XM and Sirius together spent a total of $810,000 in the first half of 2007 to lobby the federal government, yet the NAB spent a total of $4.3 million during the same period, according to a disclosure form.

XM Satellite Radio spent $580,000, according to public records. Sirius Satellite Radio lobbying firms - the Paul Laxalt Group, Quinn Gillespie & Associates and Ricchetti Inc. - spent $230,000 total through separate filings. A fourth lobbyist, the Amani Group, has not filed a lobbying report yet.

The NAB, which represents roughly 7,000 radio stations, lobbied on various issues including the satellite radio merger, according to the Senate’s public records office. In addition to Congress, the NAB used the $4.3 million to lobby the FCC and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Under a 1995 law, lobbyists are required to disclose any activity that could influence executive and legislative branch members.

[Forbes]

Mary Louise Parker, Colin Powell, Robert Duvall, Garrison Keillor, and Sandra Day O’'Connor are among the personalities lending their voices to "“The Big Read,”" a new series on XM Satellite Radio created by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), XM, and Audible.

"The Big Read" will air 30-minute installments of classic novels, such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Great Gatsby. The show will also feature NEA-produced specials with authors, actors, and other luminaries talking about –- and reading from -– the featured book.

The show will air every weekday starting September 10th on Sonic Theater (ch 163), which is devoted to audio recordings of books and plays.

“"The Big Read"” takes it name from the NEA’s national reading initiative equally entitled The Big Read, which encourages communities to come together to read and discuss a single book.

Other participants in "“The Big Read”" include Cheech Marin, playwright Edward Albee, and authors Ray Bradbury, Amy Tan, and Tony Hillerman.

Each installment of "The Big Read" will air at 2:30am, 10:30am, and 4:30pm (all times ET) on weekdays.

We heard all about this last week, but today XM Satellite Radio announced they're moving their Music City studios to the Sommet Center (scheduled to be completed by the end of the year).

In addition, we learn that XM has teamed up with the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau to collaborate on free, live music events for the Music City’s Visitor Information Center (which is located on the main level of the arena tower).

XM’s original performance series, “Music City Connection: Heroes Behind the Hits,” is produced by the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

[Press Release]

A comment was recently submitted to the FCC in response to Entravision's comments, disputing the concept that there is a binding rule preventing Sirius and XM from merging.

The reply comments, made by a self-described "citizen and consumer," were sent in response to Entravision's comments (the one where they nobly offered to take, and use, the other half of the satellite radio spectrum) and uses Entravision's own language against them:

According to Entravision, the use of “will” in the ‘Transfer” language section of the 1997 SDARS Report & Order restricts Commission discretion with respect to decisions in the SDARS merger context. If this were true, the Commission would be restricted from exercising discretion while conducting their review of the Consolidated Application and would be bound to the provisions of rule 25.118 which identifies the exception allowing a transfer to be authorized and completed. Yes, in fact, the 1997 SDARS Report & Order states:

We note that DARS licensees, like other satellite licensees, will be subject to rule 25.118, which prohibits transfers or assignments of licenses except upon application to the Commission and upon a finding by the Commission that the public interest would be served thereby.

In other words, Entravision's interpretation of the rule were held true, then the FCC would have to recognize the authority of rule 25.118, and proceed forward.

The NAB's entire arguments against the satellite radio merger are largely based on the prohibitive language in the Transfer section of the 1997 license. But they ignore the language of rule 25.118.

The question is, does rule 25.118 override the entire ‘Transfer’ language section of the 1997 SDARS Report & Order? And since it appears to be internally conflicting, is the whole 'Transfer' section itself non-binding?

This seems like a pretty significant determination to me.

[Read Reply Comment (PDF)]

Ludacris is kicking off a new season of his original XM show, "Disturbing Tha Peace Presents: Ludacris' Open Mic," on September 8th.

Hosted by Ludacris and long-time radio partner Poon Daddy, the new season of "Open Mic" will continue to feature music hand-selected by the artist, including songs from Ludacris' personal music collection, as well as special guests and interviews with other artists.

Luda's roots start off as a radio personality in Atlanta, Georgia as DJ Chris Lova Lova at the an urban radio station Hot 97 (which later became Hot 107.9). Following his short stint as a DJ, Ludacris (real name Chris Bridges) debuted his own album independently, and later went on to be signed by Def Jam.

The season premiere of "Ludacris' Open Mic" will air Saturday, September 8th at 6pm ET on XM's uncut hip-hop channel, RAW (ch 66) with encores airing at 10pm ET and Tuesdays at 8am ET.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has formally issued an apology to the FCC for the misrepresentation of two Congressmen as being opponents of the Sirius-XM merger.

Representatives John Conyers, Jr.(D-MI) and Steve Chabot (R-OH) were listed in four separate ex parte filings among parties who were opposed to the satellite radio merger.

In the letter to the FCC, the NAB wrote:

"While both members have raised questions about the merger, it is inaccurate to characterize them as opposed to the merger. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused."

The filings in question cite a similar document that had listed Toyota as being opposed to the Sirius-XM merger, a point that Toyota objected to in a response filing to the FCC. The NAB subsequently removed Toyota from the "growing chorus of widespread, diverse opposition."

Apparently they will need to remove Rep. Conyers and Rep. Chabot as well.

[Read Letter (PDF) via SiriusBuzz]

The US Open tennis championships will be airing live on XM Satellite Radio starting this Monday, August 27th.

