The House subcommittee on telecommunications will hold a hearing next Wednesday, March 7th that will include a look at the proposed Sirius-XM merger.

Mel Karmazin will appear before the subcommittee to review the merger and the future of radio.

US Representative Edward J. Markey, a 16-term Massachusetts Democrat who heads the subcommittee (and who was chairman of it 12 years ago), said that over the next two years he will focus on fostering competition that will benefit consumers.

"We're going to go back to the beginning, to begin to talk about the whole nature of these" issues, Markey said. "Now, for the first time I have the gavel back again, and I plan to highlight competition."

Markey also said that under a Republican-controlled Congress and FCC, consumers have suffered with the slow spread of broadband and a lack of competition to telephone and cable companies.

Looks like there may be trouble coming next week.

[Reuters and The Boston Globe]