FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was busy last Friday with meetings over the pending Sirius-XM merger, according to filings at the Federal Communications Commission.
On April 11th, representatives from Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. met with Chairman Martin, Daniel Gonzales, and Elizabeth Andrion. The purpose of the meeting was "to discuss Commission action on the merger" and "to review pending issues" brought up in various filings.
In general, these FCC filings tend to be as generic as possible and usually only include the "review pending issues" line. With that in mind, it's notable that this meeting specifically included a discussion about "Commission action on the merger" - hopefully implying that there will be some sort of action in the near future.
On the same day, Chairman Martin again alongside Daniel Gonzales and Elizabeth Andrion, also met with Georgetown Partners and the Rainbow PUSH Coaltion. Chester Davenport, founder of Georgetown Partners, as well as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Kimberly Marcus of Rainbow PUSH, were in attendance at the meeting.
The details on Georgetown's meeting are even more vague and simply were consistent with filings "previously submitted on this docket."
[View FCC Filings: 1, 2 (PDF)]
Well this tells me the decsion has been made and the parties were informed generally what the decision is going to be. Expect a ruling this week.
Fuck you MARTIN meeting with these nigger shakedown artists.
Enough with the damm meetings !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Resolve the friggin issues and
announce the merger. Meetings are the biggest waste of time in the Corporate
world and probably 10 times worse in the political world.
Nevertheless, the shorts are still working hard to drive that stock price down.
If you can meet with the BLACKMAILERS and JESSE JACKSON at GEORGETOWN 25 times,=SET UP A MEETING WITH THE GOOD AMERICAN PEOPLE TO SEE WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY.I DEMAND YOU ANSWER ANY QUESTION WE ASK.=YOU should know by this time what they [GEORGETOWN AND JACKSON] are trying to do.==BLACKMAIL YOU.
If you can meet with the BLACKMAILERS and JESSE JACKSON at GEORGETOWN 25 times,=SET UP A MEETING WITH THE GOOD AMERICAN PEOPLE TO SEE WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY.I DEMAND YOU ANSWER ANY QUESTION WE ASK.=YOU should know by this time what they [GEORGETOWN AND JACKSON] are trying to do.==BLACKMAIL YOU.
You know, merge approved or not I pretty much think we all can agree that the FCC has taken it's sweet ass time. We should have been reading this headline last year. It's due to the FCC's failure to judge on this merger that share prices is where it is today.
Why do you believe that the FCC owes you anything? To me it seems that the merger issue is nore about your stock holdings than about anything else. For the record, the FCC doesn't care about share prices for the zealots who believe that XM or Sirius is the next (fill in the blank with any promising stock).
If you want Sirius programming, get it. If you want XM programming, get it. If you want both, get both. Why in the world does anyone believe that he or she is entitled to cut rate programming of both services.
So if the FCC approves he merger, next you'll want them to approve a merger of DTV and DISH and then Viacom and Comcast and everything else that can be combined. What you ought to be focused on is paying your mortgages and car loans and really not give a crap about whether these two companies merge.
Have faith. We are going to win this one. Its been a long battle but it will be well worth it in the end. 18 million.
For the record, the FCC doesn't care about share prices for the zealots who believe that XM or Sirius is the next (fill in the blank with any promising stock).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a citizen you should be concerned about the acitons of the FCC and DOJ and the
corruption that exists within these organizations. The approval of the Sirius/XM merger
is all about the NAB lobby trying to stop the COMPETITION . Congressional Hearings
about the merger of two radio companies ???? give me a friggin break. Attorney Generals
from 13 states and John Kerry writing letters to the FCC ???? give me a friggin break.
Turn the clock back to the EXXON/MOBIL merger of two of the most profitable oil companies
in the world. Merger was passed in 3 months with no hearings, no outrage by congress,
no attornery generals crying for a stop to higher gas prices.
Why no out cry ?, because all those bastard congressmen where on the take from the
oil companies.
Out Govt is a disgrace.
hey Anonymous Coward-
yes, for some it is about stock price. It's called an INVESTMENT, and yes, people should be concerned about their investment. What the hell does Comcast, Viacom, DTV, Dish have to do with these investment and merger concerns? You're a nosy idiot. Why don't YOU go focus on YOUR mortgage and car payment and stop worrying about what Sirius-XM INVESTORS are doing.
