Georgetown Partners, the minority-owned firm that analyzes FCC regulated
markets "for opportunities to extend minority ownership
and control," recently met with public interest groups to discuss set aside provisions of Sirius-XM spectrum, according to a recent filing.The privately-owned firm, headed up by Chester Davenport (pictured), is asking the Federal Communications Commission to require that 20% of Sirius-XM's broadcast infrastructure be leased to a "independent new entrant."
In a letter to FCC Chairman Martin, Davenport outlined his meeting with public interest groups Public Knowledge and Media Access Project. Both groups have suggested to the FCC that 5% of spectrum from a merged Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. be dedicated for non-commercial, educational programming.
Georgetown Partners agrees that the proposals by Public Knowledge and Media Access Project (as well as its own) would indeed "benefit consumers and serve the public interest." But Davenport feels that there are "technical barriers" that would hinder this content from being delivered in the digital format and bandwidth necessary, according to the letter.
As a result, Georgetown laid out a plan to "further the public interest objectives" shared by the groups. They include:
- Georgetown will "accept delivery of the program streams" in an agreed manner
- Will "at its own expense" encode the programming into the required digital format
- And finally will "transport and deliver" the programming, along with its own programming, to the merged entity.
Chester Davenport highlights that their plan would be to broadcast satellite radio programming to all receivers - subscribers or not - and so would further the objectives of Public Knowledge and Media Access Project.
"We estimate that today there are 36 million such receivers in the marketplace, of which roughly 50 percent, or 18 million, are not subscribed," writes Davenport. "Implementing any educational set-aside in this manner will double the potential audience for the non-commercial programming."
Finally, Davenport feels that the educational set-aside is separate and distinct from Georgetown Partners' own 20% proposal. But if both proposals are realized, Georgetown "will dedicate resources to make sure that the non-commercial educational uses become reality."
[Read the entire letter (PDF)]
Bonus: Listen to yesterday's Orbitcast Radio show featuring Public Knowledge co-founder Gigi Sohn where we briefly discussed Georgetown Partners' proposal.
Look at the smug look on that f uckers face. 20%???? he can go F UCK himself. Why should sirius be obligated to give ANYTHING to anyone???
Its all bullshit!
i'm not a racist, but this whole thing is making me lose my f ucking mind. How much money must shareholders continue to lose because of the NAB and the FCC and this CRIMINAL DELAY???
Enough!!!! At this point I don't care WHAT they decide! Just end this INSANITY already.
I want to see Mel sue. And I want to see the shareholders file a class action lawsuit against the FCC and the NAB for DESTROYING shareholder value with their calculated, deliberate and CRIMINAL delay and stall tactics.
It was their plan all along. They KNEW that delaying the merger indefinitely would do this. It was as if the NAB was handed a way to kill their enemy on a silver platter. And they ran with it.
And it's worked.
F UCK the NAB and F UCK the FCC.
Ummm. Can u tell I'm slightly angry? :-)
Read it again...
He's giving in. He just doesn't know how to make a podcast, SIRI won't give him a studio, and he's finally figuring out he might have to buy his own microphone.
It's over. All they want is to be sure they get one of the 8 set-aside channels that will be broadcast for free.
Mel wins. See you all at the victory party today after the Open Meeting.
who the hell is this Public? I have never heard of this guy and he seems to want everything he can get his hands on.
Who the hell is Public? I have never heard of this guy and he seems to want everything he can get his hands on. Greedy Mutha F er.
What time is the Clown's meeting?
First of all Mat, if you think this thing is going to be decided at an open meeting, you are out of your mind. I wanted to remind Mrs Wallman of that on the radio show yesterday, but I wasnt on the air anymore. KevMart infact did say that he would release an agenda 3 weeks before the open meeting, but VERY VERY few mergers have ever been voted on or even talked about during an open meeting, not including the press questions afterwards. THERE you may hear somethign to the effect that they started to circulate a draft or something, but definately not a vote.
SECOND: Chester Davenport is a racist MF himself, using the race card where there does not need to be one played. So now the total request he is making is 25% - % for PK/MAP and 20% for himself... and he will even go out of his way to translate the broadcasts for the independants and transmit them to XM/SIRI... how sweet. Does he think that XM/SIRI would not be in favor of doing this? Or is that too much responsibility to put on a company that is supposed to remain impartial? Hell, it is THEIR NETWORK AND SATELLITES, if they wnated to do anything to sabatoge it, they could do it anywhere they wanted.
But I almost want to agree with you Mat... it almost sounds like he waiving a white flag. Now it sounds like he is just trying to get into the fray any way he can, almost like he believes his 20% demand is absurd **gasp**. He sounds broken and beat, and he just wants to get into SatRad any way he can.
