XM Satellite Radio revealed in a recent SEC filing that they have held discussions with the FCC in regards to their terrestrial repeater network.

The FCC is concerned that the characteristics of some repeaters are different from the data that was originally submitted by XM. XM is currently seeking approval to continue running the network. However the final result may end up in XM paying a penalty or making "adverse changes" to its network of repeaters, or transmission towers.

If you'd like to learn a lot more details on XM's repeater troubles, Satellite Radio TechWorld has an incredible writeup explaining it all. 

[via FMQB] 

A new Congressional antitrust taskforce within the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next week on the proposed merger of XM and Sirius.

Mel Karmazin, will testify at the hearing on February 28th.

"Digital music is at the cutting edge of technology and innovation," House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said. "We are holding this hearing to allow members to probe whether this merger will enhance or diminish competition in the digital music distribution industry."

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican member of the committee, said the hearing will focus on the proposed merger's impact on consumers.

"This hearing will help determine whether customers will get higher or lower prices and more or fewer programming options with the proposed merger. In particular, the Committee will examine whether satellite radio competes against terrestrial radio, the Internet, or other emerging technologies," Smith said.

Rep Lamar Smith, interestingly enough, was the sponsor of last year's Copyright Modernization Act - which would have prevented XM or Sirius from offering radios that allow consumers to record satellite radio content for later listening.

Welcome to the political circus. Don't be surprised if things sloooow down from here on.

[Reuters] 

The FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said today that the Sirius and XM merger would have a high hurdle to overcome before receiving the Federal Communications Commission's approval.

"The companies would need to demonstrate that consumers would clearly be better off with both more choice and affordable prices," Martin said in a statement following the announcement of the deal.

"The hurdle here, however, would be high as the commission originally prohibited one company from holding the only two satellite radio licenses," Martin said.

[Reuters] 

The FCC today granted Sirius Satellite Radio a special temporary authority to setup 4 terrestrial repeaters in Alaska and Hawaii with power levels below 2,000 watts.

UPDATED: Satellite Radio TechWorld points out that Sirius has actually not been granted authority to operate the repeaters in Alaska and Hawaii. Rather the application is now in now in a comment period.

This is actually bad news in that it will be a while before the FCC can make a ruling. (And you can thank the NAB for that.) 

The application has been given the "permit-but-disclose" designation for the purposes of "ex parte communications." If you'd like to find out more about what exact this means, go check out Satellite Radio TechWorld for a detailed explanation.

Back in November, Sirius applied for the rights to broadcast in the two states.

Below are the proposed repeater location:

• Anchorage, AK
• Fairbanks, AK
• Juneau, AK
• Honolulu, HI
  

The CRTC has granted Canada's fourth largest cable company, Cogeco Cable, the right to distribute satellite radio services on digital cable.

Currently Cogeco distributes two pay audio services, Galaxie and Max Trax, but this decision means that Cogeco customers will be able to subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio or XM Satellite Radio over their digital cable service.

This is similar to the CRTC's decision with Rogers Cable, though neither Rogers or Cogeco have made any announcements about when satellite radio would be made available.

[Digital Home Pipeline] 

Yesterday, legislation H.R. 983 - backed by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) - was introduced in Congress by Representative Gene Green (D-TX). The legislation was co-sponsored by Representative Charles W. "Chip" Pickering (R-MS).

The purpose of the legislation (given the title of the "Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2007") is meant to "preserve local radio broadcast emergency and other services and to require the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a rulemaking for that purpose."

Interesting since currently, satellite radio services transmit local traffic, weather, and public safety information nationally, to all subscribers, regardless of location. This bill would prevent satellite radio from transmitting these local services - including public safety/emergency information.

A great example of the benefits of satellite radio - the public benefits - was during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath when XM and the Red Cross both setup Red Cross Radio. This allowed relief workers, shelters and aid stations to receive vital information during a time when local terrestrial radio was knocked out of service.

In response to H.R. 983, XM Satellite Radio has issued this statement:

"This special interest legislation would prevent satellite radio from broadcasting local traffic, weather, and emergency alert information on our national platform so that all of its more than 13 million subscribers can hear it.  Why doesn't the NAB want satellite radio to be able to broadcast local Amber Alerts?  Because of their selfish desire to avoid competition in the marketplace.  Congress should reject this outrageous attempt to stifle competition and harm consumers."

Kudos to XM for taking a stand against this. It's amazing to me that the NAB, and those on Capitol Hill, would even consider the prevention of local emergency broadcasts, like Amber Alerts, to be a good idea. 

This isn't the first that that Rep. Gene Green and his cohort Rep. Chip Pickering have tried this. Back in 2004 they tried to introduce the "Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act" which failed, and amazingly enough they've actually tried to introduce this legislation three times in the past.

So why does Rep. Gene Green and Rep. Chip Pickering seem so intent on preventing these public services from being delivered to you? Perhaps a look at their campaign contributors (here and here) might answer that. Or better yet why contact Green and Pickering find out for yourself?