Following yesterday's article about who's going to be the next FCC Chairman, an observant Orbitcast reader points out that one those hopefuls has very distinct ties to the satellite radio industry.

In fact, this possible future FCC chair actually worked at one of the satcasters in recent years. Click the jump to find out who it is...

Counsel for both Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. met with top officials from the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, according to a recent filing with the agency.

The meeting was with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin; Daniel Gonzalez, Chairman Martin's Chief of Staff; and Michelle Carey, Chairman Martin's Senior Legal Advisor.

According to the filing, the meeting was held with the Commission to discuss action on the merger following the decision by the Department of Justice. In addition, the filing included the programming packages and proposed pricing seen here and here.

View the FCC filing after the jump...

While the U.S. versions of Sirius and XM are happily skipping along holding hands, our neighbors up North may not be sharing the same sentiment.

Following the Justice Department's greenlight of the Sirius-XM merger, XM Canada announced that they'll have no part of such shenanigans - at this time.

"We have a strong business model in Canada and are committed to an aggressive growth strategy aimed at increasing our subscriber base and delivering outstanding programming right across the country," said Michael Moskowitz, the newly minted President and CEO of XM Canada.

"We are excited about XM Canada's prospects as 60 per cent of all new vehicles made by Canada's automotive manufacturers are equipped with XM satellite radios, we now have exclusive NHL satellite radio broadcast rights and we now have 400,000 subscribers," added Moskowitz. "We will diligently review any opportunity that arises from this decision and evaluate the impact on our economic positioning and the benefit derived for our customers and shareholders."

So while some analysts opine on the prospects of a reverse takeover - where XM Canada would issue shares to buy Sirius Canada - this statement by Moskowitz clearly indicates that's not in the cards. Yet.

[Broadcaster Magazine]

UPDATE: I just want to point out that the AP story has been updated to be somewhat less misleading. Previously it read "More Choice in Satellite Radio Years Off" but now the article, written by Christopher S. Rugaber, reads: "'A La Carte' Satellite Radio a Year Away."

Also, there's a bit of confusion surrounding the timing. Understand that the "3 years" cited here is based off of Barrington Research's estimates for OEM radios (due to the lag time that automakers tend to require) that does not mean Retail radios will suffer the same slowness in getting to market. Sirius and XM have said, from the beginning, that the A La Carte receivers will be available to customers within one-year after the merger is complete. I just wanted to make sure this was clear.

Following the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., it could take up to three years before new cars would feature both services in "a la carte" packages.

That's the prediction of media analyst Jim Goss at Barrington Research, who told the Associated Press that automakers require lead times of several years to update dashboards with new products. As a result, cars with interoperable radios likely wouldn't be on dealer lots for up to three years.

That's not to say that both Sirius and XM won't be providing "best of" programming (see: will my radio still work?), which essentially is simulcasting of certain content from one service to another. We don't know exactly what big-name programming will be available yet - those content agreements all need to be worked out once the deal is finalized.

Still, analysts seem to think that few current subscribers will pony up for the new receivers.

Perhaps 5% to 10% of current subscribers "might go through the trouble" of buying new radios for the "a la carte" option, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Kit Spring wrote in a recent note to clients.

So here's a question:
Since most of you are current Sirius or XM subscribers - would you buy a new receiver when the "a la carte" enable radios come out?

Forget the DOJ, this is truly a sign that the sky is falling:
XM will be adding the MLB Home Plate channel (ch 175) to its XM Radio Online internet radio service, starting this Saturday (March 29th).

This marks the first time that the popular baseball talk channel will be available on the internet. XM launched the channel on the sats in 2005.

The move is welcome news for Home Plate fans who have been begging XM (and posting comments on Orbitcast) about adding the channel to XM Radio Online. Combined with the fact that Play Ball will have an exclusive online presence for one day, signals that XM is finally ready to utilize one of its big draws to drive usage of its internet radio service.

And that's a great thing.

If you're already an XM subscriber, you (hopefully) already know that you can listen to XMRO for no charge. Not an XM subscriber? Grab a free, 14-day trial at xmradio.com/mlb, and remember, XM is offering new users of its online radio service an introductory rate of $2.99/month for the first six months.

Edwin Meese, the seventy-fifth U.S. Attorney General under Ronald Reagan, and Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy James Gattuso, weighed in on the DOJ's Sirius-XM decision in a joint statement:

"Yesterday's decision by the Department of Justice not to oppose the merger of Sirius and XM was a victory for consumers. Kudos to the DOJ for recognizing that antitrust laws should not look only at narrow, formalistic, definitions the market, but instead at the realities of the marketplace. As our research has shown, the radio market is highly competitive - with satellite radio only one among many competing options for listeners. And by allowing satellite radio to become more efficient, this merger promises to increase that competition. Now it's up to the FCC to complete this year-long process by granting its own approval. It should do so expeditiously, without conditions."

[Heritage.org]

XM is celebrating the start of baseball season with the return of the "Play Ball!" channel. The microchannel will air all day on March 29th and March 30th on XM Live (ch 120).

And in what looks to be an interesting shift of focus towards the intertubes: XM will be extending the channel for a third day - on March 31st - for online listeners only.

