Sirius, XM Merger Gets FCC Approval

Multiple readers, including koavf, have written to tell us the FCC has finally approved the Sirius-XM merger that has been in the works for quite a while now. CNN has picked up AP coverage as well. We discussed approval of the merger by the Justice Department a few months ago. From CNN: "The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the buyout, with the tiebreaker coming Friday night from Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. Tate had insisted that the companies settle charges that they violated FCC rules before she would approve the deal. The companies agreed this week to pay $19.7 million to the U.S. Treasury for violations related to radio receivers and ground-based signal repeaters. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed the final vote Friday night. 'I think it's going to be, in the end, a good thing for consumers and be in the public interest,' he told The Associated Press."

Comments

Re:No place to go.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't stand Howard Stern garbage either. I suspect that there were a fair number of XM users who felt this way, who will most likely let their membership expire now. So, in the end, it will be the Howard Stern radio with a some people who do not care. You would wonder if the accountants did a study to the number of people that he drove away versus those that he attracted. He really does poison satellite radio for me.

Internet Radio

[Strange Ranger]

When you can stream a seemingly unlimited supply of internet radio straight to most connected devices, like the iPhone for one...
satellite radio seems almost quaint. How long will it be before "internet radio" puts satellite radio totally out of business?

BTW, for iPhone and iPod touch users, here's a good place to start:
http://www.seeqpod.com/

If you just want a radio gadget, there seem to be a few good ones available now:
http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=portable%20internet%20radio
Of course with these you can't play "kill your battery" using them over a 3G network... but then there's always the next thing..

Stern: I Will Never Vote For a Democrat Again

[Coolhand2120]

Howard Stern has some pretty choice words about the FCC's decision here: http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080724152511.aspx

Stern took it a step even further and called Democrats on the FCC "communists" and referred to their tactics as "gangsterism."

I don't necessarily agree with Stern, just adding some relevant info.

Monopoly

[qbzzt]

Depends on how close is the substitution. If Ford was the only company making cars, and the other options were walking and horses, they'd be a monopoly. If Ford ward the only company making SUVs, but you could buy cars and minivans from other sources, it wouldn't be a monopoly in any meaningful sense of the word.

Apple is the only company making Macs, but they don't have a meaningful monopoly because you can always use a PC.