But that's the chance you took when you made your investment. You want the government to bail you out for making a bad investment.
Georgetown Partners do not forget to ask for 20% stake of the DELTA+NORTHWEST deal. Just a friendly reminder.
NAB if you want to find a merger that might hurt consumers and involves transportation which is not a luxury as sat-radio is, then you should check out the DELTA deal as well.
Everybody and their mother wants a piece of SIRIUS and XM and nobody cares how much money those companies have spent putting those satellites up there. The shareholders shall not share their investment for free with special interests that try to missuse govenrment regulators to obtain benefits.
FCC, If this is good for the public interest, then let it be, otherwise stop this mess. SIRIUS and XM do not owe anything to anyone after the merger as they did not owe before it.
Thanks God that Mel has the courage to walk away if this gets really bad. Let XM die Mr. Karmazin and let the FCC try to figure out what to do with millions of XM subscribers and worthless receivers (not to mention aging satellites). Maybe they should give them to some special interest group.
BOLDERDASH... LETS GET ON WITH IT... EITHER WAY...
Cant the FCC just say the meeting window has closed, no new meetings accepted(with exception of the parties involved--xm,sirius) and then move to close the transaction?
I still have no idea why Georgetown partners has a say or is owed anything--Why not others then too? or me even? This is a shakedown and i would really be pleasantly surprised if the FCC does say that 5% must be set aside commercial free to the public AND INTERESTED PARTIES MUST BID FOR THE ACCESS WITH PROCEEDS GOING TO XM/SIRIUS!!!!! No freebies! Isnt that fair?
Cant the FCC just say the meeting window has closed, no new meetings accepted(with exception of the parties involved--xm,sirius) and then move to close the transaction?
I still have no idea why Georgetown partners has a say or is owed anything--Why not others then too? or me even? This is a shakedown and i would really be pleasantly surprised if the FCC does say that 5% must be set aside commercial free to the public AND INTERESTED PARTIES MUST BID FOR THE ACCESS WITH PROCEEDS GOING TO XM/SIRIUS!!!!! No freebies! Isnt that fair?
Georgetown Partners should get 20 percent of the seats on all Delta / Northwest flights for free. I want to join the GP. They seem to get whatever they want. Make back some of the money I lost in the stock.
Anonymous Coward-
A merger approval is not a gov't bailout, dumbass. The Fed backing JP Morgan with gov't funds so they can buy out Bear Stearns before they completely crash is a bailout.
Bad investment??? An investment in Siri-XM is an OPPORTUNITY. This company with combined synergies is going to be a monster company with a fantastic future, especially as they break out into new business ventures and technology. As Tigerman said, everybody wants a piece of it. And the NAB is scared shitless because they know the potential of the combined companies business structure and its competition with them. That's why they are lobbying against it so passionately. Do you really think the NAB cares about the consumer? No, they care about ADVERTISING DOLLARS which will decrease once listeners drop off from terrestrial and go with SatRadio.
You can bet that Mel Karmizin has some nice post-merger business plans up his sleeve. He's not just sitting in his office every day, throwing pencils in the ceiling, waiting to hear from the FCC.
AC, $sshole. I'm here because I have nothing else to do with my time. When I was 20, I went blind, woke up the next day and was told I had a tumor in my brainstem, and that I had no balance. I went back to college and graduated with my Engineering degree, thinking that it still meant something. I was wrong1 i HAVE APPLIED TO 70 ENTRY LEVEL ENGINEERING JOBS AND HAVE ONLY GOTTEN 2 INTERVIEWS. I WAS IN THE MARINE ROTC PROGRAM WHEN I GOT SICK AND I TOOK WHAT MONEY I HAD AND INVESTED IT IN SATELLITE RADIO BECAUSE I WAS SICK OF COMMERCIALS ON REGULAR RADIO! THINK, I HAVE SOME HOPES AND FINANCIAL BENEFIT TIED TO SATELITE RADIO? THAT'S WHY I AM HERE! WHY ARE YOU HEAR? IF I COULD WALK,I'D BE OUTSIDE ON THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY. TELL ME. WHY YOU HERE? CUZ YOUR A PHAT LAZYY POS?
