Will XM & Sirius Unite?
FCC chairman Kevin Martin told reporters a ruling on the XM - Sirius merger could be a reality by the end of second quarter 2008. The question that remains is, will the FCC tie too many strings to the deal? With XM reaching deep to cover obligations with Major League Baseball, a merger would lighten the load a bit. According to SEC filings both companies are loosing money and lots of it. A merger would be beneficial to both and hopefully you and me too. Check out my previous post Satellite Radio: XM or Sirius to learn more about what satellite radio has to offer. Take a look at these links to read more about the merger.
As embarrassing as it might be for the FCC to have taken more than 15 months — and counting — to rule on the merger, we’re close to the point where there may be blood on the regulators’ hands.
Most of the betting in the radio biz is that it will be approved with some conditions - like a set-aside of some stations for minority programming, which both services already provide.
The public version of the filing is heavily redacted, but the “highly confidential documents” C3SR is concerned with appear to have to do with the FCC requirement that XM and Sirius design interoperable receivers, a requirement the satcasters have never fulfilled.
A merger would not affect subscribers at all for a while. Eventually, a merger would affect subscribers who would like to have both signals.
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