A three ring circus....with lots of clowns, acrobatic midgets, stilt walkers,and a serious side show with all the freaks!

LMAO

Good Grief , this guy Martin should be running for congress. Talk about 'talking out
of both sides of his mouth '

First he Says:
"However, Martin said he still had not made up his mind on whether he would back approval of the deal."

GEE , SOUNDS LIKE HE'S SERIOUSLY AGAINST THE MERGER.

However in the very next sentence he Says:

"I haven't decided what I'm going to end up doing on it. I think that [the FCC staff] will have various cuts and options as a part of it, but I haven't decided yet

GEE , THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE MERGER WILL BE APPROVED WITH CONCESSIONS.

UNBELIEVEABLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I haven't figured out what I think we should do on it yet."

Come people, give Kevvy a break. He's only had a year to contemplate it.

This reminds me of classes that we had in high school where they told us in September that we'd have a research paper due in June. Then June comes along, no one is done, and everyone is scrambling to figure out what they're going to write about.

Maybe the FCC has been doing what we were doing... playing Nintendo and watching TV.

The merger just isn't going to happen, fellas.

I wonder if the NAB and Georgetown Partners are holding Martin's family hostage.

Jesus H. Christ On A Pony,

is this guy 1) drawing a paycheck or 2) using up oxygen that a real human being could benefit from?

AAHHHH!! SH** OR GET OFF THE POT!! COME ON!!

Since no merger for a while (or at all) does this mean we have to give back yesterday's gain and the after market hike?

Without question, this is one of the most incompetent bureaucrats in the history of Washington.

If I were the two merger companies, I would walk away and tell them "no thanks" and present the FCC with a bill.

What an idiot!

In his defense, as a government official, Martin is prohibited from pre-judging a merger, or in other words, announcing his views before the FCC votes. So noone should expect him to be any clearer in a public setting. That being said, he's probably gonna approve the merger subject to conditions.

Could end up being a situation where the various cuts are such that it won't be beneficial for them to merge.

@Jose:

"In his defense, as a government official, Martin is prohibited from pre-judging a merger, or in other words, announcing his views before the FCC votes. So noone should expect him to be any clearer in a public setting. That being said, he's probably gonna approve the merger subject to conditions."

BUT:

"There’s that GAO report that tells of your selective leaks to certain media groups on your behind-the-scenes dealings at the FCC. You’ve kept that one out of the news – but not for much longer." John Gorman

Yea, right!

THERE NEEDS TO BE A CHANGE .... WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER AND GET THESE ASSHOLES OUT OF OUR GOVERNMENT!!! ITS NOT JUST IN THIS CASE BUT WITH MANY IN AMERICAS GOVERNMENT.... REMEMBER [ WE THE PEOPLE} THIS IS OUR GOVERNMENT THAT WE ARE PAYING FOR!!! THERE NEEDS TO  BE SOME CHANGES AND FAST... THEY ARE SELLING ALL OF US OUT !!!  FOR THIS MERGER TO TAKE THIS LONG ONLY SHOWS THE POWER OF THE RADIO COMPANIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE IN OUR GOVERNMENT FOR THAT MATTER ALL POWERFUL COMPANIES KEEPING CONTROL ON OUR GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO COME TO AN END. THIS JOKER SHOULD BE THROWN OUT AND ALL THE LOBBYIST NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED THAT ARE PAYING THESE JOKERS FOR THEIR OWN NEEDS AND CONTROL ... STAND UP PEOPLE AND LOOK WHAT'S GOING ON!! THIS IS A JOKE. THERE IS NO I REPEAT NO REASON WHY THIS MERGER SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN APPROVED IN ONLY A FEW MONTHS AT THE MOST...

@Anonymous Coward

"Could end up being a situation where the various cuts are such that it won't be beneficial for them to merge."

Exactly! Why shoud they merge, after having to give-up large portions of their bandwidth, and having to let shitty HD Radio into interoperable receivers. Instead of just one company, with massive debt, so it would remain as two.

As Mackey said last night on Fast Money, the FCC and DOJ have destroyed the value of both Sirius and XM. How can these two agencies be made accountable for our losses?

If I were a lawyer, I'd be drawing up a class action lawsuit to gain back losses from the time Xm and Sirius agreed to merge to today targeting the NAB because they were the driving cause behing the FCC taking so long to decide.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Does this ASSHOLE realize how many peoples lives are being affected by his in ability to form a decision and the consequences he as already caused.

I think the merger will be approved, but with conditions that XM/Sirius can't live with, so they walk away.

