Sirius Canada, in collaboration with The Consulate General of Canada, New York, will host an exclusive music showcase event featuring up-and-coming Canadian artists to celebrate Canada Day.

The showcase event will be held at Joe's Pub in New York City on Sunday, July 1st, will feature some of Canada’s best up-and-coming musical talent including Serena Ryder, Peter Elkas and Wil. The performance will immediately follow the Canadian Consulate’s fourth annual all-star tribute to Canadian songwriting (itself part of the Consulate’s ongoing Upper North Side Canadian Music Series at Joe’s Pub) at 7pm.

“Thanks in part to our series with Joe’s Pub, the venue has become an important partner in presenting emerging Canadian musical talent to a New York audience,” says the Consulate’s Cultural Affairs Officer, Jeff Breithaupt.  “We’re thrilled that Sirius Canada is building on that momentum with what we hope will be another important Canada Day tradition in New York.”

Sirius subscribers throughout North America can listen to the concert live on Sirius' Iceberg 95 (ch 95) starting at 9:30pm ET.

An extremely influential group has today announced its support for the Sirius/XM merger: the NAACP.

The the nation's largest and most widely-recognized grassroots civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) today has officially endorsed the pending merger.

"We are extremely pleased to enjoy the support of such a well-respected and influential organization in the African American community," said Gary Parsons, Chairman of XM Satellite Radio and Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio, in a joint statement.

In a letter to the FCC, NAACP Director Hilary Shelton affirmed, "We are convinced that the pending Sirius-XM merger will be a positive development for consumers. More diverse, accessible and appealing options at lower prices in satellite radio will help further expand the reach of this medium."

The NAACP also applauded both companies for maintaining "a strong commitment to diversity" and utilizing "significant resources to recruit and retain minority talent and leadership at all levels." Both XM and Sirius offer several music and entertainment channels (like XM's The Power (ch 169) and The Foxxhole (ch 106) on Sirius) which cater to the diverse tastes of African-Americans.

"We have no doubt that a merged satellite radio company would continue, and in fact, strengthen its commitment to diversity in employee recruitment and retention, while expanding its pool of diverse contractors and vendors," added Shelton.

While there have been a wave of groups supporting the merger, none have the level of recognition that the NAACP and its membership of over 400,000 nationwide holds. This is a huge achievement for merger supporters.

STMicroelectronics is providing the chipset for Sirius Backseat TV, which is set to be launched later this year in select 2008 model Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles.

Manufactured by Delphi, the core of the in-vehicle satellite video receiver is based on three ST chips:

• The STA210 RF tuner IC
• The STA240 channel, service and source decoder IC
• and the STA264 advanced hierarchical demodulator chip, which extracts the video stream and performs error correction on the received signal.
  

ST is also the chip supplier for XM receivers, in addition to Sirius, and is now the world's leading supplier of microchip components powering digital radio receivers.

[Sirius Uplink] 

Harold W. Furchtgott-Roth, a prominent economist and the former Commissioner of the FCC, released a study today exploring the economic considerations that government agencies should take into account when reviewing the proposed XM-Sirius merger.

The paper, "An Economic Review of the Proposed Merger of XM and Sirius," was prepared for XM and Sirius and was filed yesterday to the FCC as part of the companies' merger application.

Furchtgott-Roth, founded Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises in 2003 and frequently consults on issues related to the communications sector of the economy. From 1997 through 2001, Furchtgott-Roth served as a commissioner of the FCC and he is one of the few economists to have served as a federal regulatory commissioner and the only one to have served on the Commission.

"After studying various economic factors and potential changes in competing communications services, I conclude that American consumers have a wide and rapidly expanding range of choices for communications services that compete with XM and Sirius," said Furchtgott-Roth. "Additionally, these competitive choices discipline the prices that XM and Sirius charge subscribers today and will continue to do so regardless of whether the firms merge.

"I believe that government agencies should afford these companies the flexibility to respond to rapidly changing market conditions."

[Read the full Furchtgott-Roth Report (PDF)]

...or check out the key findings from the report after the jump. 

In a recent email sent to its members, the NAB has conceded that supporters of the XM/Sirius merger "are winning the war of words at the FCC."

Citing Siriusbuzz's FCC Comment Scorecard, the NAB asked their members to not let their members "win the war of words" and to "submit comments to the FCC opposing the merger!"

The NAB even said they are "working hard to derail the merger" but even so, they asked members to "enlist station personnel, friends and family" to aid their cause.

As of June 22nd, nearly 2,600 comments have been filed to the FCC regarding the Sirius-XM merger, and over 2,000 are in favor of it.

If you would like to submit your comments to the FCC, you can do so through the easy to use forms located on both XMmerger.com and SIRIUSmerger.com. They are definitely far easier to use than the FCC's own form.

Sirius Satellite Radio will celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of Elvis Radio - which launched back in July '04 - with a special one-hour broadcast hosted by Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN).

Congressman Cohen will feature his favorite Elvis records and share his thoughts on the impact of Elvis Presley on pop culture. He'll also take a look at the influence the icon's music has had on Memphis, Shelby County, and the Tennessee-Mississippi-Arkansas tri-state communities.

Sirius Satellite Elvis Radio Third Anniversary Celebration kicks off live from Graceland July 1st starting at 2pm ET.

