Congress Voices Opposition To Sirius/XM Merger

By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 6/19/2007 5:43:00 AM

Washington - Seventy-two members of Congress expressed opposition to the merger of Sirius and XM in a letter to the Justice Department, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The six paragraph letter stated the merger of Sirius and XM would create a monopoly that would harm consumers and in it they claimed there is “scant evidence” that a merger would produce any cost savings to subscribers.

XM, Sirius and even Wall Street analysts have asserted the merger would create a savings of $3 billion to $7 billion for the companies. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, in testimony before Congress, has said the savings would be passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices and increased programming.