The FCC may not rule by the end of the quarter--so what. It is abundently clear they are formulating the concession part of the deal AND they are working with the DOJ. The DOJ will announce that it is not blocking the deal very shortly--that could very well be before the end of the quarter or even today. The issue is much more complex at FCC. While I am pissed Martin all but said it would be b4 end of 1Q, it won't b much after that. The Agency is already taking alot of heat on this and they want thios OFF THEIR PLATE. I guarantee you Martin is trying to craft a merger that would get full support of the committee and not be a party line vote. That would avoid the shitstormn that would follow if it was a party line vote. There wiull be a decision in early April. Further--there could be one b4 end of March--he did not rule it out.

just the fact that they have given this review ZERO priority shows the minimal impact this will have on consumers.....and how little care there is if they merge.

sigh

People he can not tell you what he votes for! He is clearly saying: DO NOT BLAME THE FCC, WE ARE READY AND WAITING FOR THE DOJ THAT HASN'T SAID A THING SO FAR!
WE HAVE EVEN MADE DRAFTS OF DECISIONS TO BE. WHERE IS THE DOJ? WHY IS EVERYONE POINTING AT US SINCE THE DOJ GOES FIRST!
What did you guys expected to hear, his vote on a press conferance?

There will be concessions but certainly the ones the companies can live with. The FCC will not ask from companies to give up more things than what they can afford to give. This will make them walk away from the deal.

They will either say no or they will offer acceptable concessions if they approve the deal. There is no point for them to prepare concessions that the companies will reject.

I am sure that after all this time both companies have disclosed to the FCC what concessions are acceptable to them.
In other words it is unlikely a positive decision to come out with more concessions than the companies can afford to give.

Timing, I would say that the DOJ can anounce today or it can take much longer. They have not said a think about when the DOJ decides. And that is a shame. A honest system must have deadlines. It is a crime that they have taken so long. They could at least tell to the companies when they plan to decide on this.

It is killing them to wait with no target day other than their own extented time limit.
That might be a reason to sue the government.

As for the spectrum, If they give it up they would not be able to continue offering their existing services to existing customers after the merger. A significant spectrum lease could be availiable only if all existing customers could get a new radio that have access to both xm and serius spectrum.

I think the way things are they could offer just a few chanels for rent and that is all.

I hope the government will not let xm die and sirius to thrive with no concessions and no price limits.

I want to agree with the various posters here who have vented their severe frustration with this "circus-debate' largely by the FCC (The DOJ hasn't said a word, one-way or the other); The real problem is the lethargy and confusion this agency (FCC) is creating, and the sense of incompetence it is perpetrating, by "sitting-on-their-hands" and double-speaking, and catering to the forces-of-demise, who wish to see Sat.-Rad. diminished and extinguished at all cost; This foot-dragging, whether this federal agency were to rule in favor or not, caters to the anti-satellite-radio forces, and harms the financial structure of the entities seeking a ruling on behalf of the federal government; This in-action, incompetence and high-minded pandering, is the very thing Americans are sick-and-tired of, and it is the reason why an up-start like presidential candidate Barack Obama, is gaining such national prominence! I hope for a peaceful revolution, and while there are many issues I am un-sure about with the candidacy of Obama, he will get-my-vote, simply as a statement to the Federal-Government: "I'm sick of this crap that you perpetually administer"; I really hope he chooses Hillary as a running mate, for the simple reason that we get 1) An African American in office, and 2) a Woman as the V.P.! This is a more peaceful way to voice an opposition to the un-ending bureaucratic in-ineptitude best characterized by the old-established order in Washington, who's pocket's are full of NAB-dirty money, oil-lobby $110-barrel-oil ideology, 2-trillion-dollar Bush-club wars, and need I say more! Honestly, who isn't sick of this? Even the beneficiaries of this grand-debacle, know by their countenance, that it is soon to fall!

The real question is will it be by "plow-shares" or the barrel-of-a-gun? I'll take my "plow-share vote" to the poles in November and see if that is effective; If not, we need to hit-the-streets and re-claim our Republic!

Get the damn merger done already, yeah-or-nay!

PS: I predict that XM and Sirius can and will win litigation against the government if un-favorable judgements are rendered, by the simple fact that "great harm has already been done" due to the government taking an in-ordinate amount of time to decide this case!

I was told to

This is why I'm voting for Obama

When this is all said and done i expect Jail time for some.

I am not the only john posting for whatever that is worth.

This is why I am voting for McCaine! - No Jerimiah Wright Hypocrisy!

Whether Obama wins or Hillary, nothing changes. Both these frauds are career politicians. They will bring no "change", they don't even have any plan or ideas for "change" they just like to say "change" and idiots eat it up.

The blame for the merger rest solely where it belongs, on XM & Sirius. Either company could have pulled out of this months ago. They shouldn't be asking the government to bail them out of their poor decisions and reckless spending anyway but to whine about how long it's taking when it could be ended anytime either company want is just ignorant.

I think Sirius should just drop this merger. Stick it to the politicians and wait for XM to go under and then buy pieces of it, etc. Don't cave in to the Georgetown Mafia!