At the end of the broadcast, Cohen will be joined by Elvis Presley Enterprises CEO Jack Soden, to present a U.S. Congressional Proclamation declaring July 1st 'Elvis Radio Day' to life-long Elvis friend and Sirius Satellite Radio LIVE from Graceland host George Klein.

And the hits just keep on coming. FamilyNet now has joined the growing list of organizations voicing their support for the Sirius-XM merger.

The Fort Worth, Texas based FamilyNet operates Sirius' Christian Talk channel (ch 161), and FamilyNet TV can be seen in approximately 29 million TV households.

"FamilyNet has found satellite radio to be an ideal medium for bringing our message to consumers," said R. Martin Coleman, COO for FamilyNet Radio, in a letter to the FCC. "We support any efforts, including the Sirius-XM merger, which will help satellite radio survive and continue to benefit the public for many years to come."

Coleman added that "merging with XM Satellite radio will allow our rich blend of family-friendly and faith-based news and entertainment to reach an even larger audience, many in remote areas who would otherwise not have access to Christian programming through traditional terrestrial radio.

The League of Rural Voters has released an analysis comparing the 2002 EchoStar/DirecTV merger attempt, and the proposed Sirius/XM merger.

The report argues that in the EchoStar/DirecTV case, the FCC determined that there were at most only two DBS providers. Opponents of the Sirius/XM merger (like the NAB) have tried to describe it in the same terms. But the LRV study thinks otherwise.

"Satellite radio is often the best source for music, news and talk in rural areas," said LRV Executive Director Niel Ritchie. "However, it is far from the only choice. Sirius and XM are two small pieces in a very broad market. Rural consumers have an array of audio entertainment choices today and will continue to do so after the Sirius-XM merger."

The analysis, "Sirius/XM vs. EchoStar/DirecTV: A Fundamentally Different Merger for Rural Consumers," was filed recently in support of the companies' application with the FCC.

Here's what they found:

Distinct Market Definitions
The paper cites the 2002 FCC analysis of the EchoStar/DirecTV market, which specifically defined each local market as the two DBS providers and the local cable monopoly. This is in contrast to the "broad and competitive audio entertainment market in which satellite radio competes," that the LRV study found, a market that they consider to include terrestrial radio, Internet radio, iPods and other MP3 players, CD players and mobile phones.

The FCC also found there were significant barriers to entry in the DBS merger. This concern is moot in the satellite radio market, given the multitude of other competitors that have already entered the field and the anticipated release of future competitors such as HD radio and the Apple iPhone.


Different Impacts on Rural Consumers
The finding on the DBS product market gave rise to a number of concerns, including the reduction of viewpoint diversity and the creation of a monopoly in areas where there was no cable. "The FCC found that DBS operators contribute to viewpoint diversity by playing a 'gatekeeper role' that 'clearly affects' which entertainment and news programming is available," the paper says. "The audio entertainment market does not present the same concern, since it includes many different providers/editors."

Additionally, LRV's analysis concludes that the FCC's concerns in the EchoStar/DirecTV case do not apply to satellite radio because of its small saturation in a rapidly growing market, noting "...unlike the DBS merger reviewed by the FCC five years ago, the proposed merger between XM and Sirius comes at a time of strong and growing competition... In fact, in contrast to the DBS context, even a merged satellite radio provider would possess a slight market share and be constrained by the multiplicity of other media."

If you want to read the full report by the League of Rural Voters, check it out here (PDF).

The list of organizations filing comments with the FCC in support of the Sirius-XM merger continues to grow. This time around we have the Americans for Tax Reform, and the 60 Plus Association, who today filed a joint comment with the FCC supporting the satellite radio merger.

"This merger would create an appealing product for many consumers interested in multiple audio options," said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. "The companies have broken new ground in offering consumers the ability to block channels and receive a credit for what they have blocked, without being forced by regulation to do so, therefore creating an alternative that will appeal to people of all age groups and sensibilities."

With the proposed a la carte offering (where subscribers can block channels they find offensive and receive credit back for that blocked content) Sirius-XM would be the first market-created a la carte system in the entertainment industry.

"The voluntary a la carte system these companies have pledged to implement is a prime example of the market working to attract new, family-oriented audiences," continued Norquist. "This is a testament not only to their commitment to families, but to the free market. No regulations were needed to impose this concept; it came about out of a void in the market they think exists.

Kudos to them for this interesting and bold step in a new direction not offered on terrestrial radio."

An advertiser on The Howard Stern Show - JEC Nutrition - is filing suit for $100 million after they say their product was trashed on the show during a live-read, resulting in a 20% drop in sales (according to JEC).

The CEO of JEC Nutrition, Kelly Lockwood, told Page Six that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote the I57 Ignite fat-burner. Crazy Cabbie was on the show to talk about how he's shed 20 pounds with the product.

But according to Lockwood, "The first thing out of Howard's mouth was, 'Geez, Cabbie, you look fatter than ever.' "

"Then, [Stern sidekick] Ralph Circella says to Cabbie something like, 'What the hell are you doing in here promoting a weight-loss product, you fat piece of [bleep]! Why don't you lose 60 more pounds and then come back?' This was horrendous for us." Lockwood told the Post. "Our sales have dropped more than 20 percent. In seven minutes, he undid all the good work we did."

Lockwood says the suit will charge Stern, as well as Sirius, with defamation. 

[New York Post] 

UPDATE: Many of the reports on this are misleading (causing this post to be misleading as well). It was not a live-read for I57 Ignite, and they are not a sponsor of The Howard Stern Show.