Bud Collins and Virginia Wade will cover the US Open for XM from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Coverage can be heard on XM Live (ch 120) with simulcasts on XM's sports talk channel XM Sports Nation (ch 144).

Collins will host the show “US Open Today” at 9am ET every morning of the 14-day event starting Monday, with news and analysis of the tournament highlights.

Play-by-play coverage of the US Open will air on XM starting September 7th with the women’s semi-finals, culminating with the men’s finals on September 9th.

[US Open on XM]

J. Gregory Sidak and Hal J. Singer have written an anti-satellite radio merger Op-Ed piece for the Washington Times, one that is riddled with rhetoric and hypocrisy.

Entitled "Misunderstanding the XM/Sirius merger," the piece urges conservatives to "reject the idea of taking two unregulated competitors and creating in their place a brand-new regulated monopoly."

The article also criticizes the block-and-rebate plan, that would refund subscribers who choose to opt-out of adult programming. An amazing stance in a world where we are obsessed with violent and adult content in video games and media. But still, Sidak and Singer pull it off:

"...the Family Research Council blessed the merger after XM and Sirius promised to block sexually explicit channels in exchange for a small rebate. Given the sheer popularity of Howard Stern and similar types of edgy content among satellite radio subscribers, this 'phantom rebate' will likely be redeemed by only a handful of subscribers."

I'm sure the Parent Television Council would disagree with you there. It's not about there "sheer number" but the empowering of the consumer. (Newsflash: there are 130 channels other than Howard Stern on Sirius. Yes, shocking, I know.)

The entire article is generally targeted to the politically minded, particularly conservatives, but yet at the same time managed to denounce XM and Sirius' approach to the merger, calling it "a media blitz for a political campaign."

Of course, there's no mention of the NAB and its unrelenting lobbying efforts - which include full-page advertising - to block the merger. If anything can be considered a "media blitz" it would be the NAB's attacks on Sirius and XM. But why would they mention NAB? That doesn't lend towards their agenda. Afterall, Sidak was commissioned by C3SR, which is disclosed at the end of the article, but the C3SR itself is "supported" by the NAB. Mentioning the NAB would just expose the hypocrisy, so Sidak/Singer opt toward referring to them as "merger opponents" instead. Far less incriminating.

There's other issues I have with the article.

Sidak and Singer talk about a "price freeze" being promised by Sirius and XM. But a "freeze" indicates that Sirius-XM have promised to not raise prices for a period of time. This is just factually incorrect. Sirius-XM have made no such promise, though they have said they are open to the idea. Sidak/Singer are twisting the concept of a multi-tiered/a la carte pricing plan as offering "price freezes" - indeed the term "a la carte" is no where to be found in the article (oops, apparently it does) - and they base a large part of their argument of the deal being anti-competitive on a price freeze.

"Of course, if they truly believed this argument, XM and Sirius would not need to offer to freeze their prices. Competition would keep those prices at competitive levels."

And then there's this:

"There is an established framework used by antitrust authorities to analyze mergers, which involves defining the 'relevant market' and assessing the power to raise prices within that market. Under that framework, it is clear that this merger has serious problems, so XM and Sirius have rejected that framework. Instead of offering credible evidence that terrestrial radio (or any other audio service) constrains the price of satellite radio, they have approached the government's merger review proceeding as though it were a media blitz for a political campaign."

Unfortunately, this argument falls flat on its face as well. The DOJ process is completely non-transparent. They actually take measures to make sure that even those being interviewed can't get a read on the DOJ's opinion (i.e., if they think you're pro-merger, they as anti-merger questions, and vice versa).

So how does Sidak and Singer know that Sirius and XM "have rejected that framework"? How do they know what "evidence" Sirius and XM have submitted to prove its part of a larger relevant market? The answer is, they don't These statements are complete assumptions, and the opinion of Sidak and Singer.

Just like it's my own assumption and opinion that Sidak and Singer are full of....

[Washington Times]

Back in June we learned that the FAA is looking to upgrade their air traffic control system, and XM Satellite Radio has teamed up with Raytheon to bid on the deal. The Raytheon/XM bid is unique because it utilizes the XMWX weather service to provide real-time weather data as a added benefit for pilots.

The FAA estimates it will spend $15 billion to $22 billion by 2025 on the satellite technology alone, and another $14 billion to $20 billion in spending on new avionics, cockpit electronics linked to the satellite technology.

And the decision could come as early as next week.

If Raytheon/XM win the bid, it would be quite the coup considering that both Lockheed Martin (the nation's largest defense contractor) and ITT Corp are also bidding for the massive 30-year contract. But it may also open up the door for satellite radio to be a "standard feature" in commercial airlines, though XM hasn't explicitly said this.

XM is already providing satellite radio entertainment to jetBlue and AirTran, as well as to United Airlines (including United's amazing first-class "suites"). But if the FAA contract goes to Raytheon, theoretically it would be possible to receive XM in all airlines.

"In many cases, the pilots -- or their passengers -- could be listening to XM radio while they're using our weather systems," said Roderick MacKenzie, XM's vice president of advanced applications. "A single receiver can let the pilot keep tracking the weather and keep the passengers entertained."

Sounds like a winner to me.

[Boston.com]
Thanks skipp!

Just a neat video highlighting Dale Earnhardt Jr's visit to XM's headquarters.