Martin Says FCC Will Act 'Soon' On Sirius/XM
by Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 6/5/2008
Washington — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may soon act on its review of the proposed Sirius/XM satellite radio merger, according to FCC chairman Kevin Martin.
In an interview on CNBC this morning, Martin discussed the Verizon/Alltel deal among other issues, and said the Sirius/XM deal raised difficult issues. But he said that the companies had agreed to regulatory concessions and said the agency "will hopefully be able to do something on it soon."
Sirius and XM have been waiting for final government approval to merge their companies for well over a year. The U.S. Department of Justice and Sirius and XM shareholders have already approved the deal announced 16 months ago.
The merger of the former rivals is expected to produce more than $4 billion in savings for the combined company and to help jump-start retail sales of satellite radio that have wavered ever since the $5 billion merger was announced in February 2007.
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I completely agree with what Big Al said. There is absolutely no logical reason for the FCC to have delayed their decision this long. I quess we will soon see if the land broadcasters truly has the FCC is in their pocket.
Abe Maldonado - 2008-6-6 23:31:00 EDT -
Chancellor Martin said the same things back in March. Looks like he's waiting for both providers to go belly up before his agency approves the merger. This is so ridiculous its not even funny. In the meantime, the Verizon acquistion of Alltel will be approved in minutes, even though it reduces the competition between wireless providers in many markets. I guess it all depends on who has the strongest lobbysts in the United Corporations of America.
Big Al - 2008-6-6 09:38:00 EDT
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