XM-Sirius to Finally Be Approved

Posted by Alex Harris

It’s about time. The XM-Sirius merger will go through, as the FCC finally gets the third commissioner on board. But now, in addition to an enormous wait and a series of draconian restrictions on the new company, XM-Sirius will also be fined $20 million for not building an interoperable receiver - a point that will, of course, be moot once the companies merge.

It’s good news that XM and Sirius will finally be allowed to merge, but the FCC made the process a total nightmare. Let’s hope that Google-Yahoo doesn’t suffer the same fate.

Update: Enforcement issues are still standing in the way of the deal, but they should be resolved soon.

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07/24/2008 @ 10:51 am | Economic Liberty, Tech & Telecom | Comments

2 Responses to “XM-Sirius to Finally Be Approved”

  1. Posted by: XM-Sirius is Finally Approved | OpenMarket.org - 07/29/2008

    [...] reported last Thursday that the FCC was set to approve the long-ignored XM-Sirius merger. Yesterday, it [...]

  2. Posted by: Dish-DirecTV Merger Next? | OpenMarket.org - 08/07/2008

    [...] companies must believe the deal would be greatly mutually-beneficial, if they were not deterred by the XM-Sirius fiasco. (To recap: Regulators waited over a year before acting, then stuck on some price controls and [...]

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