What the FCC needs to do is get its nose out of business where it doesn't belong. The FCC SHOULD be allowing this merger to happen 100% un-restricted, and then opening up more satellite radio spectrum to allow any competitors that wish to enter the market a clean slate. The FCC should not be in the business of judging anti-trust issues, thats the DOJ's job, and the DOJ has made their decision.
What the FCC needs to do is get its nose out of business where it doesn't belong. The FCC SHOULD be allowing this merger to happen 100% un-restricted, and then opening up more satellite radio spectrum to allow any competitors that wish to enter the market a clean slate. The FCC should not be in the business of judging anti-trust issues, thats the DOJ's job, and the DOJ has made their decision.
Elect Obama for President and he will APPOINT Jesse Jackson as the new chairman of the FCC.
Then your investment should still be good, even if the FCC doesn't approve the merger. You'll still make money on your investment, right?
The FCC will approve the merger, but it won't make a bit of difference. The sat-rad business model has reached its peak. There's only so many people that'll pay for radio. So it puzzles me GP would want a piece of the spectrum.
If Jesse Jackson was the FCC Chairman, he would have taken his cut of 20 percent for GP, told everyone else to get lost, merger approved ... JJ would have approved the merger a YEAR ago. The stock was at $4 a share when the merger was requested. Its at $2.40 a share now ... 80 percent of $4 is $ 3.20 a share. So, yeah, we would have all been better off with Jesse Jackson running the FCC ...
Anon. Cow. -
Please call Mel K. today and let him know so he can call XM and tell them the deal is off and sell his shares and get the hell out. I'm sure he'll appreciate your insight into the future of his company and saving him from wasting his time and money. And considering that you are so knowledgeable about this whole situation, he may even want you to stand in as a spokesperson for the company and his personal business dealings. Freak.
Anon. Cow. -
Please call Mel K. today and let him know so he can call XM and tell them the deal is off and sell his shares and get the hell out. I'm sure he'll appreciate your insight into the future of his company and saving him from wasting his time and money. And considering that you are so knowledgeable about this whole situation, he may even want you to stand in as a spokesperson for the company and his personal business dealings. Freak.
The FCC will approve the merger, but it won't make a bit of difference. The sat-rad business model has reached its peak. There's only so many people that'll pay for radio. So it puzzles me GP would want a piece of the spectrum.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously you are ignorant of the BUSINESS MODEL going forward. 18M current subscribers with 70% of each of every new car (15M+ per year) equiped with Satellite
Radio. Most Analysts are projecting 4B to 6B in future synergies.
SatRad as a business model has sucked for the past 4 years , but, going forward with
a combined company the whole complexion of the business will change. They will be
CFBE in year one , profitable in year two .
1) That second comment should be deleted immediately - the "n-word" has no place on this site - it's hate speech. It's incredibly offensive and doesn't belong in this thread.
2) SIRI/XMSR are good plays right now. Know why? Because after the merger, Apple is going to buy either XM, Sirius, or the combined company. They're going to create an iPod that accepts the sat signal - which will enable consumers to buy a device that allows to you listen to a tune in your car (that you've never heard before - it's "pushed" to you rather than making you look for it, a la iTunes), push a button to save, and when you dock at night, pop open your iTunes, ready to buy.
SIRI/XM is going to save the record industry. And terrestrial radio will go the way of the "anonymous coward"...you know, spinning down the toilet, screaming obscenities, spreading lies.
This is merely a guess here, but this is what I think could be at play:
The fact that these meetings were in regards to "Commission actions on the merger", and one of those was with Georgetown Partners, makes me think they're going to get an opportunity at getting some of the spectrum; they won't have it given to them. Otherwise, why meet with Georgetown Partners if they're not potentially involved?
