XM Satellite Radio has named Bill Bailey, former Commerce Committee Senior Counsel to Senator John McCain, as their Senior VP of Regulatory and Government Affairs.

Bailey had served as the Commerce Committee's lead Republican staff member on all communications issues. He had also been a senior advisor at the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. He began his government career in 1996 at the Common Carrier Bureau of the FCC.

"As a company like XM grows, the number and complexity of issues that it deals with grows too," XM president/CEO Hugh Panero says. "We cannot think of a better steward for XM's government relations efforts than Bill Bailey, a man who has served President Bush, Senator McCain, and commissioners of the FCC with intelligence and distinction. Bill's acute political acumen will ensure that XM is well represented before the Administation, in the halls of Congress, and at the FCC."