Satellite Radio Merger Gets FCC Go-Ahead

FCC Votes 3-2 In Favor Of Sirius' $3.3 Billion Buyout Of XM Radio

(AP)  Federal regulators formally approved the merger of the nation's only two satellite radio operators Friday, ending a 16-month-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street.

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s $3.3 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will mean 18 million-plus subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services. Executives say it will mean huge cost savings that will lead to a first-ever profit for the relatively nascent industry.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the buyout, with the tiebreaker coming Friday night from Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate.

Tate had insisted that the companies settle charges that they violated FCC rules before she would approve the deal. The companies agreed this week to pay $19.7 million to the U.S. Treasury for violations related to radio receivers and ground-based signal repeaters.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed the final vote Friday night.

"I think it's going to be, in the end, a good thing for consumers and be in the public interest," he told The Associated Press.

The approval appeared to hit a glitch on Friday when a dispute surfaced between the chairman and Tate over the violations, but differences between the two were quickly resolved, and the approval went forward.

The long-running regulatory review was watched closely by exasperated investors anxious for a resolution as well as satellite radio customers with questions about what impact the merger would have on their service.

The approval was a major blow for the land-based radio industry, which lobbied hard against the buyout. It was also opposed by consumer groups, various members of Congress and state attorneys general, all of whom argued a satellite radio merger would hurt consumers and was not in the public interest.

"They kept each other on their toes," Democratic commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said of the two companies. "I hope they keep their edge and don't become a fat and happy monopoly."

Adelstein voted against the buyout as did fellow Democrat Michael Copps. Joining Martin and Tate in approving the deal was Republican commissioner Robert McDowell.

The companies said the combination would create hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings and lead to greater choice in programming for subscribers and flexible pricing options.

Tate released a statement Friday night praising the commission's decision to punish the companies for rules violations before acting on the merger and supporting pro-consumer conditions imposed on the deal.

Under the terms of the consent decree, XM will pay $17.5 million and Sirius will pay $2.2 million to resolve interference complaints and violations related to land-based signal repeaters the companies operate to deliver programming.

The final merger agreement did not require the combined company to include a chip in its radios that will allow customers to receive digital signals from land-based radio stations, which would have helped the land-based radio industry.

Tate, who was lobbied intensely by the industry in the final weeks, said she "could not in good conscience support a government-mandated requirement on the backs of American consumers at this time."

Martin said the agreement is nearly identical to what he circulated among other commissioners when he first recommended approval for the deal a month ago.

The companies first applied for permission to combine in March 2007. The Justice Department approved the deal in March of this year without conditions, saying the companies don't really compete because customers must buy equipment that is exclusive to either XM or Sirius, and subscribers rarely switch providers.

DOJ also agreed with the companies' argument that they compete with other forms of audio entertainment, including digital radio, Internet-based radio stations and even devices like Apple Inc.'s iPod.

FCC approval faced a steeper climb because the companies were prohibited from combining under terms of their licenses. The agency struggled to come up with a way to show that allowing a satellite radio monopoly was in the public interest.

The companies voluntarily agreed to a set of conditions, including a three-year price cap and an 8 percent set-aside of "full-time audio channels" for public interest and minority programming. They will also adopt an "open radio" standard that may lead to a greater variety of features in radios and greater competition among manufacturers.

Sirius and XM also have promised to include a limited "a la carte" offering that would be available within three months of the close of the deal and allow listeners to pay only for the channels they want to receive.

[usclimey]

All you really have to say about Limpbone is his listeners call themselves "dittoheads." I mean how stupid can you get?

[spadeisspade]

A la carte membership? They need to do that with cable!

[kaylag04]

canajun3 wrote: "You ''''Murricans go on and on about ''''competition'''', and then you create a monopoly..."

A monopoly of what? One company offering a unique service does not necessarily meet the definition of a "monopoly". Neither company has yet made a profit, and there has been no rush by other interested parties to share in the lack of profit or to "compete" for the negative dollars to be made. This consolidation may make satellite radio a profitable enterprise.

[toshi43]

You ''Murricans go on and on about ''competition'', and then you create a monopoly the robber barons of the 19th century could only dream about. Talk about raising hypocrisy to an art form....

[marcosis78]

Doesn''t this create a monopoly?

[jimfinster]

As a young broadcaster in the 1970s, Limbaugh once told a black caller: "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back." A decade ago, after becoming nationally syndicated, he mused on the air: "Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

[jimfinster]

In 1992, on his now-defunct TV show, Limbaugh expressed his ire when Spike Lee urged that black schoolchildren get off from school to see his film Malcolm X: "Spike, if you''re going to do that, let''s complete the education experience. You should tell them that they should loot the theater, and then blow it up on their way out."