The Play Ball! channel will play more than 400 songs about the game, from "Talkin' Baseball" to the Dropkick Murphys' rocking version of the Boston Red Sox fight song "Tessie."   Between songs, you'll hear vintage audio clips, including classic baseball announcer calls ("The Giants win the pennant!"), comedy routines (George Carlin's "Baseball and Football,"  Garrett Morris as ballplayer "Chico Escuela" on "Saturday Night Live"), clips from the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Baseball Bugs," episodes of XM's "Baseball Confidential" interview show, the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1972 eulogy for Jackie Robinson in Harlem, old-time radio dramas (Vincent Price's "Baseball Murder"), and a lot of other amazingly cool stuff.

The channel weaves the songs and spoken-word content together to create a sort of "theater of the mind" experience that's very, very cool... and very, very un-terrestrial radio.

The psychotic creative mind behind the Play Ball! channel is Lou Brutus (uhm... pictured), who's also the program director for XM's punk channel Fungus (ch 53) and a senior music program director. Brutus, a lifelong baseball fan, has been digging deep into XM's music library, as well as his personal collection of vinyl, reel-to-reels, and CDs, to create the channel.

"I think baseball runs emotionally deeper than any other sport," Brutus said. "The very nature of how the game is played can lift you up, or break your heart, more than any other game.  The Play Ball! channel will make you realize how inspirational baseball has been to all kinds of artists for more than a hundred years. You find songs about baseball in most every genre of music. We are going to play literally hundreds of these songs to celebrate the start of the season, and celebrate the passion that people have for the game."

I am questioned constantly (nearly everyday even) from satellite radio subscribers concerned about their existing radios. Since the DOJ approved the merger, these questions have bombarded my inbox even more: Will my Inno work after the merger? Do I need to buy a new Stiletto after Sirius and XM merge? I just bought a new car, will my new satellite radio still work? You get the idea.

Here's the facts:
From day one Sirius and XM have promised that no existing radio will be made obsolete by the merger. (Afterall, that would be silly from a business sense wouldn't it?) The reality is that you will be able to get the "best of both" Sirius and XM on any of today's satellite radio devices with one monthly subscription.

• If you're an XM subscriber:
  You'll continue to receive your existing XM service, and gain the ability to receive certain Sirius programming.
  
  
• If you're a Sirius subscriber:
  Sirius customers would continue to receive their existing Sirius service, and be able to obtain certain XM programming.

There are eight different packages that the companies have announced they will offer following the merger. Prices for each will range from $6.99/month to $16.99/month. If you don't want anything to change, it won't - the "Everything" packages will cost the same as what you currently pay.

• View the XM channel lineup after the merger
• View the Sirius channel lineup after the merger
  

Can I get MLB on my Sirius after the merger? Will I can get NFL on my XM?
The real answer? We don't know for sure. If you read through those post-merger channel lineups, you'll notice that there are "top selections" made available for both sides. Obviously, like anything else in this world, contracts will need to be negotiated to iron out all the details. We will find all that out after the merger is finalized.

First-ever A La Carte packages
Of those eight packages, two will be "a la carte" packages. These will be the first ever a la carte options in subscription media. Ever. You will have the choice of either a 50 channel package (starting at $6.99) or a 100 channel package ($14.99), and then choose from a selection of channels to your liking. "Premium" content will cost more, but this will be the first time that you can pick and choose what channels you want on your radio. (Hint: if you mostly want the commercial-free music, with a smattering of news/talk, then the a la carte packages will be perfect for you.)

There's one caveat: A la carte programming will only be available for subscribers using new radios.

These new a la carte capable radios are currently in development and will be brought to market following final approval of the merger. Sirius and XM originally estimated it would take one-year to bring them to market, but since the merger process has dragged on much longer than anyone expected, it's hard to know the exact timeline now.

If you have any questions, as always, feel free to email me at ryans@orbitcast.com and I'll help out as best as I can.

There's no doubt that there has been a roller-coaster of emotions the past 400 days, but no one could be happier waking up this morning than the future CEO of a soon merged Sirius-XM: Mel Karmazin.

"He's going to feel better about this than anything he's done in his career," said Tom Freston, former CEO of Viacom Inc. "It's a big triumph for Mr. Karmazin."

Freston and others credit Karmazin's relentless efforts with regulators, politicians and investors in pushing through approval of the deal.

"I think he is the most diplomatic, skilled negotiators that I know," said Joel Hollander, former CEO of CBS Radio. "Everyone knows he's a great salesman, but he knows how to leave a little bit on the table."

"He just grabbed onto this and ran through an endless amount of hurdles and made it seem more and more possible," Freston said. "This is probably the most difficult deal of his life."

But it's not over yet. Even after FCC approval, there's still realities that the merged company will need to face. Like turning a profit in a slowing economy.

"The bottom line is they'll be able to cut costs. but they'll have to figure out a way to increase the subscriber base," said Hollander. "It's not so easy today."

"If there's anyone that can do it, it's certainly Mel," Hollander added.

[Reuters via Orbitcast Forums]

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) called the Justice Department's decision to approve the merger of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. "another disappointing example of this administration's blatant disregard for the public interest with regard to media ownership."

Dorgan, who seems to think that terrestrial radio "sprouted up" in 1997, cited the decade-old SDARS license as the main reason for being upset.

"There seems to be no limit to the mergers this administration will approve," said Dorgan. "These two companies were issued licenses a decade ago to provide competing national satellite radio service. Their license approval included a clause that prohibits them from merging into one company. Now the Justice Department has decided the contract they signed can't stand in the way of consolidation. That doesn't make any sense to me."

Dorgan said "the American consumer will pay the price."