The Federation/LAF voices support for XM/Sirius merger
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 11:54 AM
Tags: 2, XM
Today, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF) announced its support of the Sirius-XM satellite radio merger. The group filed a letter with the FCC, urging swift approval for the merger.
“Rural communities are consistently undeserved by the lack of diversity in programming that local terrestrial radio broadcasters provide,” said Ralph Paige, Executive Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/LAF. “A merger of Sirius and XM will bring lower prices and increased programming choices to the over 20,000 rural member families of the Federation/LAF in twelve southern states.”
In its letter to the FCC, the Federation/LAF cited the benefits that “a la carte” options and other low-cost, bundled programming packages would provide for rural and minority consumers.
“Our members clearly benefit from the ability to select the programs that are most applicable to their businesses, families, and personal interests,” added Paige. “We are also encouraged by the commitments that Sirius and XM have made to enhance the diversity and breadth of programming for minority audiences.”
The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF) is a service, resource and advocacy association for a constituency of 25,000 low income families organized into over 100 cooperatives in rural communities across the South. The membership is primarily African-American but also includes White, Chicano and Native American members.
An outgrowth of the Civil Rights Movement, the Federation was chartered in 1967 by 22 low-income cooperatives to help African Americans and poor people to produce a livable income and save their way of life.
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Comments
I thought the Federation had a rule against this sort of interference.
Posted by: Andy | August 21, 2007 2:00 PM
Hey Ryan, you should do a new XM/Sirius photoshop to reflect the XpressRC
Posted by: espnjason | August 21, 2007 2:12 PM
English please??
what does all this mean?
Posted by: Adam Trogdon | August 21, 2007 2:31 PM
Rural communities are consistently undeserved by the lack of diversity in programming that local terrestrial radio broadcasters provide,”
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The merger and this coment are not connected. How the hell can a merged XM/Sirius provide better service to rural comunities? A comment like this would be on topic if this were a debate over issuing a Satellite Radio licence.... but its not over issuing a licence and the merger will not bring more choices to rural customers. Farmers can subscribe to both XM and Sirius and receive 400% more programming than they can get now on Terestrial radio (assuming aproximatly 2 FM stations)
I just don't comprehend why hese groups come out in support of a merger. If they are getting paid to do so then whom ever is paying needs to have their heads examined.
Posted by: jeff | August 21, 2007 3:04 PM
It seems like most of the pro-merger talk from advocacy groups stems from the idea that satellite radio is better for niche groups than terrestrial radio because the sheer number of channels available means there is more accessibility for people programming to non-mainstream tastes. That and the assumption that the amount of programming lost during a merger will be less than the amount lost due to the bankruptcy of one of both companies without a merger.
I think it's interesting that the only really effective argument for a merger is that at least one of the companies will go out of business otherwise. In theory, most of us at this website thought both companies could succeed independently as recently as a year ago, but I don't hear anyone saying "I appreciate your support but it's based on a faulty premise."
Posted by: Andy | August 21, 2007 3:21 PM