FCC Chairman chimes in on Sirius + XM Merger
Monday, February 19, 2007 at 8:36 PM
Tags: 2, XM
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]
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Comments
HOO HOO ROBIN I INVENTED MERGERS TELL EM FRED!!!!!
Posted by: Hoo Hoo Howie | February 19, 2007 9:11 PM
Ryan as I posted on your blog hours ago --
FCC chairman comments Ryan. I think this is the #1 reason for the coming tier pricing/a la carte content choice mentioned in the press release.
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20070219:MTFH99401_2007-02-19_23-12-05_N19447221&type=comktNews&rpc=44
Posted by: MUSCLE13 ? | February 19, 2007 9:13 PM
Right, and the A La Carte option is also a direct appeal to Martin. He's a big supporter of A La Carte channels for cable.
Posted by: Ryan Saghir ? | February 19, 2007 9:20 PM
He's table talking..... keep rates low, throw consumers a cookie, don't make me look like a jackass.... and I'll sign off.
Posted by: Plowboy1 | February 19, 2007 9:21 PM
A La Carte option may sound good to you now but in the end when you add up all the options to get what your recieving now it will be more expensive.
Posted by: BigHead | February 19, 2007 10:14 PM
Does the FCC really want to prove itself to be as irrelevant as they are? They sound like a bunch of old fuddy duddies that know fuck all about technology! How fucking backward can you be in the era of iPods, internet radio, "HDRadio", and other forms of entertainment available. The FCC really needs to be abolished!
Posted by: Frank Z ? | February 20, 2007 8:38 AM
Basically, they are saying the Apple has a monopoly on the iPod since there is only one company that makes them. Very bad and stupid argument!
Posted by: Frank Z ? | February 20, 2007 8:39 AM
There should be high hurdles when a company attempts a merger. It's simple economics. Monopolies are bad for competition and competition propels a capitalism. Remember kids, capitalism is good. This is what makes our economy flourish. We cannot allow a satrad monopoly. It will ruin competition, innovation and consumer satisfaction. I'm with the FCC all the way! I hope this never goes through.
Posted by: SatRad Chick | February 20, 2007 9:53 AM