger like this. Whenever the Gas companies or telecomm companies want to merge, it's a month or less.

Sad really.

Score: 0

By ctk

posted Sep 29, 2007 - 10:18 PM

i very much hope that the merger goes through. i am a complete radiophile and the only thing that stopped me from buying satelite radio is that there were two companies that both had something that i wanted.

when they merge, then i'll get in the market.

Score: 0

By tigger4046

posted Sep 29, 2007 - 5:28 PM

Broadcast Radio is not a threat, what would appear damaging to the provider is HDRadio which is completely free without a subscription. The only thing which keeps many at bay is the expensive receiver one must acquire. I listen to XM radio for free on Radio.aol.com but also on Winamp as well. An agreement that was inspired by myself when I worked for AOL Corporate in Maitland, FL.

Score: 0

By mano1192

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 2:51 PM

yup not good for customers. Will this allow customers to get both stations channels? I assume this will require new hardware also? How would the merger effect the partnerships the different car dealerships have with both XM and Sirius?

Score: 0

By eoswald

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 7:43 PM

See our previous coverage for the answers on this. From my understanding.. you would have a la carte options, and most of the channels on each network would be available. No new hardware would be required.

Score: 0

By Araxen

posted Sep 28, 2007 - 2:38 PM

The worse thing that could happen is that they merge. Less choice for the consumer is bad. Let's hope the feds do the right thing.

Score: 0

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