States lobby for restrictions on XM-Sirius merger

Attorneys general from 11 states urged the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to impose conditions on the proposed union of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio should the agency decide to approve the megamerger, according to Reuters.

The state leaders said they were disappointed by Monday's decision by U.S. Justice Department antitrust regulators to let the deal go through without conditions. They suggested restrictions that would preserve competition and protect consumers, such as requiring "Sirius and XM to make interoperable radio receivers available to customers, offer different packages of channels on an a la carte basis, and divest some radio spectrum that would allow another competitor into the business," according to the story.

Sirius' proposed acquisition of XM--an all-stock deal now valued at $5 billion--still needs approval by the FCC, which had warned that the companies had high hurdles to surmount before gaining approval. Among other things, that's because in 1997, the FCC adopted an order prohibiting such a merger when it would result in only one operator controlling all satellite radio spectrum.

[LAngelo Mysterioso]

No conditions? Are you sirius?

Why should anyone care if satellite radio customers get dumped on. It's the way of the entertainment world. They showed us how much they care about us when the RIAA jackbooted their ways into people's computers and sued everyone they could see (grandmas unaware of their grandchildren's internet activities and the physically challenged as well) over music downloads. Let's see now. Wasn't it Sony who spent years and tons of money on advertising in an effort to get us all to buy their various formats of audio and video tape recorders? Or was that RCA? Oh yeah, it was both of them. Then SHAZZAM! (a shout out to Gomer) The "Music Binness" threatens to take people to court unless the people are willing to pay X amount of $$$. Where I come from, that's called extortion. I for one am not at all surprised that the Justice Department has decided to throw satellite radio customers to the wolves. And if anyone thinks Sirius and XM are going to do what's right on their own, I have some "beach front" property I'd like to sell them. They haven't even lived up to their own hype. Their promise of no advertising is bunk. They simply attempt to disguise the advertising and claim it's not advertising but offers for free samples. Yeah, right! And to all of those folks who currently own satellite radios, I say good luck using those radios if the merger is allowed to go through with no conditions. To those state leaders lobbying for conditions, I say give 'em hell. Show me how I can help and I'll sign up today. The promise that was satellite radio is likely to be lost forever if this merger is allowed sans conditions.