XM Satellite Radio will carry the MLB first-year player draft in its entirety on June 5th and 6th on XM channel 188.

The draft will be aired live without commercial interruptions or commentary from anchors.

XM will have news and analysis of the draft on XM channel 186, featuring former New York Mets general manager Jim Duquette and XM sportscasters Holden Kushner and Grant Paulsen. They'll be will reporting directly from the draft site at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Plus, ESPN will produce a special about the draft exclusively for XM.

ESPN's Karl Ravech, Steve Phillips, Peter Gammons, and Chris Singleton will report from the ESPN Club in Walt Disney World on June 4th, 7-8 pm ET, on ESPN Xtra (ch 141).

XM Satellite Radio President and CEO Nate Davis is seen here alongside award recipients Dr. Maya Angelou, Gayle King and Annette Flournoy at the 33rd Annual American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT) Gracie Allen Awards on Wednesday.

Dr. Angelou, King and Flournoy were recognized by AWRT for their work on XM's Oprah & Friends channel (ch 156). The Gracie Awards recognizes exemplary programming created for women, by women and about women in all facets of electronic media.

Pictured left to right: Annette Flournoy, Gayle King, Dr. Maya Angelou, Nate Davis.

Photo provided courtesy of Larry Busacca/Wire Image

Pioneer of North America has joined the masses of folks meeting with the FCC over the Sirius and XM merger. But it wasn't the merger specifically that they wanted to talk about.

Indeed, they had a bone to pick with iBiquity, the government sanctioned monopoly purveyor of HD Radio technology.

Remember, iBiquity wants the FCC to mandate that Sirius-XM include HD Radio chipsets in all satellite radio receivers. iBiquity expressed "concern" over the competitive implications should the merger be approved.

But Pioneer, who knows a thing or two about receiver manufacturing, doesn't see it that way. And they were sure to express this to Elizabeth Andrion, the Legal Advisor to Chairman Martin.

"The iBiquity conditions would limit the breadth of radio product offerings to consumers, limit which radio component suppliers' products be designed into radios, have the effect of decreasing AM/FM tuning performance, unnecessarily increase costs to consumers uninterested in HD Radio and interfere with the useful and healthy free market mechanisms extant in radio electronics purchases," writes Pioneer.

The company continues: "Consumers should be allowed to choose radios which meet their needs, without undue government influence."

"It is our belief that HD Radio should compete in the marketplace with other radio services: if free local digital terrestrial radio services are compelling to consumers, HD Radio technology will succeed in the marketplace."

"In this case, the free market is the best measure of the public interest."

Take a bow Pioneer, because that was extremely well said.

[Read FCC Filing (PDF)]

This video is picking on Sirius specifically, but the same thoughts can be applied to XM. The main question is: is satellite radio a doomed business model as the speakers seem to think?

Do the content providers really have all the control, and will the cost of maintaining a satellite-based architecture forever limit the amount of profit these two companies can make?

[MSN Video]

According to various sources, the supply of XM Satellite Radio's retail products appears to be running thin, and some products have even run to the end of their life.

The RoadyXT, once seen as a technological accomplishment when it was unvealed in 2005, along with the fan-favorite SkyFi2 are now officially "end of life," and no more units are available from major distributors, according to people familiar with the matter. UPDATE: I was just told that "there are still plenty" of RoadyXT/SkyFi2 units out there, but that Best Buy and Circuit City have stopped selling them a while ago.

Additionally, according to sources, new Pioneer Innos have been back-ordered from Pioneer for about two months now, and fresh stock won't be available until mid-June at the earliest. The aging Inno, now 2-years old, was also once considered a gadget-lover's dream.

Back in Fall of last year, XM CEO Nate Davis told Reuters that the company plans to introduce new portable receivers in 2008, citing a strategy to partner with GPS and mobile phone providers.

Sadly, nearly six-months into the year, we have yet to see any evidence of this (unless you consider the BlackBerry deal as fulfilling the latter).

So what gives? Has XM completely abandoned the retail market?

At least Sirius has released the Stiletto 2 and apparently has plans for new receivers like the Stratus 5 and the Starmate 5. Yes, they don't look like leaps in technology, but at least it's something.

Where is XM's new portable radio? Where's the "new Inno"? What the hell is XM thinking?

At one point, I had learned that a "new Inno" was indeed in development - featuring additional buttons and a larger connector. Unsurprisingly, the next-generation device was also to have some RIAA-limiting functionality that would only allow for "disaggregating" of songs recorded individually, not recorded as a channel. But since then, the buzz has gone silent, and I don't know if it's even still in the works.

Now business is business. It's understandable that the current state of retail doesn't support the case to dedicate a large budget to R&D and the release of new devices. But, at some point, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don't come out with new products, don't be surprised when sales continue to decline.

There's value to further developing sleek new gadgets, even if they don't fly off the shelves. Consider them to be "flagship" products - much like the Corvette is to Chevy, or the Viper is to Dodge. Sure, they don't sell as much as a mini-van, but they keep your company in the top-of-mind - especially with enthusiasts.

A touchscreen portable device with gigs upon gigs of storage may be expensive, and only sell a paltry number of units (though, at a high margin), but it certainly doesn't position your company as being stale.

Don't be like terrestrial radio. Don't relegate your service strictly to vehicles. Don't be isolated to devices that people scoff at. And most importantly, don't allow a merger to get in the way of growing a business.

