Washington — The League of Rural Voters (LRV) today released a study noting differences between the DBS market in 2002, when EchoStar and DirecTV attempted to merge but failed, and the current satellite radio market. The organization also reaffirmed its support for the Sirius/XM merger.
The report found that, in the case of satellite radio, the rural consumer has a wide array of other music listening choices such as MP3 players and Internet radio, while in the case of DBS, the choices were limited to cable TV and DBS.
In addition, the report found that there was a high barrier to entry for new competitors in cable and DBS, which is not the case in audio competition where new technologies such as HD Radio are now rolling out.
The FCC declined to approve an EchoStar/DirecTV merger in 2002.
The LRV is non-profit organization founded in 1985 that seeks to better represent in government the 55 million people who live in rural America.