To make it fair all parties involved, I can see a situation where the FCC holds an auction over some spectrum (I'm not sure it'll be as much as 20%, though). They may limit it to non-profit organizations on whom can buy the spectrum. I'm just using an example here, but let's say they make 12% available. They open it up by auctioning it by the % and the first top bidder is asked how much of the 12% they want, and if the top bidder doesn't take the entire 12%, the remaining percentage is sold, until all 12% has been sold. If there's any percentages of spectrum left, it goes back to XM-Siri. And all revenues from the auction would go to XM-Siri. And if no one bids on any of the spectrum, then XM-Siri can keep it.
Otherwise if they simply let Georgetown Partners have 20%, you know a day won't go by and another non-profit agency will be contacting the FCC saying, "how can you arbitraily give Georgetown Partners 20% of the sat-rad spectrum; where's our 20%?"
This whole merger scenario we are in is clearly the fault of the FCC.
There should have been a merger schedule established when the request was opened up last year. There should have been clear checkpoints and deadlines set and the FCC should have adhered to the schedule.
There should have been a deadline for any input from any outside source. A cutoff should have been established and NO MORE input should have been accepted after that date.
How can the FCC make ANY decision when every day they are getting pounded with NEW requests ???
It is completely their fault for having no concept of project management.
but if the fcc requires as much as 20%(high number) doesnt that hurt the combined company from having more bandwidth to add/combine their channel networks??
Kinda defeats the whole purpose--A small percentage would make sense, say 4%
what the H. E. double hockey stick is taking so long?
"WHY YOU HERE? CUZ YOUR A PHAT LAZYY POS?"
Posted by: mitchman79
Why because of blind, ignorant, clowns like you. Face it, if your BS is true you made a bad investment and no "merge" MONOPOLY is going to save your investment. The satrad industry is healthy with direct competition as we currently have with TWO companies.
And for those of you a**holes here which don't give a sh*t about the health of the satrad industry and are pushing for a "merge" MONOPOLY just because you think it might mean a quick payoff you better also be smart enough to cash out since IF the fcc makes the wrong choice and lets the "merge" MONOPOLY happen the satrad industry aka one company is going to see a free fall with it's stock worth nothing in short order.
Now Back to you mitchman79.... you invested in a turd which has never shown a profit, investing critical money in a risky turd of an investment is nothing but your problem. Some of us who care about a healthy satrad industry REJECT the "merge" MONOPOLY, for the good of satrad.
Anonymous Coward-
you're a crass, ignorant dumbass. that means you're doubly stupid. "healthy" satrad industry?? these two companies are trying to merge because they are bleeding each other to death trying to grow positive cash flow. it's a slow, slow process. Sirius has made headway but XM is on the death watch. Naturally, anyone who has invested in either of the two companies is going to be concerned about their investment and they see that the merger makes good business sense. it will save billions in operating costs, they can streamline their marketing plan to the public and offer a la carte (affordable) pricing choices for combined, linear content that you had to get both services for before. but why i am explaining this to an idiot is beyond me, and you are an idiot. Mitchman79 is going to make some money along with other investors and you are going to have egg all over your face because you sit in the dumbass section.
whoever is interested in xm/sirius merger please take a moment of your time and sign a petition, a direct link is included
http://www.petitiononline.com/satmerge/petition.html
Keep on dreaming ladies the FCC needs to CRUSH this anti-consumer "merge" MONOPOLY. It's complete BS that a'holes here are more concerned with cashing in on a bad investment instead of keeping the health of the satrad industry, a "merge" MONOPOLY won't help. IF the FCC fails and this "merge" MONOPOLY goes through the satrad industry is through, over and done before if there was no merge. It's not for consumers to lose choice and pay-off poor corporate management and planning by both satrad company's. Sorry Sirius and xm are not charities the FCC needs to CRUSH this "merge" MONOPOLY.
The only egg is going to be on the dumbass's stupid enough to invest in a corporation which for it's complete young life only lost money and never made a profit. Face it fanboys the CRUSHING of this "merge" MONOPOLY is going to prove amateurs should be educated before making stupid and risky investments.
NO! to the Sirius/xm "merge" MONOPLOY
I heard Rush Limbaugh mention on his show yesterday that he was considering a move to satellite radio when his contract is up. Must really be something to this Sirius-Xm deal after all.