In a similar vein, here is Limbaugh''s mocking take on the NAACP, a group with a ninety-year commitment to nonviolence: "The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

[jimfinster]

On the January 24 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, host Rush Limbaugh referred to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and actress Halle Berry as "Halfrican American[s]," stating that "Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry." Limbaugh then said: " ''As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry''s support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,'' Obama said." Limbaugh then conceded that Obama "didn''t say it."

[rudy654-2009]

rudy654..

Limbaugh is not a racist.
**********
Limbaugh is a racist and your defense of the azzwhole makes you as big of fat azzz racist as he is. Now go away, you are driveling all over the place.

[ubrew12]

Springsteen''s gonna have to write a new song:
''114 channels and nothin''s on''

Media consolidation: Confusing more with bigger for 30 years.

[drivelphobe]

nextGenMan...

Pill-popper he is, but interesting to listen to once in a while.

[rushlimbaug4]

But Limbaugh is definitely a hypocritical pill-popping drug user....

Posted by nextGenMan at 08:06 AM : Jul 26, 2008

SEE HERE WHINING LIB!!! I did say that all drug users need to be locked up, but I was using a perfectly legal substance provided to me by my illegal house cleaner. I think this is where people get confused! illegal house cleaner! legal oxycontin!!! GET IT LIBZ!!!

Oh and SOLAR PANELS WILL NOT WORK!! The Technology is too complex and the sun is TOO FAR AWAY. We need to DRILL FOR MORE OIL and once we run out, we need to explore outerspace for MORE OIL!!!

LETS TALK ABOUT OBMAMA PHOTO OP IN BERLIN!!!! Would Obama have done what FDR did when Japan attacked Perl Harbor!!! Would he have declared war against GERMANY!! No! he would have laid down, only conservatives can protect you from EVIL!!!

[mercurygrand]

Great who cares? Not worth the money to hear that garbage.

[nextgenman]

udy654..

Limbaugh is not a racist. Your comments over the past lead us all to believe YOU are the racist with your constant open border, illegal alien support chatter and name calling to everyone who attempts to discuss the alien invasion.

Race is fair game to discuss and you are so sensitive to your weak position in life that you can''''t help yourself from screaming racism every time you have no sensible comment.

Posted by drivelphobe at 02:04 AM : Jul 26, 2008
-------

But Limbaugh is definitely a hypocritical pill-popping drug user....

[drivelphobe]

rudy654..

Limbaugh is not a racist. Your comments over the past lead us all to believe YOU are the racist with your constant open border, illegal alien support chatter and name calling to everyone who attempts to discuss the alien invasion.

Race is fair game to discuss and you are so sensitive to your weak position in life that you can''t help yourself from screaming racism every time you have no sensible comment.

[rudy654-2009]

To bad the idiot who thinks Rush Limbaugh is a racist and committing racist comments on the radio - doesn''''t know what they are talking about. The proof is in the pudding - comments about race are not racist - unless they are ment to be racist. And Rush is not a racist not matter what your left pinky brain tells you.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by KEITHGARDNER at 12:09 AM

Limbaugh: "A black man or woman as president? This is still the United States, isn''t it?"

This racist should not be allowed on the public airwaves.

Cool Deal - I use my radio to listen to Old music you can''t find on the radio anymore.

To bad the idiot who thinks Rush Limbaugh is a racist and committing racist comments on the radio - doesn''t know what they are talking about. The proof is in the pudding - comments about race are not racist - unless they are ment to be racist. And Rush is not a racist not matter what your left pinky brain tells you.

[gotagrip]

Satellite radio may not have gotten this far if normal radio didn''t insist on a music playlist of only 50 songs, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

[racam_us]

How can Rush Limbaugh mock Jessie Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton everyday and get by with it? I don''t see any difference between what he is doing and what Imus did. I think Rush is just as racist as anyone and yet he gets away with it. If the FCC is going to sanction one of them, they should do both.

[ubrew12]

Those who disparage the ''main=stream-media'' should take note: it''s not [often liberal] editors that choose what gets published by the media, it''s [often pro-business-conservative] publishers who do the choosing. Publishers watch the bottom line, which means they suck up to the owners above them, and THOSE are getting fewer and fewer in number with each merger, leaving fewer and fewer progressive voices being heard in our media.