Slacker, the growing internet radio-turn-satellite service, has filed a comment with the FCC asking for specific conditions regarding Sirius and XM's partnerships with auto manufacturers, should the merger be approved.

As Slacker is a new personal audio service, they're asking the FCC to impose two conditions should the merger be approved:

1. The combined company should not be allowed to continue, or enter into any exclusive agreement with auto manufacturers. In other words, they need to terminate any exclusive agreements they already have.
   
2. The combined Sirius-XM should not be permitted to have car manufacturers represented on the new company's Board.
   

Remember that when Sirius and XM announced the merger, they stated that the board of directors would consist of one representative from each of General Motors and American Honda.

Slacker was careful to explicitly state that they take no position regarding the proposed merger, and that they don't consider themselves to be a substitutable service to Sirius or XM.

In their comment to the FCC, Slacker went into great lengths to highlight the tightly knit relationships between both satellite radio providers, auto manufacturers and their OEM agreements.

Slacker is asking a lot here, and has definitely thrown the glove down... though you honestly can't blame them. If the FCC gives these requests serious consideration, it very well could delay the entire process. Because, since it's been the basis of their business model for years, you can bet that Sirius/XM would vehemently oppose any restrictions on their OEM agreements.

My only problem is that the "exclusive" logic really only applied to each other, not competing audio technologies. If the auto manufacturers were truly married to the exclusive concept, then there wouldn't be any iPod integration, or HD Radio installations, as we're seeing today.

[Slacker's FCC Comment (PDF)]