How about this? Let's just force the post-merger entity to set aside 10% of capacity, and split it down the middle, 5% to commercial interests, 5% to non commercial interests.

Commercial interests would be required to pay a "commercial" but reasonable lease rate, and non-commercial would pay a "wholesale" lease rate, as the DBS TV Public Interest channels do.

Requirements for both:
1 Channel per organization, until everyone who wants a channel has one.
Preference would be given to small businesses.
Those who already own more than 10 radio or television stations (or translators) must go to the end of the line for these satrad channels; a maximum of 1% of each set-aside (commercial and non-com) could go to group owners who already have more than 10 terrestrial licenses (counting translators).
Governmental units would only be eligible to be part of the 5% non-commercial set-aside, and even then, a maximum of 1% could be allocated to government (and a minimum of 0).
Airtime on any set-aside channel may be leased, but only to an organization that does not own, control, or lease any other satrad channel, nor does the organization have over 10 stations or translators as above.

Georgetown would be free to lease 1 (one) channel, as would any other programmer who wanted to. Leased channels would be carried on both XM and Sirius. Programmers who only want to program (mono) talk would be given the choice of a lower-bandwidth, lower-priced rate that is equivalent to any other mono talk station now carried by either service. Programmers that want to carry music would pay a slightly higher rate to be carried at a stereo music quality comparable to the bitrate given to a top-30 rated music station on either service. (I am not referring to the same quality as a station that *plays* the top 30 hits on the chart. I mean a quality comparable to any one of the 30 highest rated music stations, according to the Arbitron ratings.)

Sirius would be free to carry the leased channels only on newer radios that do not have the 128 channel limit, or to offer lessees the choice of being carried on older radios, but on a channel that is subject to interruption between 6 PM and 12 Midnight Eastern Time for live sports. Lessees would pay a slightly lower rate if they chose the interruptible service.

my god....

Its going to happen. Remember the politicians will have to deal with "free radio"....negative feedback on the air during an election year is a real concern. In the end. the deal gets done. I would guess first week of April.

Its going to happen. Remember the politicians will have to deal with "free radio"....negative feedback on the air during an election year is a real concern. In the end. the deal gets done. I would guess first week of April.

Dirty, dirty, dirty. I just feel dirty when I think about the politics this is quagmired in...

He said something about having his staff doing drafts and I think they should all do drafts as well as everybody here do drafts, and serious chugging and get drunk and just say yes or no but grow some balls and say something!!! make a decision already.. We're waiting!!..

"I haven't decided what I'm going to end up doing on it. I think that [the FCC staff] will have various cuts and options as a part of it, but I haven't decided yet."

This is NOT a denial. Basically means the terms of approval of the deal are being discussed.

"I haven't decided what I'm going to end up doing on it. I think that [the FCC staff] will have various cuts and options as a part of it, but I haven't decided yet."

This is NOT a denial. Basically means the terms of approval of the deal are being discussed.

"I haven't decided what I'm going to end up doing on it. I think that [the FCC staff] will have various cuts and options as a part of it, but I haven't decided yet."

This is NOT a denial. Basically means the terms of approval of the deal are being discussed.

fuck mel karmazie and fuck this merger already.

oh and fuck gary parsons for not hanging up the phone laughing when mel called him.

Guess we know why Congress has an 18% approval rating and Americans are moving to China.

I wonder what kind of a three ring circus Kevin Martin would make , out of two soup cans and a string ?

So now we have people saying the first week of April? Reminds of that poster who kept saying it would be Feb. 19. No one knows, OK? And like Sen. Specter said, there's no sense of urgency.

My questions:
1. How far will XM and Sirius concede to conditions of the mergers?
2. Why does it seem that the general consensus is that if there is no merger, Sirius will be the only one left standing?

Do you think "Steve" Kevin Martin is having his staff create various opinions, as, in the end, they decide by rock-paper-scissors?

What clowns. Must be the Bush Administration.

Yaeh my name is kevin martin I think and I need some more time to decide on this merger even though it has been about 450 months. Whoi is this guy? what is there to decide on at this point. Shouldn't it have been yes or no about a year ago?

What a sad pathetic individual this kevin martin is. After all this time he is now going to start drafting documents? what has he been doing all this time making paper airplanes? clinton obama mccain and now martin. Is this all this country has to offer? why should anyone in this country vote? what is there to vote for?

Since we are all still waiting on the FCC, I thought I would use the time productively.
I made a list of all the things I could get done while I wait.
1. Learn Chinese
2. Watch the Olympics
3. Get my PHD
4. Plant a forest
5. Solve world hunger
6. Read the entire IRS tax code
7. Qualify to join the AARP
8. Watch Haley’s comet
9. Get a transplant
10. Die of old age