Are you serious? Get this clown out of here 20% why doesn't he donate 20% of his networth to helping the public.
Are you serious? Get this clown out of here 20% why doesn't he donate 20% of his networth to helping the public.
Are you serious? Get this clown out of here 20% why doesn't he donate 20% of his networth to helping the public.
Chester Davenport is an ass.
Actually, it seems kind of smart by Georgetown. If they can coopt the public interest groups, that might hurt the merger chances, especially since Public Knowledge is the only public interest group that's supported the merger from the beginning.
Watch out for Radio One hiding in the bushes with Rev Jesse and Rainbow Push. Lots of interesting movement of Radio One stock (ROIA) positioning for a strike.
Sure as a Sirius stockholder I will agree to lease 20% for 1.5 billion dollars a year. Fee for airtime, sat maintenance, and intellectual property.
As a shareholder in Sirius, I hope Mel will walk away from any deal that gives this prike and Georgetown Partners any spectrum. I hope the FCC is not seriously thinking of implicating any deal with Georgetown.
"All costs for the acceptance, encoding, and delivery of programming would be graciously absorbed by Georgetown Partners, according to the letter".
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Well wasnt that nice of them.
The entire GP/spectrum issue is a joke that gets more laughs every day.How in the hell can Martin and crew even entertain this 20% crap.
Birds of a feather................
This is just the beginning...
WAIT TILL OBAMA WINS...
OK---This is almost laughable. These groups are wasting everyone's time. First and foremost, I trust Mel, and he will never put this deal through given the merged entity has to give away ANY spectrum. Sirius does, however, offer a very wide range of programming to minority groups.
Remember, it is the shareholders who put risk capital to work to bring these companies to fruition. We would all be out of our minds to give away any spectrum to ANYBODY, because we all paid dearly for it! As a shareholder, I say let's go it alone before making ANY concessions.
..........again I don't have any problem with leasing bandwidth to anyone. In a comment above, Chris has suggested 1.5 Billion/year. That sounds just fine to me.
If Obama wins, better sell your stock before 45% tax rate.
"This is just the beginning...
WAIT TILL OBAMA WINS..."
Agreed. And anyone that opposes him or his cronies, like Chester here, will be labeled as a racist. Welcome to the future boys.
Well lookie here! Who has Mr. Chester Davenport been donating funds to for the upcoming election?
http://tinyurl.com/4grdsg
Take a guess
Because I am failing victim to what you can call the "michael bolten disease", along with my high priced lawyers and celebrity spokesman, decided the Exxon/Mobil merge should go through. We only ask that Micorsoft be allowed, or forced by the Federal Govt., to install iTunes on every computer in the nation. Oh yeah, put HD Radio on your car tires too, otherwise no contributions for you.
The first thing that will be banned is the American flag
Ryan, great show yesterday. Very informative, very interesting.
I for one am proud to see this evolution in the welfare state. Why, 40 years ago a man like Chet would have been happy if the Government handed over a few chickens and $5.00. We've progressed as a society to the point where now a black man in America has the balls to ask for part of a multi-billion dollar broadcasting concern.
THAT'S Empowerment!
Sirius already has NPR, and maybe PBS is in the channels I don’t listen to. The only way any liberal organization can get content broad cast is via government regulation. This sounds like affirmative action of the airwaves.
will Sirius/XM have ANYTHING left if all these free loaders get their way?
WTF do minorities have to do with this merger??? it seems they wanna piece of anything they can get a hold of.....why should the minorities benefit from this when georgetown should be thrown in jail for extortion! any asshole who uses the race card to become rich or get an advantage in life should fuckin DIE!!!! those cocksuckers al sharpton, jesse jackson, and that piece of shit chester davenport dont deserve shit!!!! all they do is put black people on high priority! THATS RACIST!!!!!
they should rewrite the headline to "Georgetown lays out plan to "further black power"
RACISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a racist and Davenport and stick is wants up his black ass.
I want 20% of their 40 acres and a mule
I want 20% of their 40 acres and a mule
Wow! Saw the picture and read the article. For a minute I thought Riley Martin was having another one of his fits. Please massa, will you put satellite radio in ow home fo free? "Further the Public Interest" huh? I thought that's why SIRI carried NPR, BBC, OUTQ, and Blue Collar Comedy! If you really want to further the public interest, why not make basic cable include all those educational shows on Discovery, Smithsonian, History, TLC, etc...while we're at it, let's make sure we buy everyone a HD TV so they can have a really clear picture. Jesus Christ, this dude really has a pair.