Justice Dept. Approves XM/Sirius Merger

Ripit writes "Just yesterday the Justice Department approved the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Radio, a Sirius takeover to the tune of $5 billion. The transaction was approved without conditions, despite opposition from consumer groups and an intense lobbying campaign by the land-based radio industry. 'In explaining the decision, Justice officials said the options beyond satellite radio -- digital recordings, high-definition radio, Web radio -- mean that XM and Sirius could merge without diminishing competition. "There are other alternatives out there," Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett said in a conference call. "We just simply found that the evidence didn't indicate that it would harm consumers."'"

Comments

FCC

[JackSpratts]

Up to the FCC now to stop this megamerger. With Opie/Alex Keaton clone Kevin Martin at the helm I'm not expecting much deep thinking there tho.

- js.

Baba Booey to all of you

[snarfies]

AT&T-Bellsouth merger: 299 days to be approved. $85 billion, controls 22 states and 70 million subscribers.
Chevron-Texaco merger: 326 days to be approved. Don't know the numbers, but
Sirius-XM merger: 426 days to be approved (might be off by 2-3 days, have not seen an official figure)

Now, why would the government allow such giants to merge with such rapidity and form such major monopolies, but delay Sirius-XM for well over a year, when its a luxury (unlike oil or telephone service) that affects so few? Answer: This is the US government's continued persecution of Howard Stern. Clear Channel (who are dedicated to buying out and eliminating not only all local radio stations, but all local concert venues as well) should have been laughed out of any hearings on this matter at once.