The "Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio" - or "C3SR" - is at it with their hijinks. This time around, the best connected group of college students side , has issued a press release demanding the FCC hold a hearing on the Sirius-XM merger.

Their reason? Because of a letter C3SR filed with the Commission today which they say "brings new light" to the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.

C3SR further labels the merger as "an anticompetitive merger to monopoly that would harm consumers." (Note the "merger to monopoly" wording? Sounds familiar... like, something the NAB might say. Oh right, C3SR is "supported" by the NAB.)

The filing, which numerous parts are redacted due to confidential information, claims that documents filed by Sirius on April 10th "cast the merger in a very negative light," according to C3SR. This "new light" appears to be based on Sirius-XM's failure, or as they call it, a "coordinated plan to restrain trade," to bring interoperable radios to market.

The group adds that Sirius' filing, in their opinion, calls into question "the truthfulness and candor of both Sirius and XM with respect to their dealings with the Commission as licensees and during this proceeding."

Seriously? Are we still stuck on the same NAB talking points from Spring '07? Does the failure to bring an interoperable radio to market completely trump the entire merger process?

Oh, and speaking of truthfulness and candor. Remember that last year C3SR's founder Chris Reale told Corporate Crime Reporter:

"If we were out there in the media telling people who funded us, it would detract from support from different groups."

Groups like... consumers.

[Read Filing (PDF)]

According to TheStreet.com, the FCC's review of the proposed transfer of licenses in the merger between Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. has taken longer than any other in history.

I'm not sure of the exact validity of that statement because a quick glance at the FCC's own major transactions shows the DirecTV-Liberty deal slightly edging out the Sirius-XM merger, and the Clear Channel deal taking the lead.

Still, the FCC's "unofficial" timeclock spans 180 days. By next week, the Commission would have taken twice that long to review the Sirius-XM deal. And there appears to be no end in sight.

By Orbitcast's count, it has been an incredible 433 days since Sirius and XM filed their application with the FCC. Children have been conceived, born and are just starting to crawl while the government has held these two companies hostage.

And that - by any measure - is pure insanity.

[TheStreet.com]

The Pioneer Inno is back on Woot today, for the incredible price of $69.99. We last saw this deal a couple weeks ago as part of the Woot Sellout, and now it's hit Woot! proper.

Of course, it's a refurbished Pioneer Inno2 - but for that price, who's complaining? Go get it while supplies last.

[woot!]
Thanks Mikey!

Chairman Kevin Martin said today that the Federal Communications Commission could rule on the proposed merger between XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. before June 30th.

"I still think the commission could act by the end of the second quarter," Martin said at a press conference.

Earlier this year, Martin had asked his staff to compile a report on the various conditions the FCC could impose on the proposed merger. Today, Martin said the staff has done what he asked, but he declined to comment on their recommendations.

Martin added that the proposal hasn't been circulated to the four other commissioners.

As suspected, Martin said that the FCC won't consider the merger proposal at its June 12th meeting. This could mean that the ruling might be delayed until July unless the commissioners agree to vote on the merger proposal without a public meeting.

On Tuesday, public interest groups Public Knowledge, Media Access Project and New America Foundation all met with the Federal Communications Commission to discuss the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.

The meeting - which was attended by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Elizabeth Andrion, Acting Legal Advisor for Media Issues for the Chairman; as well as Gigi Sohn and Alex Kanous of Public Knowledge; Andrew Jay Schwartzman and Parul Desai of Media Access Project; and Michael Calabrese of New America Foundation - also resulted in one of the most detailed public filings regarding this merger of recent history.

The meeting revolved around two main topics: non-commercial/education set-aside, and open access.

But what I found most interesting was the details in the filings. I'd highly recommend reading the entire filing (PDF) to get the big picture, but here's some excerpts that I think should be highlighted:

"[Public Knowledge] suggested 10% for the minority setaside and 5% for the noncommercial set aside as reasonable."

Takeaway: That's half of what Georgetown is requesting. Keep in mind that PK is also asking that if Georgetown's proposal is granted, that they too be required to setaside 5% of their own leased spectrum for non-commercial purposes.

"...Sirius purports to demonstrate that it already provides noncommercial programming that meets the 5% threshold the parties are seeking." (See below for the chart of Sirius' proposal.)

Takeaway: Public Knowledge isn't happy with this suggestion because they'd prefer to see programming that "would not ordinarily be on satellite radio" - plus several channels are owned by the same entity, and they would prefer a limit of one non-commercial programmer per channel.


I found this section particularly noteworthy:

"Regarding the open device condition, we agreed with the Chairman that should the Commission permit any entity to manufacture a satellite radio receiver, it would obviate the need for a mandate that all satellite radios have an HD radio chip, or that they be interoperable. In that case, the market would inevitably provide for satellite radio receivers with a wide variety of features." (emphasis added)

Takeaway: This is a strong suggestion that iBiquity's proposal is losing ground in favor of open access. That's a good thing in my opinion - requiring that HD Radio be included seems to have little to do with the "public interest" and more to do with "iBiquity's interest."

What I particularly find important is that these three public interest groups appear to be challenging the proposals of Georgetown and iBiquity with more "reasonable" public-centric proposals. I'd hope that the FCC would be more inclined to agree with Public Knowledge, Media Access Project and New America Foundation, as opposed to companies that just want a piece of the action.

[Read FCC Filing (PDF)]