The Heritage Foundation's Edwin Meese III (Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies), and James L. Gattuso (former FCC official) have written an article summarizing the NAB's fight against the Sirius-XM merger.

It's an endorsement for the merger, systematically debating all of terrestrial radio's points against the merger, not to mention using the NAB's own words against them (which isn't hard).

Entitled "Beyond the Fairness Doctrine: Radio’s Fight over the XM–Sirius Merger" it's a well written piece and a highly recommended read, regardless of where you stand on the merger debate.

There's a radio war going on in Washington, and this one has nothing to do with the Fairness Doctrine. Talk of re-imposing the requirement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that broadcasters air opposing views on controversial topics sparked an intense and highly publicized debate this summer. Almost lost in the "fairness" furor, however, has been a second, but no less intense, radio industry battle over the merger of satellite radio providers XM and Sirius. After months of review, a ruling from the Justice Department is expected within weeks, to be followed by a decision by the FCC, which also must approve the transaction. The merger debate is different from the "fairness" debate in that it involves the structure, rather than content, of the radio industry. Like the "fairness" debate, however, the outcome could determine how Americans will listen to the radio for years to come.

Jim Gattuso, who co-authored the article, has quite the interesting background, especially with the FCC. From 1990 to 1993, he was the Deputy Chief at the FCC's Office of Plans and Policy. From May 1991 to June 1992, the FCC detailed him to the office Vice President Dan Quayle, where Gattuso served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness.

[The Heritage Foundation]

Speaking at the NAB Radio Show this morning, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin spoke only generally about the Sirius-XM merger but said that the companies had "interesting proposals" to justify the merger and protect consumers.

During the annual FCC Breakfast, the FCC Chairman fielded several questions: from public interest questions, to changes to the EAS system, and of course, the merger between Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.

Martin spoke only generally about the merger, stating that the current rules prohibit both companies from merging, but said that Sirius and XM have provided "interesting proposals" stating their case.

NAB Radio Board Chairman Russ Withers asked about the NAB's concern that the satellite companies are planning to go after local revenue, but Kevin Marin noted that the companies are not prohibited from going after local ads. They just cannot insert local-only ads and material through the local terrestrial repeater network.

"I would be concerned if they were trying to become a local broadcaster," said the FCC Chairman. Martin didn't agree that local material broadcast nationally violates the local prohibition placed on the satellite companies.

[AllAccess]

Forbes last night unveiled their Forbes 400, highlighting the 400 richest people in America - and several radio-related moguls are on the list.

For all the whining that the NAB does about Howard Stern's $500 million contract, you'd think these folks were paupers. But that's not at all the case, far from it, especially since you need to have a net worth of at least $1.3 billion to even get on the Forbes 400 list.

So follow the link below, and check out the Top 10 Richest People in Radio... and the disgusting amount of their net worth.

If you missed Mel Karmazin's presentation at the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment Conference this morning, and subsequently learned the archived audio is no longer archived, there's a few writeups 'round the interweb you can read... each with their own take.

Forbes focused on how Karmazin discussed the fundamentals of Sirius' business strategy. From the goal of ad revenue reaching 10% of total revenue, to key growth drivers like factory-installations, to Sirius Backseat TV; Forbes actually gives a good rundown of some highlights.

CNN Money Blogs took the merger angle, shining the spotlight on Mel's response to Merrill Lynch media analyst Jessica Reif Cohen introduction. "How dare you say XM is our only competitor?" said Karmazin. "We compete with terrestrial radio and Apple’s iPod in a robust digital entertainment market."

Radio Ink, on the otherhand, decided to point the finger at the Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. CEO's statement that the XM-Sirius merger would lead to lower costs to consumers, and thus be "good for the country." (Likely in the public-interest sense, and not in the geo-political sense... but ehh, it makes for good headlines.)

Amazingly though, Radio Ink did include Karmazin's statement that Sirius competes "with the Clear Channels and CBS's of the world, and ... we are the fifth-largest radio-revenue company today." SiriusBuzz posted a slide from the presentation illustrating this.

Thanks Gary!

In case you missed it, XM Chairman Gary Parsons and iCEO/President Nate Davis were interviewed in the New York Times this weekend.

It's part of, what I feel, is an important initiative to help increase the public profile of XM Management. Parsons also has been stepping up his speaking gigs lately, so it's good to see Davis doing his share in the press rounds.

The interview itself has some good bits where Davis and Parsons give an overview of the current state of the merger, and XM's scenario should the merger not go through. I do love how Gary refers to the NAB's persistent opposition as a "jihad" - a fitting description that definitely doesn't conjure up images of being the good-guy.

I also like how they directly addressed the number of channels that subscribers will have available post-merger. It's good to set realistic expectations of what is possible in the near term.

[New York Times]
Thanks Donald!